I assume that babies born in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, are wrapped in a receiving blanket with a copy of Ernest Buckler’s 1952 novel tucked into its folds. It’s #23 on the New Canadian Library list of classics, which launched in 1958. And Quill & Quire ranked
Since 2020, my bookbag has been at home more often than not, so this has also become a place to share the books I’ve found myself reading in bits and pieces. Originally, I bought Democracy with last year’s MARM in mind, for Margaret Atwood’s contribution. It opens with a
If I were to witness a murder, I figure I’d be like that woman in the Swedish drama “The Breakthrough” who sees the perpetrator straight on but, later, cannot recall a single facial feature. So Saunders’ point about the previous story, about Turgenev’s physical descriptions in “The Singers”, didn’t
In Boy George’s 2023 autobiography Karma, he says: “Having an opinion is always bad for business.” He’s got lots of them himself, but there’s he’s describing—and celebrating—how Taylor Swift took a political stance against homophobia when some warned her it was bad for business. Author Louise Penny has spoken
Seasonally, my reading is a little all over the place. On Saturday we had a full day of snow. On Sunday a full day of rain. On Monday we couldn’t open the back doors. The front door was protected, but the walkway and steps a solid sheet of ice:
