Quill and Quire

BOOK REVIEWS

Marshall McLuhan

By Douglas Coupland

Only Douglas Coupland could have written Marshall McLuhan. In his contribution to Penguin’s Extraordinary Canadians biography series, Coupland challenges the grandiose nationalistic poise of the series, and indeed the very nature of biography itself. Employing ... Read More »

August 30, 2010 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

No Moon

By Irene N. Watts

Three young women make their difficult ways through three historical periods in a trio of new middle-grade novels. Though the settings and situations vary, all three novels show that the figure of  Anne Shirley casts ... Read More »

August 30, 2010

The Gnome’s Eye

By Anna Kerz

Three young women make their difficult ways through three historical periods in a trio of new middle-grade novels. Though the settings and situations vary, all three novels show that the figure of  Anne Shirley casts ... Read More »

August 30, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

L (and things come apart)

By Ian Orti

There isn’t a pronounced anti-realist tradition in CanLit, despite isolated offerings from writers as diverse as Leonard Cohen (Beautiful Losers) and Stephen Marche (Shining at the Bottom of the Sea). For most fiction writers in ... Read More »

August 30, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Glass Harmonica

By Russell Wangersky

In this fractured tale of violence, obsession, and dirty secrets, Newfoundland author Russell Wangersky goes behind the picturesque facade of the brightly coloured clapboard houses that make up a working-class St. John’s neighbourhood. McKay Street ... Read More »

August 30, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Shapeshifter

By Holly Bennett

With books like Theo Caldwell’s Finn the Half-Great and Holly Bennett’s The Warrior’s Daughter, it seems we are in the midst of a Celtic mythology boom in Canadian YA writing. Judging by those books – ... Read More »

August 30, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Ghosted

By Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall

Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall received plaudits and some notoriety for his first book, Down to This, which recounted the year he spent living among the homeless in Toronto’s now-defunct Tent City. It’s not a stretch to assume ... Read More »

August 30, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels