It's May 31 at 9:00pm and I am still working on my contribution to the readalong Sarah and I decided to host back in March. I have been writing it in fragments, using my post to respond to the thoughts of others. Today's writing mostly involves cobbling together my bits and pieces to present to … Continue reading #ReadingLanternHill: My thoughts on Jane of Lantern Hill, anthropomorphism, and Squishmallows
Truthfully, I wanted to read one of Andrew Sullivan's books because he is married to Amy Jones. And I love Amy Jones. (Hi, Amy!) When writers are also life partners, I get curious about how similar/different their writing styles are, or their genre choices. (Amy has a book coming out this month, too!) I knew … Continue reading The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan
These three genres are not my usual fare, but I dip into them from time to time, and usually enjoy it when I do. Crosshairs by Catherine Hernandez In southern Ontario, the concrete jungle of Toronto was transformed into a shallow bayou. Park benches sat in water like rafts in muck. Beneath the surface of … Continue reading From the Library: A Dystopian, a Thriller, and a Memoir
These three books couldn't be more different. There is one thing they have in common, though - they are all written by Nova Scotians. Portia White: A Portrait in Words by George Elliott Clarke I have written about George Elliott Clarke before - sometimes I love his words, sometimes I don't understand them, and … Continue reading An Opera Singer, A Coffee Franchise Contest, and OCD
"On my first visit to Jamaica I saw a pig's severed head." And so begins our time with Kara, a second-generation Jamaican-Canadian who, unlike her Jamaican cousins, does not feel comfortable with dead animals, and whose Jamaican accent is not strong enough for her Jamaican-Canadian friends. Yet around her white classmates, Kara feels too Jamaican. … Continue reading Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta
Remember talking on the phone for hours while doing homework? Or waiting by the phone all day for a certain someone to call you, and hoping your parents (or worse, a sibling) don't pick up the phone first? Remember renting movies at a video store and looking up numbers in the phone book? Swatches and … Continue reading Even Weirder Than Before by Susie Taylor
Dionne Brand's Love Enough is the 22nd Bookmark on the CanLit Trail. I'm happy that Dionne Brand has a Bookmark, and I'm happy that I have finally read one of her books. "Brand is our great observer - of actions, of emotions, of the little things that often go unnoticed but can mean the turn … Continue reading Project Bookmark Canada: Love Enough by Dionne Brand (2014)
After reading In Search of the Perfect Singing Flamingo, Claire Tacon's new book, I discovered that she already had a book out called In the Field, published in 2011, and that this book is almost entirely set in rural Nova Scotia. The Setting It's no surprise that I love that this story takes place in … Continue reading In the Field by Claire Tacon
What I love so much about readng the Giller books is that there are always surprises. I'm often reading books I hadn't heard of before, books from authors I've never read before, and books I know very little about. Add the fact that the books have been carefully chosen by a handful of smart and … Continue reading Giller Shortlist: Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill
In the last two books I've read by André Alexis, there have been sheep and there have been dogs. The Hidden Keys has very few animals, but is still filled with interesting characters; a thief, an addict, a drug-dealer, a thug, an artist who stuffs deceased pets for a living, and a few billionaires. What … Continue reading The Hidden Keys by André Alexis
Consumed by Ink 