This bundle of books, with the Canadian Reading Challenge in mind (this, the eleventh year, hosted by The Indextrious Reader, with sign-ups for the twelfth year now posted), was particularly delectable. I love the idea of telling the story of a life in a way that feels true, whether
Each of these books is penned by an indigenous writer, each considers a great loss, each is powerful on its own terms. Together their stories resonate and amplify readers' understanding of a vitally important issue. Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau's novel Winter Child appears to be the simpler tale. One woman's
In which there is talk of novels which were read too quickly to allow for extensive note-taking and snapshots: good reading. Yewande Omotoso's The Woman Next Door (2017) Longlisted for the Women's Fiction Prize this year, this story about two women in their eighties, neighbours in South Africa, is quietly
Bette Bao Lord's In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (1984) opens when Bandit is living in China in her grandparents' home. She is ten years old (nine in Western birthdays) and she is about to learn that she will be going to live in the United States.
"Since writing Love Medicine, I have understood that I am writing one long book in which the main chapters are also books titled Tracks, Four Souls, The Bingo Palace, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse and The Painted Drum. The characters appear and disappear in my
