You Are Eating An Orange. You Are Naked by Sheung-King (Aaron Tang) Toronto: Book*hug Press, 2020 $20.00 / 9781771666411 Reviewed by Jessica Poon * It’s not everyday that a novel inspires me to drink a certain brand of beer, but I’ve been drinking Tsingtao regularly since I first read this debut novel from Sheung-King. Despite…
Read more #996 Straight white guys and Tsingtao
The Swan Suit by Katherine Fawcett Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2020 $22.95 / 9781771622608 Reviewed by Candace Fertile * Katherine Fawcett’s second collection of stories is a must read for anyone who likes deliriously imaginative, hilarious, and twisted fairy/fantasy stories that skewer contemporary culture. This was a book I often had to put down…
Read more #995 Fairy tales for modern minds
The End of Me: Stories by John Gould Calgary: Freehand Books, 2020 $22.95 / 9781988298566 Reviewed by Heidi Greco * Every once in a while a book comes along that’s so different, it’s hard to find a tack to take in reviewing it. John Gould’s most recent collection of short fictions presents just such a…
Read more #992 Plums, psilocybin, faceplant
How a Woman Becomes a Lake by Marjorie Celona Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada, 2020 (Hamish Hamilton) $19.95 / 9780735235847 Reviewed by Candace Fertile * Marjorie Celona’s second novel, How a Woman Becomes a Lake, is similar in style to her first, Y, and that alone makes it worth reading. Celona is skilled at psychological…
Read more #984 Paper boats and rising secrets
One Madder Woman by Dede Crane Calgary: Freehand Books, 2020 $23.95 / 9781988298689 Reviewed by Carole Gerson * France’s Impressionist artists are now so canonical that we often forget that their first exhibition of 1874, organized in protest against the conservatism of the Académie de Beaux Arts that vetted the annual displays of the Paris…
Read more #983 A studio of one’s own
The Brideship Wife by Leslie Howard Toronto: Simon & Schuster, 2020 $24.99 / 9781508259350 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Leslie Howard’s fictional interpretation of an 1860s journey to the new world on board of one of the famous bride ships is one of the best of many I have read on this subject. The Brideship…
Read more #981 Voyage to Vancouver Island
Christmas in Mariposa: Sketches of Canada’s Legendary Little Town by Jamie Lamb Victoria: Heritage House, 2019 $19.95 / 9781772032871 Reviewed by Peter Babiak * It wasn’t until I was in grad school that I realised that fiction and myth, far from being cultural fripperies divorced from the practical matters of life, can be just as…
Read more #980 Ode to small town Ontario
Through the Garden: A Love Story (with Cats) by Lorna Crozier Toronto: Penguin Random House (McClelland and Stewart), 2020 $29.95 / 9780771021183 Reviewed by Kathy Mezei * We know of famous, sometimes notorious, writing couples — Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, Simone Beauvoir and Jean-Paul…
Read more #979 A fiery & persevering love affair
Consent by Annabel Lyon Toronto: Penguin Random House, 2020 $29.95 / 9780345811455 Reviewed by Jessica Poon * Editor’s note: The West Coast Book Prize Society announced on April 8, 2021, that Consent, by Annabel Lyon, has been shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize in the 2021 BC and Yukon Book Prizes. Winners will be announced…
Read more #975 Stable women and good wine
The Weight of Blood by D.B. Carew Edmonton: New West Press, 2020 $18.95 / 9781988732923 Reviewed by Valerie Green * D.B. Carew’s The Weight of Blood, his second Chris Ryder mystery thriller, is a mixture of intriguing thrills and deep psychological insight. The main character, Chris Ryder, is a psychiatric social worker who is once…
Read more #970 Death on Highway 7
Orphans of Empire by Grant Buday Victoria: TouchWood Editions (Brindle & Glass), 2020 $22.00 / 9781927366899 Reviewed by Laurie Ricou * Grant Buday’s exuberant novel contemplates an emerging British Columbia in the second half of the nineteenth century. As his title signals, Buday tests claims of possession and supremacy, in institutions, occupations, and personalities. In…
Read more #967 A great gathering of empire
Yams Do Not Exist by Garry Thomas Morse Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 2020 $19.00 / 9780888016775 Reviewed by Candace Fertile * As yams do exist, it’s clear right from the first page that Garry Thomas Morse’s novel falls into the category of experimental. The 33 chapters or short stories linked by the character of poet Farinata…
Read more #962 Experiments in Morse code
Fight Like a Girl by Sheena Kamal Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada, 2020 $21.00 / 9780735265554 Reviewed by Natalie Lang * What do any of us really know about one another? The reality of someone’s life is likely to be filled with multiple layers of who they’ve been and what they’ve done. Someone living in…
Read more #959 The anvil of female power
The Walking Boy by Lydia Kwa Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2019 (first published by Key Porter Books, 2005) $19.95 / 9781551527635 Reviewed by Paul Falardeau * “To transmit the strange” is a fine goal to be set before a writer. One with the talents of Lydia Kwa might find in it the chance to do…
Read more #957 Transmission of the Queer
A Russian Sister by Caroline Adderson Toronto: HarperCollins, 2020 $24.99 / 9781443426817 Reviewed by Valerie Green * If you are a fan of Russian playwright Anton Chekov (1860-1904) you will most certainly enjoy A Russian Sister by Caroline Adderson. If not, you might find the book somewhat perplexing and strange. Adderson’s book is based on…
Read more #956 Meet the Chekovs
Notice by Dustin Cole Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2020 $21.95 / 9780889713840 Reviewed by Brett Josef Grubisic * Early in Dustin Cole’s audacious and emphatically atmospheric debut novel, Levett, Cole’s furious flaneur of an anti-hero, catches a glimpse of himself: he takes in his pouched eyes and frazzled hair. Minor indignities, they’re practically the least of…
Read more #948 Down and out at Main & 6th
The Crooked Thing by Mary MacDonald Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2020 $22.95 / 9781773860312 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * The title of Mary MacDonald’s debut short story collection alludes to W.B. Yeats’ “The Young Man’s Song”: “O love is the crooked thing,/ There is nobody wise enough,/ To find out all that is in it.”…
Read more #947 The subtleties of love
Aria by Nazanine Hozar Toronto: Penguin Random House (Knopf Canada) $24.95 / 9780345811820 Reviewed by Candace Fertile * On March 12, 2020, Hozar’s Aria was one of five books shortlisted for the 2020 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes — Ed. * Nazanine Hozar’s debut novel tackles the chaos of Iran…
Read more #946 Inside the Iranian Revolution
Coming Back by K.L. Denman Victoria: Orca Books, 2019 $9.95 / 9781459822665 Reviewed by Carol Anne Shaw * Coming Back, by K.L. Denman, is part of the Orca Books’ Rapid Reads series. These short novels and non-fiction books are high-interest, quick reads, primarily targeted at readers who struggle with literacy. Denman introduces us to Julie,…
Read more #945 When horse sense is required
Sherlockian Musings: Thoughts on the Sherlock Holmes Stories by Sheldon Goldfarb London: MX Publishing, 2019 $16.95 / 9781787054813 Reviewed by Patrick McDonagh * Sheldon Goldfarb’s Sherlockian Musings live up to their title. They are very much musings, open-ended and accessible, and they are quite often amusing as well. The book’s structure is immediately accessible —…
Read more #943 Investigating Sherlock Holmes