In which I discuss the skinny books that slip into my bookbag while the heavier, cumbersome volumes (like Ian Urbina’s The Outlaw Ocean and Flannery O’Connor’s letters) stay home. Thirty-eight chapters and under 200 pages: Didier Leclair’s This Country of Mine (2003; Trans. Elaine Kennedy, 2018) issues an
Despite the rather long title, the core idea of this novel is succinct: “Your truth is not more fucking true than my truth.” Megan Gail Coles situates her story around a downtown restaurant in St. John’s Newfoundland. There, a handful of characters, who are navigating the daily grind, present
In Iris Murdoch’s Henry and Cato (1976), Henry Marshalson inherits the family estate when his brother Sandy dies. Henry returns to the home where his mother Gerda still lives, with her kinda-sycophantic admirer, Lucius. Cato lives nearby. So does Colette. Stephanie does not, but, because of her pre-existing
The Canadian Book Challenge was one of the first community reading events/challenges that I joined online. For ten years it was hosted by The Book Mine Set, then The Indextrious Reader hosted for the past two years and, now, the baton has been passed to Canadian Bookworm, who will
Taraghi, Levy, Hébert, Gallant and King Short Stories in April, May and June Whether in a dedicated collection or a magazine, these stories capture a variety of reading moods. This quarter, I returned to three favourite writers and also explored two new-to-me story writers.
