August 1, 2018
Summer Books on the Radio
I was on CBC Ontario Morning today talking about amazing summer books—including two I’d already mentioned, but I hadn’t talked about them then, and I absolutely had to come back and enthuse because they’ve been highlights of my summer, along with all the rest. You can listen again to my picks on the podcast: I come in at 30.00.
June 6, 2018
Summer Books on the Radio
A bumper crop of summer book recommendations! I’ve read half these books, and the other half are coming up on my nightstand. But I’m excited to recommend them all to you. You can listen again to my CBC Ontario Morning books column on their podcast. I come in at 32.00. And learn more about all these titles over at 49thShelf.com.
May 2, 2018
Time Traveling Books
If you didn’t hear my books column on CBC Ontario Morning today, you can listen again on the podcast.
March 14, 2018
CBC Ontario Morning Book Picks
I have been reading so much lately, it’s totally ridiculous, but it means I had a whole lot to talk about on my CBC Ontario Morning books column today. You can listen again on the podcast; I come in at 38.20. Sadly. I ran out of time to talk about Hysteria, by Elisabeth de Mariaffi, which I read on the weekend, but I would have told you that it’s kind of a thriller but so much more than that, a little bit Betty Draper and Mad Men too, about a 1950s’ housewife whose perceptions are called into question (by the reader and everyone) when she starts seeing a ghostly girl and then her young son disappears. Is she really hysterical, as her husband is claiming, or is something much more sinister afoot?
February 6, 2018
Neat Things: A Round-Up
Hands down, the best thing to happen to me last week was my conversation with writers Elizabeth Renzetti and Nicole Blades, and broadcaster Michael Enright, on CBC’s The Sunday Edition. Apart from the excitement of actually being on a show I listen to every week, the conversation itself was such a pleasure to take part in, so much fun and really interesting. You can listen again to it here.
Another wonderful thing is Anne Logan’s kind and generous review of Mitzi Bytes—that the book continues to resonate with readers thrills me to no end. She calls it a thought-provoking novel that goes beyond the limits of Mommy-Lit, and declares it one of the best books she’s read in awhile.
And finally, I loved my friend Suzanne Alyssa Andrew’s piece on owning her power and pulling a winning story from a magazine whose editor she didn’t want to be associated with in light of a sexual misconduct scandal and rabid douchebaggery. When I got to the part in which she quoted me, my head exploded—it means so much to me to know the things I write can empower and inspire others. In fact, I find it empowering and inspiring, even…
January 3, 2018
Looking Forward to 2018 Books
Happy New Year! I was on CBC Ontario Morning today talking about 2018 titles I’m really excited about. You can listen again here—I come on at 33.50.
December 6, 2017
Books on the Radio
You can listen again to my book recommendations from today’s episode of CBC Ontario Morning on their podcast—I come in at 35:45 minutes. Although I was sorry to miss the chance to talk about Alison Watt’s Dazzle Patterns, on the 100th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion, no less! But in this case, “So Many Books, So Little Time,” is literally true. You should still check out the entire stack though.
October 4, 2017
Books on the Radio!
Finalists for the Governor General’s Literary Awards were announced this morning, and the shortlist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize came out earlier this week, and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction prize list came out last week. Interestingly, none of the books that I’ve loved best this year are turning up on the prize lists—possibly my affection is a curse?—but I’ve been paying attention to this kind of thing long enough to know this is not something worth being bothered about. Nothing bugs me more than news stories after prize announcements highlighting what big names have been “overlooked,” or trying to be strategic about what books are nominated. Basically, it’s all very subjective, and I’m just happy that all the big Canadian prizes highlight such a wide selection of books this year. There are many titles on these lists I haven’t read yet, and I kind of love that—the possibility that they may indeed end up among the books I’ve loved best after all. Which certainly include the five titles I talked about on CBC Ontario Morning today. You can listen again on the podcast—I come on at 25 minutes.
August 2, 2017
Other Words, Other Summers
On my CBC Ontario Morning column this morning, my theme was other worlds and other summers, spectacular transporting books you might have missed the first time around which are so timeless that it will never be too late to go back to them. Like this weekend, maybe? You can listen again on the podcast here. I come in at 38.4 minutes.
May 3, 2017
May Books on the Radio
I got to talk about this spectacular stack of books today on CBC Ontario Morning. You can listen again on the podcast—I come in at 33.10.
