The week started off with a roar when Michelle Winter's I Am A Truck was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and continued its hot streak with even more indie books as finalists for the Governor General's Literary Awards. We also took a field trip to poetry haven knife | fork | book, and a mental one to Saskatchewan, and much more.
~ Rick Hillis' A Place You'll Never Be (Coteau Books) put us in touch with a Saskatchewan we hadn't known before in
this edition of Where in Canada.
~ We took a
field trip and chatted with owner of knife | fork | book Jeff Kirby about poetry in 2017, what's surprising about bookselling, and the store's new digs.
~ We went sci-fi with this edition of
If You Liked X, Read Y comparing Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to Randal Graham's Beforelife (ECW Press).
Staffer Tan picked up a copy of Margaret Gracie's Plastic (Porcupine's Quill), a collection of twelve linked short stories central to Debbie Pearce, a former pageant queen, in pursuit of "perfect."
Here's what she had to say:
"Last fall, the office was abuzz, discussing the toxic masculinity displayed in Jowita Bydlowska's
Guy (Wolsak & Wynn). We all agreed the writing was great, and drew you into a story about a character you realllly don't want to like. Margaret Gracie's
Plastic (Porcupine's Quill) tackles the opposite – toxic femininity. I can't say the characters are any more charming for their faults, but the writing is equally good, and I can't wait for my colleagues to catch up on this one."