Lachlan MacKinnon’s CLOSING SYSCO examines the tumultuous life of the Sydney Steel Plant; its ups and downs and the impact it had on the surrounding community both positive and negative. Being from Sydney myself, I’ve always been curious about the Steel Plant. Like many my age, I have perhaps a basic understanding of its economic…
In FABRIC OF THE GAME, Chris Creamer and Todd Radom provide a brief overview of each NHL team as well as how they came to their name and the evolution of their on-ice look. As a self-proclaimed jersey and sports logo geek, I jumped at the chance to grab this when I discovered it. FABRIC…
As a child in the 90s, Elamin Abdelmahmoud emigrated along with his parents from Sudan to Canada. In SON OF ELSEWHERE, Elamin authors a series of essays in which he explores growing up in a new country, learning a new language and culture while also finding his own identity along the way. To be honest,…
A number of years ago I stumbled across Brian Earl’s podcast CHRISTMAS PAST during my seemingly never-ending search for additional Christmas content. Brian’s podcast explores the long-standing traditions which make up the holiday seasons while also trying to uncover their often elusive origins. The episodes are pretty short, usually under fifteen minutes each, but pack…
SMASH follows author Ian Winwood through years of research, writing and interviews surrounding the 90s explosion in punk music. Earlier this year, I read Dan Ozzi’s SELLOUT, a book that looked at the major label feeding frenzy that swept punk, emo and hardcore music in the 90s and 2000s. While SMASH covers a lot of…
Is it weird to say that I’ve only read 71 books so far this year? The last two years, I had read over 100 books each year, so I’m definitely down considerably. But 71 books is still more than a lot. Of those 71, here are my Top 10 reads. Fiction We Spread – Iain…
A seven time Stanley Cup champion with the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Colorado Avalanche, Trottier recounts his road from Saskatchewan farm boy to NHL All-Star in his memoir, ALL ROADS HOME. Trottier’s career ended just after I turned ten years old in 1994, so it’s safe to say I missed the bulk of…
Novelist As A Vocation is a sort of mish-mash memoir/writing advice book in the vein of Stephen King’s On Writing, from author Hauki Murakami. Admittedly, I’ve only read one of Murakami’s novels, The Wind of Bird Chronicle, and I didn’t particularly enjoy it. However, when Penguin Random House offered me a copy for review, I…
Every Read Thing 