It was impulsive: about a week from the end of June, I decided that I was tired of seeing the same old books on my stack, and something had to be done. Oh, poor things. It wasn't their fault. "It's not you, it's me." I said. But I realized, even
This was one of the first Orange Prize nominees that I bought. Last year, two debut novels on the longlist made my personal shortlist. (Anna Peile's and Samantha Hunt's) Serpent's Tail, 2012 I had high hopes for this novel and, in many ways, I was rewarded for my
The chapter titles of this work reveal that it's not some kind of textbook resource on crows: Getting Up, Preparing, Reading, Walking, Dwelling, Helping, Seeing, Coexisting, Dying and Flying. Then again, the subtitle should have been my first clue (Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness), that Crow Planet is as much
A dozen years ago, Olive Senior's Gardening in the Tropics was on my list of favourite books for that reading year. Insomniac Press, 2007 Afterwards, I read some short stories (Discerner of Hearts is wonderful), but I lost track of her work, and hadn't even realized the extent of it
Originally published almost exactly 32 years ago, the events depicted in "Dulse" could have taken place 32 years prior and will, likely, still ring true 32 years hence. Lydia is a woman alone, not freshly alone -- for she has been divorced for nine years -- but self-consciously alone. Something
