BOOK REVIEWS

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Grandpa’s Girls

By Nicola I. Campbell; Kim LaFave, illus.

Grandpa’s Girls follows a group of four cheerful Interior Salish cousins let loose on their grandfather’s sprawling B.C. farm. The book is not a traditional narrative so much as a play-by-play of a random, rambling ... Read More »

October 19, 2011 | Filed under: Picture Books

Pierre in the Air

By Andrea Beck

Author, illustrator, and former toy designer Andrea Beck returns with a third tale about pampered poodle Pierre and his imaginary daredevil alter ego, Pierre Le Poof. Champion show-poodle Pierre visits Paris for an important competition, ... Read More »

October 19, 2011 | Filed under: Picture Books

Winter: Five Windows on the Season

By Adam Gopnik

It’s fitting that New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik’s series of Massey Lectures begins with a quotation from Northrop Frye, as Frye’s influence can be felt throughout this wide-ranging cultural examination of the most archetypically ... Read More »

October 17, 2011 | Filed under: Criticism & Essays

In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination

By Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood, arguably Canada’s most beloved author, has faced criticism for the distinction she makes, both in relation to her own work and that of others, between “science fiction” and “speculative fiction,” appearing to elevate ... Read More »

October 11, 2011 | Filed under: Criticism & Essays

★ Half-Blood Blues

By Esi Edugyan

The second novel from Victoria’s Esi Edugyan finds the writer not only at the top of her game, but utterly transcending even the high expectations created by her first novel, 2004’s The Second Life of ... Read More »

October 3, 2011 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times, Volume Two: 1867–1891

By Richard Gwyn

Too many Canadians see John A. Macdonald as a comic figure; his love of patronage and alcohol leads many to dismiss his essential role in the foundation of our country. Nation Maker, the second volume ... Read More »

September 26, 2011 | Filed under: History

Alert to Glory

By Sally Ito

Sally Ito’s third collection of poetry is dedicated to God, “with whom the soul most richly desires communion.” In spite of some clever phrasing and musical language, it contains little that formally, structurally, or stylistically ... Read More »

September 26, 2011 | Filed under: Poetry

The Little Shadows

By Marina Endicott

Marina Endicott’s latest novel immerses the reader in the world of vaudeville in the years 1912–17, primarily in the Canadian West and Prairies. Though the story entertains and is ably researched, it does not achieve ... Read More »

September 26, 2011 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Fog of War: Censorship of Canada’s Media in World War Two

By Mark Bourrie

Ottawa journalist and academic Mark Bourrie’s new book has taken an unfortunately difficult road to bookshelves. Scheduled to be published by Key Porter Books before the publisher suspended operations, it was subsequently picked up by ... Read More »

September 26, 2011 | Filed under: History

★ Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal

By Jennifer McLagan

With Odd Bits, Jennifer McLagan continues the peculiar carnivorous journey she began in her first two cookbooks, Bones and Fat (a Q&Q book of the year for 2009). Those earlier books – especially the second ... Read More »

September 26, 2011 | Filed under: Food & Drink