Each of these four books (and/or authors) has been recommended by one of you reading these very words, possibly more than one of you (and I’ve previously enjoyed another book by both Guadalupe Nettel and Charmaine Wilkerson too). Laila loved Beautyland by Marie-Helen Bertino, Rebecca recommended Still Born by
I assume that babies born in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, are wrapped in a receiving blanket with a copy of Ernest Buckler’s 1952 novel tucked into its folds. It’s #23 on the New Canadian Library list of classics, which launched in 1958. And Quill & Quire ranked
Since 2020, my bookbag has been at home more often than not, so this has also become a place to share the books I’ve found myself reading in bits and pieces. Originally, I bought Democracy with last year’s MARM in mind, for Margaret Atwood’s contribution. It opens with a
If I were to witness a murder, I figure I’d be like that woman in the Swedish drama “The Breakthrough” who sees the perpetrator straight on but, later, cannot recall a single facial feature. So Saunders’ point about the previous story, about Turgenev’s physical descriptions in “The Singers”, didn’t
Even though I nearly always follow Mavis Gallant’s advice about reading short stories (in short, don’t rush), something about the way I’m reading stories this year has changed. Or something about the rest of my reading has changed. Choosing more responsively has made my stack more unruly than usual.
