February 19, 2013
My review in The Rusty Toque
I am very excited to have a review appear in the new issue of The Rusty Toque, because it puts me in good company, and because I get to go about literary criticism at length. From my review of Alix Ohlin’s books Signs and Wonders and Inside:
“Read enough of Alix Ohlin’s new novel and the word “inside” becomes conspicuous, begins to assume invisible italics everywhere you spy it. For example, in the following sentence: By this point, it’s impossible to review either of Alix Ohlin’s new books inside a vacuum.
Ohlin’s novel, titled Inside, was nominated for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and even endorsed by Oprah. On the flipside of all the hype, both Inside and Ohlin’s short story collection Signs And Wonders were the subject of a spectacularly nasty review in the New York Times, critic William Giraldi declaring Ohlin’s use of language to be “intellectually inert, emotionally untrue and lyrically asleep.” Borrowing the “immortal coinages” of a few dead men and employing clichés of his own, Giraldi takes care to define Literature proper and situates Inside far outside its bounds. (I will cease with the italics now, but you see what I mean.)
So the reviewer encounters these books now with an awkward self-consciousness, and, though Inside and Signs and Wonders both deserve to be considered in their own rights, each book as a self-contained universe, the world beyond can’t help creeping in.”
Read the rest here.
January 10, 2013
Short fiction joy, news, and reviews.
We received the most enormous pile of packages on Tuesday, including a magazine each for Harriet and I. Mine was Canadian Notes and Queries, featuring a new short story by Caroline Adderson, and Harriet’s was Chirp, with a fabulous short story by Sara O’Leary (!!), and I loved that both of us were experiencing the joy and goodness of short fiction in fine Canadian magazines, and that Harriet gets to appreciate this fine thing from the age of 3. What a lucky girl.
In other news, I was quoted in this excellent piece by Anne Chudobiak in the Montreal Gazette about the CWILA count and lack of female reviewers in Canadian journals and newspapers. And my review of The Stamp Collector by Jennifer Lanthier and Francois Thisdale is now up at Quill & Quire.
December 12, 2012
Book picks at Vitamin Daily
I’ve been recommending books left, right and centre lately (which doesn’t really make a change, does it?). Check out “Book Report: 5 picks for winter break” at Vitamin Daily for a particularly delightful selection.
December 11, 2012
Bunch holiday reads (for grownups!)
(Cross-posted from Bunch Family)
If the holidays are offering up a little window of reading time in your life, it’s important that you give that time to a book that’s worth it. The following is a list of great books guaranteed to go down easy once the kids have gone to bed, and stay with you long after the last page is turned.
The Book of Marvels by Lornia Crozier: Crozier is one of Canada’s most renowned poets, and in her latest book, which is not quite poetry, she turns her attention to the domestic, illuminating the extraordinary life of every-day things. For example, from “Fork”: “It’s the only kitchen noun, turned adjective, attached to lightning.” The book is slim, gorgeous and devourable. A must-have for every household, actually.
Stopping for Strangers by Daniel Griffin: “The first time I got pregnant, it was like the baby was stealing our youth… And then when I miscarried, it was like we were robbed again, and so I got pregnant again.” Here is parenthood and family life in all its complexity. Griffin’s short story collection was shortlisted for the 2012 Danuta Gleed Literary Award and is a testament to the short story’s amazing force.
How t
o Get a Girl Pregnant by Karleen Pendleton Jiménez: Pendleton Jiménez’s memoir frames a very difficult question, “How is a butch Chicana lesbian supposed to get sperm?” In turns hilarious and heartbreaking,with incredible honesty and great writing, the book sheds light on the experience of infertility and the longing so many people feel for the (seeming im)possibility of parenthood. This one was nominated for a Lamba Lit Award for Lesbian Memoir/Biography.
The Blondes by Emily Schultz: I can say that this is the only feminist novel that I’ve ever handed to my husband and said, “Hey, read this. It’s about an apocalyptic plague.” He liked it as much as I did. When a virus begins infecting blond women with murderous rage, women assume their old familiar positions turned against one another. It’s a fast-paced and suspenseful book that offers remarkable insight into women’s relationships and also reproductive rights.
A Large Harmonium by Sue Sorenson: This is the book that I can’t stop recommending, and no one has been disappointed yet. A fun and hilarious book about balancing work and family life, a book with joy at its core, it’s a year in the life of a university English professor who finds herself dissatisfied with her lot. She’s contemplating writing a book about bad mother’s in children’s literature: “And in Good Night Moon, where has the mother buggered off to? That intractable little bunny who won’t go to sleep has been left in the care of a rather odd old lady sitting in a rocker… ”
Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens: If you’re going to curl up with one book about a serial killer this year, let this be the one. Sara Gallagher’s life unravels when she discovers her birth father is a notorious killer, and then her identity is leaked on an online forum. And then she finds out that her father is still out there, and that he wants to get in touch. As Sara plots to keep her family safe, she must also grapple with the disturbing possibilities of her genetic inheritance.
Sussex Drive by Linda Svendsen: For those of you looking for something political, I suggest Linda Svendsen’s smart and funny satirical novel. Svendsen re-imagines the 2008 prorogation of Canadian parliament from the perspectives of the power-house wife of Canada’s right-wing Prime Minister and the exotic, unlikely Governor General who lives across the street. Canada’s First Lady is going to let nothing–not even her teenage daughter’s pregnancy by way of a member of her husband’s RCMP security force–come between her husband’s party and its elusive majority. Can the Governor General stop her?
Cadillac Couches by Sophie B. Watson: This book is fun, a tribute to musical fandom, an ode to ’90s Grrrl power, the tale of Annie and Isobel’s road trip beginning at the Edmonton Folk Festival and ending up at a Hawksley Workman show in Montreal. Along the way, Annie discovers Ani DiFranco and is half-transformed, they have a breakdown in Wawa, max out their credit cards, and have to busk in order to earn enough money to keep the gas tank topped up. Annie is convinced if they can just make their way to Hawksley that he will fall in love with her, and her half-transformation will be complete.
Moby Dick and Pride and Prejudice from Cozy Classics: And for those of us who’d like to stick to literature with a bit of substance, definitely check out the Cozy Classics board books. With no more than one word per page, the books actually manage to stay loyal to their source material, plus the felt puppets in the illustrations are adorable. And we all know that these sorts of picture books are really for the parents anyway.
December 10, 2012
Taking Responsibility
The Canadian Women in the Literary Arts’ Blog launched today with my post “Taking Responsibility for the CWILA Numbers: My Piece of the Pie”.
“For years, I’ve been counting the pitiful numbers of female bylines in Canadian magazines and newspapers, dropping subscriptions in despair, so when the CWILA numbers were made public last spring, the numbers didn’t surprise me. If anything, I was delighted—finally here was quantifiable evidence that I wasn’t crazy or paranoid, that something was amiss. And I was also deluded enough to imagine that the next step would be simple, to suppose that now everyone knew what the problem was that things would start to change.”
November 6, 2012
Sharon Butala and Prairie Fire
My essay “True Crime” is featured in the current issue of Prairie Fire, as part of its celebration of Sharon Butala. I’m quite excited about this publication, as it’s about a book that meant a lot to me, and also because the project has been a long time coming. The opportunity to contribute to the issue came about 4 years ago when I was pregnant, and I remember accepting it with fear as I had no idea what my writing life would be like once my baby was born. “At the very least,” I remember thinking, “I will have one thing published in the next few years.” Which is funny to consider now, because I’ve been lucky enough to do so much with these few years.
I’m excited about this issue as well because it’s really beautiful, highlights a fantastic Canadian writer, and includes work by other great Canadian writers, academics and publishing folks. I’m really proud to be a part of it. Should be on newstands any day now.
November 1, 2012
Kids' book review: I'm Bored
I was really pleased to review I’m Bored by Michael Ian Black and Debbie Ridpath Ohi in the October issue of Quill & Quire. It’s a funny, thoughtful book that takes the readers somewhere, and the scraggly-haired protagonist is just the kind of spunky girl I like to see in picture books. I also appreciate that it’s a book with a female protagonist that will appeal to boy readers as much as the girls.
From my review: “Fans of Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie series will delight in the latest book by American comedian Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Toronto graphic artist Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Echoing Willems, Black’s story is constructed around the dialogue of an unlikely couple, in this case a small girl and a potato. The text is perfectly complemented by Ohi’s quirky minimalist drawings.”
You can read the rest here.
September 14, 2012
It goes on and on.
My review of Cordelia Strube’s new novel Milosz appears in the National Post this weekend. As I wrote, “At its heart, which is huge, Milosz is about progeny, about what tethers us to the world and to each other. ” You can the review in its entirety here.
June 18, 2012
Books here and there
In the latest issue of UofT Magazine, I’ve got a short piece about Katrina Onstad’s new novel Everybody Has Everything:
“Katrina Onstad ( MA 1999) might be best known for her national newspaper and magazine columns, but her debut novel How Happy to Be was celebrated for its satire, wit, and examination of loving and working in the 21st century. In her new novel, Everybody Has Everything, Onstad takes a similar approach, once again considering the isolating aspects of contemporary urban life. Through her characters James and Ana, she uses the perspective of a longchildless couple to take a provocative look at modern parenthood, illuminating the absurdity of a culture that has turned “parent” into a verb.” (Read the rest)
And my review of the picture book David Weale and Pierre Pratt’s Doors in the Air, which I loved, has just gone online at Quill & Quire:
“In one of the final illustrations, the boy is perched atop an orange door like a flying carpet, on a journey to the moon. The accompanying text suggests there is no doorway more important than one’s limitless imagination, and drives home the book’s subversive and powerful message: ‘Remember, you don’t have to stay where you are.'” (Read the rest)
March 30, 2012
Me on David Gilmour (and the possibility of violence)
My review of David Gilmour’s “novel” The Perfect Order of Things is now out in Canadian Notes & Queries 84. It is perhaps my favourite of any book review I’ve ever written, because it contains the line, “This is the kind of book that no woman would ever get away with…” and also notes the point at which I wrote “Yuck” in the margins. And surprisingly, I actually liked this book, which is a good thing because otherwise I’d be risking Gilmour punching me in the face in a College Street doorway.
The magazines is on newstands now, and was also featured in last Saturday’s Globe & Mail, which was exciting.
