September was a pretty banner month for me. For one thing, I got to attend a 10-day writing residency on an off-the-grid island, with two other writers, a wood-fired sauna, and some attendant loons and beavers. For another, I got my hands on Claire-Louise Bennett's newest book, Checkout 19. If you aren't familiar with Claire-Louise … Continue reading I Will Follow Claire-Louise Bennett Anywhere
Summer won’t officially start for another couple of weeks, but unofficially there are unmistakable signs of it having arrived. For one, my cats are pretty much permanently stretched out into long tubes on any cool surface they can find. For another, fans have been pulled out of storage and turned on. The air is hot … Continue reading Summer Reading Roundup
I’m a discerning reader. Well, okay, some might call me picky. For many years I maintained that I didn’t like contemporary fiction at all, and I only read old books (not always classics—I had, and still have, a deep love of the so-called "middlebrow" novel). Of course, I was simply looking in the wrong places. … Continue reading Something Old, Something New
Going to the Maritime provinces is a long-held dream of mine. Since my childhood introduction to L. M. Montgomery, I have been convinced that Prince Edward Island must be the pinnacle of beauty, and, by extension, the rest of Atlantic Canada can't be far behind. And so I was extremely happy to immerse myself in … Continue reading Salt Water, Myth, and Memory: The Speed of Mercy by Christy Ann Conlin
I don't often find a contemporary mystery novel that hits the spot. As I've mentioned before, I think that contemporary mysteries swing too far either to the cozy or the bleak. This is why, when I want a mystery fix, I always reach for the detective fiction from the Golden Age (the 1920s-40s). The authors … Continue reading Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry. Isabel didn’t scream or scurry: The Adventures of Isabel: An Epitome Apartments Mystery by Candas Jane Dorsey
Are you following this year's Canada Reads competition? It's down to the wire! With two books left out of five, I have to say that I am rooting for Francesca Ekwuyasi's Butter Honey Pig Bread. I loved, loved, loved this book—it was a real standout novel for me this year. Full of colour and warmth … Continue reading Canada Reads 2021: Team Francesca Ekwuyasi
March is here. It came in like a race between the lion and the lamb…yesterday we alternated between glorious sun and blue sky, and wild squalling blizzards. Today is grey and cold; when I tried to let my cats out, they blinked in the frigid air, flicked their paws, and went back to bed. I … Continue reading Careful Attention: Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Although I am a big fan of mystery novels, I have read very little in the way of noir. I am ever so slowly remedying that, and thus far can count The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, and, now, Dread Journey by Dorothy B. Hughes, as under my … Continue reading Murder, Glamour, and #MeToo, 1940s-Style: Dread Journey by Dorothy B. Hughes
The lady herself: Muriel Spark in 1960. For a long time, Muriel Spark was a name in the back of my mind. I saw her books in used bookstores and thought, I should read those. I knew of the film adaptation of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, but I wasn't sure about it—not only … Continue reading Muriel Spark & Me
Well, here I am writing another post about another brand new book, in spite of my previous assertion that is something I rarely do. But sometimes you go where the wind blows, and this October it floated me over to Waiting for a Star to Fall by Kerry Clare. I am a big fan of … Continue reading Culture-Making, Dirty Dancing, and #MeToo: Waiting for a Star to Fall by Kerry Clare
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