On Monday night, the winner of the Giller Prize was announced. When I was a younger reader, I believed there was a perfect alchemical wonder which was suitably rewarded as a winner from a shortlist of contenders for a literary prize; when I grew up, I realized that there
There is a line in Steven Price’s 2016 novel, By Gaslight, which seems to suit his new novel generally: “Everything is about the dead.” And another which seems even more appropriate: “The truth that is found in a story is a different kind of truth, but it is not
Readers of Alix Ohlin’s fiction will not be surprised to find an introspective narrator in her second novel (following Inside, which was also longlisted for the Giller Prize). But what’s remarkable about Dual Citizens is how simultaneously intimate and distanced the narrative is. Readers feel like they are privy
Ian Williams landed in my stack with his longlisting for the ReLit Award in 2011. This is why I read prizelists: they encourage me to read in different directions, when left to my own devices, I sometimes plod along, in familiar reading territory, simply out of habit. The title
Kaplan, McKay, Puntí, Rosenfarb and Shapton Short Stories in July, August, and September Whether in a dedicated collection or a magazine, these stories capture a variety of reading moods. This quarter, I returned to two favourite writers and also explored three new-to-me story writers.
