Anyone who is a bibliophile (and let’s face it, most of us who review books are) will be able to relate to the subject matter of Allison Hoover Bartlett’s book, The Man Who Loved Books Too Much. As someone who collects books as much for their aesthetic appeal as for their content, I can understand READ MORE
Category: Fiction
BOOK REVIEW | FALL – COLIN MCADAM
“We were boys who wore suits, monkeys with manners. We didn’t have parents but were treated like babies. We were left on our own but had hundreds of rules to abide.” Fall is one of this year’s Scotiabank Giller Prize finalists. It is the coming of age story of two young men in their READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT – GRAHAM GREENE
My parents, thus proving how cool they are, read this book to me when I was a child. I can’t remember exactly how old I was, but since I was still young enough to be read to, I’m guessing I was not yet into double digits. So reading this book always makes me feel as READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | NERVE: THE FIRST TEN YEARS – EDITORS OF NERVE.COM
It has been said that you should never judge a book by its cover, but as soon as I saw this book I fell in love with it. On the cover lounges a mesmerizing woman whose eyes beckon to you through a transparent hot pink vinyl cover with the word “NERVE” etched across it. Then READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | I CAPTURE THE CASTLE – DODIE SMITH
Dodie Smith is best known for her children’s book, 101 Dalmations, but I Capture the Castle is by far my favourite of the two. I first read this book when I was about 14 years old. I remember abandoning reality and diving into it every afternoon after school for as long as I could READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | STUPID AND CONTAGIOUS – CAPRICE CRANE
This book surprised me. I picked it up at my favourite local used book store one afternoon, and thought it would be one of those chicklit books I guiltily read and then dispose of in the hopes that I’ll never have to admit to having read them, nevermind having bought them. Instead it turned READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | ALL FAMILIES ARE PSYCHOTIC – DOUGLAS COUPLAND
I have often wondered what would happen if you took every sort of mishap and cliche you could dream up, created a cast of characters and threw the mishaps at them like rotten tomatoes at a stage show. This book is the answer to that query. It features a thalidomide baby, AIDS, a kidnapping, READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | FIERCE INVALIDS HOME FROM HOT CLIMATES – TOM ROBBINS
If I had to pick one book to take to a desert island with me, this would be it. I don’t know how many times I have passed a rainy weekend lost in the rich scenery and amusing characters of this book. Normally the term “magical realism” applies to the works of READ MORE
TRANSMETROPOLITAN – WARREN ELLIS AND DARICK ROBERTSON
Transmetropolitan is a comic book series written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Darick Robertson. It is the story of a renegade journalist called Spider Jerusalem. Jerusalem is heavily tattooed, foul-mouthed and irreverent. He takes the city by storm, popping a pharmacy’s worth of drugs, drinking enough to fell a bar full of lifetime alcoholics, READ MORE
BOOK REVIEW | THE GUM THIEF – DOUGLAS COUPLAND
“Just because you’ve been born and made it through high school doesn’t mean society can’t still abort you. Wake up.” Anyone who has ever read Douglas Coupland’s work is familiar with his uncanny ability to take the everyday world around him and turn it into a vehicle for insight into the human condition. His READ MORE
POPULAR FAVOURITES
There are a bunch of books on my shelves that I don’t quite know what to do with. Every time I peruse the shelves looking for a book to write about, one that I loved or that meant something to me, I pause when I reach them but feel a sense of futility when READ MORE