Zsuzsi Gartner’s Better Living through Plastic Explosives Penguin, 2011 I was stunned by All the Anxious Girls on Earth when it was published in 1999 (tell me: how has it happened that a dozen years have passed since then?). Partly because I read it all-in-a-rush. Partly because the stories are
George Elliott Clarke’s Whylah Falls (1990) Raincoast Books - Polestar, 2000 George Elliott Clarke’s Whylah Falls tells the story of a group of Afro-Canadians on the south shore of Nova Scotia. Readers can gather that from a quick glance at the book’s front and back covers. But what readers won’t
As if it wasn't enough to obsess about Reading and ReLi-ting, I'm also obsessing about the Toronto Book Award, whose shortlist was announced this week. THE 2011 TORONTO BOOK AWARD (More deets here.) What Disturbs Our Blood, James FitzGerald (Random House) Étienne's Alphabet, James King (Cormorant Books) The Amazing Absorbing
It's been a few years since I obsessed about reading the Giller titles (but that year I discovered Charlotte Gill's Ladykiller and that was terrific). Last year I brushed up against my troubled relationship with the list (Dear Giller Shortlist, Oh, how I used to wait for your five names...) but time
