The Giller Prize 2019: Longlist

The Giller Prize (sorry, The Scotiabank Giller Prize) is, arguably, the major literary prize in the Canadian book scene. The Giller Prize has been awarded annually since 1994 and the winner is now awarded $100,000. When Michael Redhill won in 2017, he shared a picture of his bank statement on social media, demonstrating just how… Continue reading The Giller Prize 2019: Longlist

What I Read – August 2019

Read: We Went to the Woods - Caite Dolan-Leach (Random House, 2019) Black Light - Kimberly King Parsons ( Vintage Books, 2019) All the Bad Apples - Moira Fowley-Doyle (Kathy Dawson Books, 2019) As Many Nows as I Can Get - Shana Youngdahl (Dial Books, 2019) My Conversations with Canadians - Lee Maracle (BookThug, 2017)… Continue reading What I Read – August 2019

Book Review: We Went to the Woods by Caite Dolan-Leach

We Went to the Woods - Caite Dolan-Leach (Random House, 2019) Have you ever wanted to escape from the world? From your life? Have you ever been young and a bit desperate? Have you ever fallen in love with the idea of a person rather than truly the person themselves? You might sympathize with Mack… Continue reading Book Review: We Went to the Woods by Caite Dolan-Leach

Book Review: All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

All the Bad Apples - Moïra Fowley-Doyle (Kathy Dawson Books, 2019) I received an Advance Readers Copy of this book. All opinions are my own. I sometimes feel bad when I write a review for a young adult book that I didn't enjoy. After all, I'm certainly not the target audience. At the same time,… Continue reading Book Review: All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

Book Review: Aria by Nazanine Hozar

Aria - Nazanine Hozar (Alfred A. Knopf, 2019) This book was a delightful surprise. I picked it up from the library as part of my Writers Fest Challenge, as Nazanine Hozar will be speaking at the Festival as one of the New Voices. I knew very little about the novel so it was quite lovely… Continue reading Book Review: Aria by Nazanine Hozar

Book Review: Watermark by Christy Ann Conlin

Watermark - Christy Ann Conlin (House of Anansi, 2019) Here we have a collection of short stories, several of them loosely linked together by place and at least a couple of characters that show up more than once. Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy feature heavily and the whole collection is infused with what… Continue reading Book Review: Watermark by Christy Ann Conlin

Book Review: The Porpoise by Mark Haddon

The Porpoise - Mark Haddon (Bond Street Books, 2019) The Porpoise is a re-telling of Shakespeare's play Pericles, Prince of Tyre, which is a re-telling of the story of Apollonius, which is a story told by many writers and oral story-tellers going back at least as far as John Gower in 1393. This, at least,… Continue reading Book Review: The Porpoise by Mark Haddon

What I Read – July 2019

READ: Say Say Say - Lila Savage (Alfred A. Knopf, 2019) Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk (Riverhead Books, 2019) (translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones) Reproduction - Ian Williams (Random House Canada, 2019) The Porpoise - Mark Haddon (Bond Street Books, 2019) Watermark - Christy Ann Conlin… Continue reading What I Read – July 2019

Book Review: Reproduction – Ian Williams

Reproduction - Ian Williams (Random House Canada, 2019) There is a lot in this book. And if it had ended about one hundred pages and several characters sooner, I would have enjoyed it more. It covers a lot of time. It has a lot of characters (to the extent that it's unclear who the true… Continue reading Book Review: Reproduction – Ian Williams

Book Review: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk (Riverhead Books, 2019) I received an Advance Readers' Copy of this book. It is now available for sale in North America. It's hard to know how to classify a book like this. It's not a mystery though there is a mystery at the… Continue reading Book Review: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk