Canada specializes in a kind of "underhanded racism", which is "as Canadian as maple syrup". This is displayed in B. Denham Jolly's memoir, alongside the story of his life, from early days in Jamaica to his seventieth decade. Life in Jamaica was racialized, too, but more openly and, for
Because so many of Margaret Millar's novels consider married couples - often at the point in which the relationship is strained, if not fractured - one wonders about her relationship with Ken Millar (better known as Ross MacDonald, who also wrote mysteries). Did they squabble like Esther and Ron do
My reading year began with Marina Endicott's New Year's Eve (2011), written with literacy front-of-mind; its vocabulary, structure and tone are meant to ease the passage for readers with varying degrees of ease reading in English. It begins simply: "The snow started before we left home." Despite its brevity ,
Once again, my idea of reading more non-fiction this year didn't materialize. During Non-Fiction November, so many people were actually reading books that I have been meaning to read but I picked up a novel or collection instead. Nonetheless, I've squeezed in a few. Julia Shaw's The Memory Illusion (2016) Memory
In the wake of my IFOA reading list and the literary prizelists of the season, my November reading felt relatively whimsical. Without duedates attached to the majority of my reading, it was a pleasure to slip into volumes which had sat untouched in recent weeks. Each of these three volumes covers,
