In Review: The Week of August 13th

On the Blog

~ Even though it’s hot out, milk couldn’t be a bad choice with this week’s Chappy Hour, a creamy, almondy Sweet Marie cocktail to go with Helen Fogwill Porter’s Full Circle (Breakwater Books).~ We interviewed Ali Bryan, author of August All Lit Up Book Club pick The Figgs (Freehand Books), about writing from five-member family experiences, what changes in a sophomore novel writing process, and lessons she got out of writing the book.~ Lessons galore this week: we shared our own key takeaways we’ve gleaned from our favourite reads over the years in “Parting Gifts: Lessons Learned from Books” – everything from giving our loved ones our ear to using hope and humour as a buoy in life’s more tumultuous times.~ We also got to chat with Nefertari Hughes Mystery series author B.R. Myers (this is our week for speaking to authors, lucky us!) who’s willing to stake her friendships over liking her favourite book, which we can get behind.~ Our #FridayReads pick this week was Jen Neale’s debut Land Mammals and Sea Creatures (ECW Press), a novel “that contrasts a romanticized vision of suicide with the one experienced by ordinary people.”

Around the Web

~ Toronto Public Library is inviting its patrons to collectively write a book, one sentence at a time, on Twitter. Brave.~ A popular foraging Instagrammer’s cookbook was pulled from store shelves after concerns that some of the advice might lead – between the unleached acorns and the raw, potentially deadly mushrooms – to a rather poisonous buffet.~ Anne, the CBC reboot of Anne of Green Gables, has been renewed for a third season. (We still burn a candle for you, Megan Follows.)

What Else We’re Reading

Staffer Lauren yearns to return to Denmark after a trip there last November, so she’s piling up Canadian translations of Danish books, like Frayed Opus for Strings & Wind Instruments from lauded poet Ulrikka S. Gernes (Brick Books). There’s a dreaminess to Gernes’ work that can pass for walking or biking alongside a Copenhagen canal, so long as you read it with smorrebrod.