Literary

I TaniaBrian Joseph DavisECWI always thought that it would be a great idea for an author to provide a soundtrack to accompany a novel and then I found one, on brianjosephdavis.com. As much as I approve of Funkadelic and Chrome, his music choices left me as cold as his experimental “highly fictionalized true story,” I, […]

[image-4]Published February 21, 2008.It’s So YouEdited by Michelle Tea(Seal Press)Fashion is a feminist issue. Queer-lit icon Michelle Tea and 35 other feisty fashionistas explain why. Six Feet Under writer/producer Jill Soloway; Sonic Youth’s bassist Kim Gordon; transgender author, performer and gender theorist Kate Bornstein; writer Trina Robbins; novelist Beth Lisick and other fashionable females offer […]

The Withdrawal Method Pasha Malla(Anansi)“I should probably tell you,” she said, swallowing coffee, “that I’m about to lose my skin.”That opening sentence— from the first story, “Slough,” in Pasha Malla’s remarkable debut collection The Withdrawal Method—is a sign (or warning) of things to come. When reading, for instance, Barbara Gowdy’s stories, you expect characters with […]

Glass VoicesCarol BruneauCormorantIn Halifax writer Carol Bruneau’s last book, Berth, her main character Willa sacrifices a comfortable life as a military wife and mother to follow a mysterious man who lives in an isolated lighthouse on the island of Thrumcap (based on McNabs). In Glass Voices, 71-year-old Lucy Caines copes with a stroke-ridden husband, a […]

QuintetDouglas Arthur Brown(Key Porter Books)Quintet could refer to five separate strands of story: identical triplets (Rory, Cameron and Adrian) coping with the sudden death of their parents in a train wreck; the lasting effects of growing up in Cape Breton; a Halifax carpenter (and choir singer) struggling with 30 years of addiction and caring for […]

Concrete Reveries: Consciousness and the CityMark Kingwell (Viking Canada)The author begins by reconsidering, if not defending, concrete as an architectural material, not to mention the style it’s often identified with—Brutalism. That alone is valiant. The fuller project: a philosophy of architecture. More than housing residents and workers, architecture, Kingwell argues, shapes our consciousness as it […]

Wild Plants of Eastern Canada: Identifying, Harvesting and UsingMarilyn Walker(Nimbus) This is a wonderful book for those mildly, moderately or massively interested in identifying, appreciating, gathering and (carefully, responsibly) using wild fauna. At its heart, it’s a celebration of a major part of the Atlantic region’s natural heritage and ecological diversity. An associate professor at […]

Life of Pi (Illustrated edition)Yann Martel. Illustrated by Tomislav TorjanacKnopf CanadaI love the paperback cover of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi: a bared-teeth tiger’s head floating between a tomato sky and a turquoise sea. It’s an iconic cover—like Heather O’Neill’s Lullabies for Little Criminals or James Frey’s kinda-memoir A Million Little Pieces—that is immediately identifiable. […]

Coming Attractions 07Edited by Mark Anthony Jarman (Oberon Press)Oberon Press’ Coming Attractions 07 showcases three emerging Canadian talents. It opens with its strongest stories by BC author Julie Paul. In her hilarious and sharp-witted “Boring Baby,” a new mother, already fed up with the trappings of motherhood, compares her newborn to an end table. Anik […]

Be Good Stacey May Fowles (Tightrope Books)Sometimes fear of becoming a Montreal hipster novelist is the quickest way to stop daydreams of moving, after another fruitless Halifax day. For those of us who never drank at Montreal’s dive bars while attending McGill, those books can be like banging your head against a screenprinted gig-poster-adorned wall. […]

The City of WordsAlberto ManguelAnansiWe like to think our cities don’t have walls anymore. In the 2007 CBC Massey Lecture, Alberto Manguel would have us think otherwise. Though an important tool to build (that is, to identify and name) cities, language can be used and abused so that barriers—invisible yes, but no less effective—still go […]