Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice Moon of the Turning Leaves is the sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow and will be one of my best books of the year. Crusted Snow left us with the small northern Anishinaabe community leaving their houses and heading into the woods to return to a … Continue reading From the Library: dystopian future, spiritual horror, and irrational fears
The first two of these books are published by Rare Machines, an imprint of Dundurn Press. All three feature provocative ideas such as an invisible "spy" organization, artificial intelligence, and institutions where the touch-starved can go to touch and be touched. The characters in these books--despite the books being so wildly different from each other--are … Continue reading Dundurn Press: David Whitton, Victoria Hetherington, and K.S. Covert
These three books took me from rural Ontario to Trinidad to the moon! Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline Inspired by the traditional story of the Rogarou--"a werewolf-like creature that haunts the roads and woods of Metis communities"--Dimaline has written a book unlike any other I've read. At night, he roamed the roads that connected … Continue reading From the Library: Cherie Dimaline, Ingrid Persaud, and Emily St. John Mandel
Jonny Appleseed and Joshua Whitehead made Canadian history this year - by winning the 2021 Canada Reads debates, they became the first Indigenous and Indigiqueer book and author to win Canada Reads. “This means the world to me,” Whitehead said. “I’m holding this as a legacy and a fire to keep burning for all Indigenous … Continue reading Joshua Whitehead: ‘Jonny Appleseed’ and ‘Love After the End’
I have been fully embracing this new cli-fi trend. For one thing, it gives me ideas as to what to do if the world goes down. After reading Blaze Island, I'm thinking a sparsely populated island somewhere up North sounds like a good idea. Miranda's father thought so, too. But his reasons for moving to … Continue reading Blaze Island by Catherine Bush
"It is 2058 and the glaciers are gone. A catastrophic drought has hit the prairies." Watershed casts us into the near future, just far enough that the world looks familiar in many ways despite the fact that some parts of North America are flooded while others are experiencing severe drought. This is the scariest kind … Continue reading Watershed by Doreen Vanderstoop
This book has been on my list since it won the Stella Prize in 2016, and thanks to AusReading Month--hosted by Brona@BronasBooks--I finally read it. The Natural Way of Things was inspired by a documentary the author watched about The Hay Institution for Girls: ten women were taken there and brutalized for being the "ten … Continue reading #AusReadingMonth: The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
This was a fun choice for book club. There was a lot to think about, and even figure out. The biggest question that arose was: what is this book really trying to say? I'm still not entirely sure. But here's the blurb on the back of the book: With The Blondes, acclaimed writer Emily Schultz … Continue reading Book Club: The Blondes by Emily Schultz
The title of this book is a mouthful for such a slim volume. But the message is huge. Anyone concerned about the state of our world, or, especially anyone who isn't, should read this book. It won't take long. This novella can most effectively be summed up using passages plucked from its pages: The set-up … Continue reading The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View From the Future by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway
Goodreads Synopsis. The reviews for this book seem to be all over the place; some people love it, some hate it, and most are somewhere in the middle. The characters are twits (Stan is a jerk), the plot gets a bit crazy, and there's a lot of sex - obsessive, illicit, fetishist, and even robot … Continue reading The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
Consumed by Ink 