Rad Reads – Hamilton Style!

Tuesday 28 June 2022

Looking to cozy up with a good book? Hamilton authors have served up a bumper crop of local lit that will keep those pandemic blues at bay.

Read this piece in the newly-launced Hamilton City Magazine, whose preview issue is now available! To see what the magazine is all about, and what's forthcoming, click here

Favourite Reads of 2021

Wednesday 16 February 2022

The pandemic has challenged us all in countless ways and, undoubtedly, changed the way we read. For me, that change has been positive. Though I have fewer moments to read on public transit or listen to audiobooks on my way to work, working from home has allowed me to squeeze in a lot more time to read at home, and audiobooks have been excellent company for neighbourhood walks.

Above, you'll find my favourite books released in 2021, and, below, backlist titles that I think deserve some extra attention. As always (for me), both lists are mostly non-fiction, with a few poetry and fiction titles in the mix. 

In no particular order, here are the books I loved in 2021.

Released in 2021
  • Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
  • Care Of by Ivan Coyote
  • Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir by Ashley C. Ford
  • The Most Precious Substance on Earth by Shashi Bhat
  • Shift Change: Scenes from a Post-Industrial Revolution by Stephen Dale
  • Don't Call It a Cult: The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere and the Women of NXIVM by Sarah Berman
  • Her Name was Margaret: Life and Death on the Streets by Denise Davy
  • Murder on the Inside: The Deadly Riot at Kingston Penitentiary by Catherine Fogarty
  • Danger Flower by Jaclyn Desforges
  • Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke


Titles Released Prior to 2021
  • How to Lose Everything: A Memoir by Christa Couture
  • Take Back the Tray: Revolutionizing Food in Hospitals, Schools, and Other Institutions by Joshna Maharaj
  • We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib
  • it was never going to be okay by jaye simpson

Review: Always Brave, Sometimes Kind by Katie Bickell

Thursday 4 November 2021

Always Brave, Sometimes Kind
Katie Bickell
Brindle & Glass, 272 pages, $22.00, 2020

The interconnected stories that populate Katie Bickell’s thoughtful debut collection, Always Brave, Sometimes Kind, remind us of how deeply socio-political factors shape our personal experiences. Set in Alberta between 1990 and 2016, the stories explore myriad issues facing Albertans, including boom and bust in the oil industry, the mistreatment of Indigenous communities, labour rights, and addiction. With great warmth and empathy, Bickell’s work captures how the province changed, or didn’t change, over time.

To read this complete review, please visit ROOM Magazine

Favourite Reads of 2020

Thursday 31 December 2020


My reading habits changed this year, and for the first time, I have audiobooks and eBooks on my list of favourite reads. It's also all non-fiction. As much as I could have used a dose of escapism this year, I seemed drawn to deep dives on important issues. 

So, in no particular order, here are the ten books from 2020 I'd highly recommend. 

Honourable Mentions
Here are a few memorable books I read this year that weren't from 2020. Add them to your list!
(I also read Normal People for a third time. It's a problem.)

Searching for Evidence of Ancestors: Lauren Carter 's Following Sea

Wednesday 30 December 2020


This review originally appeared in Arc Poetry Magazine

The first poem in Following Sea, Lauren Carter’s second collection of poetry, stands alone, untethered from one of the book’s five sections. Titled “Historian,” it’s set in modern day, a contrast from most of the other 49 poems inhabiting Carter’s meticulous look at family history and human migration.

I find
them: pressed
between pages, those sudden
cursive blooms

she writes in this first piece, searching for evidence of her ancestors’ lives on reels of microfiche and on the pages of worn ledgers.

Centred on the Canadian settler experience of her great-great grandparents, John Willson Chisholm (1823-1900) and Margaret Patterson (1824-1891), Carter crafts a narrative. With finely tuned attention to detail and elegant language, she fills the gaps between dates found on census records and land registers, weaving together family lore, Canadian social history, and genealogical research to imagine their joyful celebrations, gruelling physical labour, and daily burdens. 

Read the full review here

Leftist book world responds to COVID-19

Friday 19 June 2020

"Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different." This quotation by author and activist Arundhati Roy introduces Sick of the System: Why the COVID-19 recovery must be revolutionary, a book of essays released earlier this month as an ebook by Toronto publisher Between the Lines. Available through a pay-what-you-can model, it's just one of the ways Between the Lines has quickly adapted, imagining the publishing world anew.

Canada's coronavirus shutdown began right at one of the busiest times of the year for those in the publishing industry. International spring book fairs, where many book deals are made, operated at limited capacity, were postponed, or cancelled. When COVID-19 forced all non-essential businesses to close, bookstores and libraries were among the first to shut their doors. Book festivals have cancelled or had to quickly navigate unknown digital spaces to move programming online. With fewer opportunities to promote new books and the reduced capacity of printers, many publishers have been forced to delay spring releases.

"It's hard to get a full picture right now," says David Bush, publicity and promotions manager and member of Between the Lines' editorial committee, who expects we'll see how "disruptive" the current climate will be in the coming months. "The world is changing at rapid speed."

To read this full article, visit rabble.ca

Catherine Ocelot's Art Life


This review was originally published in the Hamilton Review of Books

Near the end of Art Life, Montreal-based cartoonist Catherine Ocelot’s introspective and playful graphic novel about her own life as a creator, she asks herself a question many of us could ask ourselves right now: “Should I stop watching TV and do some work?” Seated on her couch, books piled on a table beside her and a steaming beverage in hand, it’s clear that even in her quietest moments, she’s questioning her productivity. In many instances in Art Life, we see that there’s little division between her personal and professional life.

First published in French in 2018 as La Vie d'artiste, and named winner of the Prix Bédélys for best comic in Quebec, Art Life explores the role of artists (and in turn, art) in our contemporary world. In a series of vignettes, Ocelot has conversations with seven of her artist friends, each a storyteller, whether through film, comics, or other media. Together, they explore doubts, disappointments, and observations — some funny, some tragic — connected to living the “Art Life.”
 
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