A new Friday fugue, running through this month, considering the ways in which our working lives appear on the pages of novels and short stories. Wasn't I just talking about novels set in bookstores? Yup, in last Friday's post (here). Gabrielle Zevin's book fits perfectly on that shelf. Arsenal
Henry K. Larsen -- star of Susin Nielsen's last novel -- was a savvy young fellow: "I know I can’t change my stupid red hair or my stupid freckles. But I can lower my freak flag." Tundra Books, 2015 In contrast, Stewart -- star of her most recent
McClelland & Stewart, 2006 Alice's father has remarried, and Irlma has made many changes in the house. "Irlma is a stout and rosy woman, with tinted butterscotch curls, brown eyes in which there is still a sparkle, a look of emotional readiness, of being always on the brink
Whether and how a girl rode a bicycle mattered a great deal in the 1950s in southwestern Ontario, for the young Alice Munro. 2006; Vintage, 2007 "We lived just beyond the town limits, so if I showed up riding a bicycle—and particularly this bicycle—it would put me in
For readers familiar with Alice Munro's most recent collection, Dear Life, the title of this story will immediately recall "Night", which she described as being "not quite" a story about her relationship with her father. Vintage, 2006 "Night" is part of a group of four tales, which she feels are
