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Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • ALU Book Club: Interview with Ali Bryan

    ALU Book Club: Interview with Ali Bryan

    This might just be our favourite part of book club: this week we electronically sat down with August book club pick The Figgs author Ali Bryan, who told us about figuring the plot out as you go along (with some help from her editor at Freehand Books), how communications technology changes not just our characters but ourselves,…

  • Parting Gifts: Lessons Learned from Books

    Parting Gifts: Lessons Learned from Books

    You’ve heard it before: we’re a sum of our experiences. And for avid readers we also become a sum of our best reads. You know you’ve read a good book when the words were powerful enough to change you a little, or changed the way you looked at something. It’s why we read. We believe…

  • Writer’s Block: B.R. Myers

    Writer’s Block: B.R. Myers

    We sit down with Nefertari Hughes Mystery series author B.R. Myers about alternative publishing methods (e.g. skywriting), Pride and Prejudice, and transparency in #amwriting.

  • In Review: The Week of August 6th

    In Review: The Week of August 6th

    This week we observed International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples with books by Indigenous authors we admire, got chatty about our #ALUbookclub pick The Figgs, contemplated gender and writing, and more.

  • Under the Cover: Louis Riel

    Under the Cover: Louis Riel

    In Louis Riel: Let Justice Be Done (Ronsdale Press), author and researcher David Doyle, examines possibly the most famous and passionately debated legal case in Canadian history: the sentencing and hanging of Riel in 1885. Below Ronsdale Press’ Arianna Cheveldave takes us under the cover of Louis Riel sharing with us some of the details…

  • Reads for International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

    Reads for International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

    In celebration of International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, we rounded up six books by Indigenous authors we love.

  • ALU Book Club: The Figgs Discussion

    ALU Book Club: The Figgs Discussion

    Last week we introduced you to our August book club pick, Ali Bryan’s The Figgs and shared a short interview with publisher Freehand Books for a behind-the-scenes look at how the book came together. This week, we got chatty about the book and put together this handy reading guide that you can download to take to…

  • Writer’s Block: Claire Tacon

    Writer’s Block: Claire Tacon

    Award-winning author Claire Tacon takes us on a road trip in her sophomore novel In Search of the Perfect Singing Flamingo (Wolsak & Wynn), a charming story about a dad struggling with his daughter’s independence. We had the chance to talk with Claire about writing rituals, inequality, and gender and writing.

  • Cover Collage: Head in the Clouds

    Cover Collage: Head in the Clouds

    Clouds are in the forecast for this long-weekend Monday: cloud-covered books, that is.

  • In Review: The Week of July 30

    In Review: The Week of July 30

    From favourite summertime reading spots to tasty nutritious meals to the start of this month’s book club, this week was a mid-summer treat.

  • First Fiction Friday: A Boy at the Edge of the World

    First Fiction Friday: A Boy at the Edge of the World

    Debut fiction from Toronto playwright David K. Yeh, A Boy at the Edge of the World (Guernica Editions) sees a small-town Ontario boy come of age in the big city where love, lust, and friendship converge on the road to self-discovery.

  • Read This, then That: The Long Aftermaths of Hurricane Hazel

    Read This, then That: The Long Aftermaths of Hurricane Hazel

    Dear reader, if you’re an older-half millennial who grew up around Toronto, 1954’s Hurricane Hazel was a mythic event that didn’t stack up against our frequent, largely benign weather warnings. In both Jeanette Lynes’ The Small Things that End the World (Coteau Books) and Mark Sinnett’s The Carnivore (ECW Press), the destruction of Hazel is keenly felt: both during…

  • ALU Book Club: Intro to The Figgs

    ALU Book Club: Intro to The Figgs

    While last month’s book club pick Zolitude made us weep in all the best ways, this month we’re turning to the belly-laugh humour of Ali Bryan’s The Figgs published by Freehand Books.

  • Test Kitchen: Nutritious Newfoundland

    Test Kitchen: Nutritious Newfoundland

    We’re serving up a whole lotta good with Some Good (Breakwater Books) from Holistic Nutritional Consultant Jessica Mitton. This new cookbook is a blend of healthy food and local Newfoundland traditions and includes a variety of appetizers, main dishes, desserts, and even condiments like rhubarb chutney and pickled beets for added kick to these tasty…

  • We Asked: Where’s Your Favourite Place to Summer Read?

    We Asked: Where’s Your Favourite Place to Summer Read?

    We polled authors, publishers, and ALU staffers alike to see where their favourite summer reading spots are – read on to find out.Rick Harris

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