A very simple act of reconciliation is reading and discussing books by (and, to some extent, about) First Nations and Indigenous and Metis and Inuit peoples; for bookworms, this is an action within reach every day... but particularly today, on Orange-Shirt Day, or Truth & Reconciliation Day. An official
When I last wrote here, I could have posted one of Alistair MacLeod’s famous short story openings: “It is August now, towards the end, and the weather can no longer be trusted.” It’s from “The Closing Down of Summer” and I think of it every year about mid-way through
With my return to library borrowing after the snow melted, I had realized that 2026 found me reading less non-fiction than ever (well, for nearly twenty years, anyway). And, why? If anything, I have more questions about the world than ever. So, I resolved to browse in the non-fiction
Designed to mimic my Lorna Sage reading project of six women writers each year (here in 2024 and here in 2025), I chose Julia Alvarez, Alexis Wright, Annie Ernaux, Olga Tokarczuk, Gish Jen, and Leslie Marmon Silko for 2026. At first, I thought I would read a few books
For nearly as long as I’ve been a reader, I’ve sought out books about/by people who were preoccupied by ideas about how and where we belong. At first, I used to look for stories with characters who felt they didn’t belong in the same ways that I felt I
