April 30, 2010 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Criticism & Essays
A single-volume history of Canadian literature “from the beginnings” – which here means the first European contact with Native peoples – presents a formidable challenge. The “two women scholars” (their self-description) who have edited this ... Read More »
St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, offers a liberal arts education, which, given our current obsession with job training, is increasingly rare for post-secondary institutions. The year 2010 marks St. Thomas’s centenary, and this ... Read More »
April 30, 2010 | Filed under: Anthologies, Children and YA Non-fiction
The best historical novels effortlessly transport their readers back into the past, while less successful attempts bury the reader in musty research and leave the characters to gather dust. Curiosity, the sophomore effort from Winnipeg-based ... Read More »
April 30, 2010 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Fiction: Novels
We all know the appalling statistic: six million Jewish people killed in the Holocaust. But how do we make this staggering figure resonate on a personal level? Helen Waldstein Wilkes knew the number, but until ... Read More »
April 30, 2010 | Filed under: History
The sex lives of birds is an intriguing topic, about which most of us have little or no knowledge. Did you know, for instance, that Australian male superb fairy-wrens court their sweethearts with yellow flowers; ... Read More »
April 30, 2010 | Filed under: Science, Technology & Environment
The sex lives of birds is an intriguing topic, about which most of us have little or no knowledge. Did you know, for instance, that Australian male superb fairy-wrens court their sweethearts with yellow flowers; ... Read More »
April 30, 2010 | Filed under: Science, Technology & Environment
Robert Morrison’s The English Opium Eater, the first major biography of Thomas de Quincey (1785–1859) in more than 25 years, draws on previously unknown letters from de Quincey’s daughters and his 21-volume collected works published ... Read More »
April 30, 2010 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography
Would you bet your life on luck? Risk your fortune on a coin toss or wager? In Toronto screenwriter Scott Carter’s debut novel, Dave Bolden could plausibly answer yes. When the driver of an 18-wheel ... Read More »
April 30, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels
The Irrationalist is Chicago-based expat Suzanne Buffam’s second collection, following her Gerald Lampert Award–winning debut, Past Imperfect. The book’s title plays on a snippet from Aristotle’s Poetics: “it is exclusively the irrational upon which the ... Read More »
April 30, 2010 | Filed under: Poetry
The letters on the cover of Ian Williams’ debut collection are all white except for one “u” and one “i,” both of which are red. This is because the poems in the book are chiefly ... Read More »
April 30, 2010 | Filed under: Poetry