If you follow the shadow jury at Kevin from Canada, you may already know that we chose two shadow winners this year - The Innocents by Michael Crummey and Reproduction by Ian Williams. I am happy to say that Ian Williams took home the Giller Prize this year for Reproduction! Congratulations to all the finalists … Continue reading 2019 Prize Lists and Prize Winners
As with The Luminous Sea, the cover of this lured me right in. Covers with sea creatures on them always catch my eye, so when I saw this book on the "new book" shelf at the library, I grabbed it. The first thing I noticed when flipping through the book is that all the chapters are … Continue reading Land Mammals and Sea Creatures by Jen Neale
If you're looking for that one beautiful gem, David Chariandy's Brother just might be it. It's raw and honest, and the writing is as smooth as silk. Michael and his older brother Francis are close as they grow up in 1980s Scarborough, the sons of a single hard-working mother from Trinidad. Francis was my older … Continue reading Giller Longlist: Brother by David Chariandy
Willem de Kooning's Paintbrush was longlisted for the Giller Prize, is a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Awards. So, of course I had to read it. As I have mentioned before, I prefer novels to short stories. However, short stories have their place in … Continue reading Willem de Kooning’s Paintbrush by Kerry Lee Powell
Russell Smith's stories are full of the kinds of people and events that I don't usually enjoy reading about, and almost none of his characters are likeable. Yet, I felt strangely compelled to read on. And, he nails the dialogue. From a review at Now: "You may loathe his characters - almost all of them … Continue reading Confidence by Russell Smith
I feel like it took me a long time to finally get my hands on this book. I put in a request for it at the library as soon as it appeared on the short list for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. I had made up my mind to read them all. I had already … Continue reading Girl Runner by Carrie Snyder
Pastoral is a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, along with The Confabulist by Steven Galloway, All Saints by K.D. Miller, Girl Runner by Carrie Snyder, and All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews. There are a lot of award lists out right now, but since I have already read two of these, I thought it … Continue reading Pastoral by André Alexis
