Songs for the End of the World By Saleema Nawaz If I had to guess, I’d say that most people are a bit tired of hearing about the pandemic and dearly wish they could be thinking about other things. Yet there is something cathartic about reading a novel about a pandemic during a pandemic. Frankly, […]
by Kim Thuy Vi by Kim Thúy is this year’s choice for One eRead Canada, a national eBook reading event which runs from January 1 – 31st. The title character Vi, the youngest of four children and the only girl, narrates this moving story of a Vietnamese family over several decades of the 20th century. […]
by N. K. Jemisin I read Jemisin’s excellent essay of the same name online in 2013 (http://nkjemisin.com/2013/09/how-long-til-black-future-month/), so when I picked up this book I was expecting a collection of essays, but was surprised (and pleased) when it turned out to be a collection of short stories instead. And what a collection it is! […]
By Patrick Taylor With the current pandemic keeping us apart from those we love, I am finding it important to connect in other ways. My reading choices of late seek comfort and escape and this has led me back to old friends, Doctor Fingal Flaherty O’Reilly, and Dr. Barry Laverty, GPs of the […]
by Kathleen Rooney New York City, New Year’s Eve, 1984. A woman named Lillian Boxfish, about the same age as the century, has no particular place to be. Dressed in her favourite mink coat, she embarks on a miles-long stroll around lower Manhattan. The novel switches between Lillian’s encounters with ordinary New Yorkers and her […]
The Glass Hotel By Emily St. John Mandel Vincent grows up in the fictional village of Caiette, just across the water from Port Hardy on northern Vancouver Island. Her tiny town has no road and is accessible only by water taxi. Her unusual name (for a girl) was given to her by her mother, […]
by Neil Price I’m a gamer. I play lots of video games, and one of my favourite series is Assassin’s Creed, a long and convoluted series of stories that are set in various historical time periods and places. The games are meticulously researched: they go to great lengths to seek out the most recent […]
by Charlotte McConaghy In a world robbed of rainforests and birdsong, ornithologist Franny Stone embarks to track the final migration of the Arctic terns, known for their unmatched resilience as the birds with the longest migration period – and also as the last birds on Earth. Prepared for the harsh venture to the northernmost […]
Book Review: Sunny Days by David Kamp Most of us, no matter how old (or young) we are, know about Sesame Street, the Muppets, and Mr. Rogers, among other children’s television staples. But who among us knows the beginnings of these shows that transformed children’s programming in the 1970s? David Kamp’s Sunny Days takes us […]
by Richard Van Camp Many authors are known for just one type of fiction, but not Richard Van Camp. The award-winning novelist also pens comics, TV scripts (CBC’s ‘North of 60’), and is an internationally renowned storyteller. Steeped in the oral traditions of his people, the Tlicho (Tłı̨chǫ) of the Dene First Nations, Van Camp’s […]