If Oprah had had a bookclub in 1954, she would have chosen Ethel Wilson's Swamp Angel. And I say this because, despite the ongoing debate amongst booklovers about the significance of Oprah's Bookclub, she has featured many of my favourite writers (e.g. Jane Hamilton, Ursula Hegi, Rohinton Mistry, Barbara Kingsolver,
Pat Barker's Liza's England (Virago, VMC #417, 1986) This month two longstanding reading projects intersect: the Green VMCs and the Orange Prize meet. Historically I believe there are four authors whose writing has been published on the Virago Modern Classic list and has also been listed for the Orange Prize
This Saturday is all-historical, as was last week's, with one proper Shelf Discovery choice and one of my "particularly Canlit Shelf Discovery" choices. Next Saturday will feature three of my favourite fantasy reads. Joan Aiken's The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (1963) It may have been cheating a little to re-read
Here is what I like about this year's Orange Prize list. Although I really don't need much convincing on this one: reading the OP backlist is an ongoing pet project of mine. First: Rebecca Gowers' The Twisted Heart Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs (Because I've already read them
Kristjana Gunnars' The Rose Garden (1996) When I bought my copy of The Rose Garden, it was shelved in Fiction at The Bookshelf in Guelph, which is such a good bookstore that eventually I had to move to the town so that I could visit there more often than once
