The Library Book by Susan Orlean: In The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from their humble beginnings as a metropolitan charitable initiative to their current status … Continue reading What I’ve Been Listening To: Books, Bodies, and Bacteria
After a series of memoirs about illness--then my octopus palette cleanser--I went back to social justice. So You Want to Talk About Race Ilejeomo Oluo I loved this book. I was invested in, not only what she was saying about racism and micro-aggressions, but about how it has affected her own life as a black … Continue reading What I’ve Been Listening To: three that made me think and three that made me laugh
After my rocky start to audio books, I am on a roll. I would recommend all of these, except maybe don't listen to the two cancer memoirs and depression memoir back to back to back like I did. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson This book is as good as everyone says it is. Even now, … Continue reading What I’ve Been Listening To: justice, cancer, depression, and octopuses
We can’t stop shopping. And yet we must. This is the consumer dilemma. The Day the World Stopped Shopping is a "thought experiment" taken on by the author. MacKinnon was curious to know what would happen if the world just stopped shopping one day. Would chaos ensue? Would the economy collapse, and along with it, … Continue reading The Day the World Stops Shopping by J.B. MacKinnon
(The highlighted titles will take you to reviews written by myself or the folks at the Miramichi Reader who are way ahead of me!) Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short FictionBoy with a Problem by Chris Benjamin (Pottersfield Press)Winter Road by Wayne Curtis (Pottersfield Press)The Appendage Formerly Known as Your Left Arm by Julie Curwin (Boularderie Island Press) Ann … Continue reading Atlantic Book Awards Shortlist 2021
I love to walk. There's almost no day that goes by that I don't walk, almost no weather I won't walk in, almost no condition that keeps me from going out. When there's a blizzard, I bundle up and put on my big snow boots. When it's hot and humid, I slow my pace and … Continue reading Born to Walk
My last post focused on Best Atlantic Canadian Reads of 2019. Here’s everything else… Best Books (in addition to Best of Atlantic Canada 2019, in no particular order) Fiction: Quarry by Catherine Graham This Has Nothing To Do With You by Lauren Carter - I also read her recent poetry collection this year, Following Sea. … Continue reading Highlights of 2019: Part 2
Four years ago I decided to challenge myself to read more books from Atlantic Canada. As a result, I have read 100 books from Atlantic Canada in the last four years. You can check out results of previous years here: 2018, 2017, 2016. #of Atlantic Canadian books read: 25 (last year, 23) % of books … Continue reading Highlights of 2019 Part 1: Atlantic Canada
Coincidentally, I had been reading one of Margaret Atwood's poetry books when we decided to go ahead with #MARM. I'm not a big poetry reader, but I was really taken with the poems in Morning in the Burned House (1995). Particularly the ones about a woman's ageing father, and memories of their time together. From … Continue reading Margaret Atwood Reading Month: Poetry and Food #MARM
Do you or someone you know have breasts? How can you be so interested in them?... No, but seriously. They're just breasts. Every second person in the world has them... But they're odd looking. They're for milk. Your mother has them. You've seen a thousand of them. What's all the fuss about? -- Notting Hill … Continue reading boobs: Women Explore What It Means To Have Breasts, edited by Ruth Daniell
Consumed by Ink 