I returned to picture books when a face-to-face bookclub read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Books without pictures still outnumber the illustrated volumes in my stacks, but I am working to adjust the balance. The Good Little Book, written by Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Marion Arbona, will suit booklovers
Three of the books in my stack currently are heavy or over-sized (G.R..R. Martin: I'm looking at you), but there are several skinny options making an appearance in my bookbag this week. First, Michel Chikawanine's Child Soldier (written with Jessica Dee Humphreys and illustrated by Claudia Dávila); he begins by
Our young separatist narrator is imagining his own future and the future of Quebec, and both man and nation are struggling with matters of expression and independence, in Hubert Aquin's Next Episode (published in 1965, translated by Sheila Fischman in 2001). “I am the fragmented symbol of Quebec’s revolution, its
She tells you straight-up: "The decision when to begin a family story is arbitrary." HarperPerennial, 2015 (US edition) And she lays out the doubts and uncertainties: "Who am I to claim the official version?" And, so, Alison Pick is our seemingly uncertain and unsanctioned guide. But, she also
Despite its sedate and unassuming cover, Pauline Holdstock's The Hunter and the Wild Girl begins in a rush. Goose Lane, 2015 "With a shriek of splintering boards, the girl breaks into daylight and stands blinded, panting, sucking air as if it were a great hot soup, her chest
