OK, book three of Canada Reads 2019 down. After reading Brother, I’m becoming skeptical of the tagline for this year’s competition – “one book to move you”. It should probably be, “Canada Reads: Embrace Depression.” David Chariandy’s novel Brother is an absolutely tremendous, albeit heartbreaking read. Alternating between the past and the present, Chariandy’s book…
Pieced together with the help of a private detective, Suzanne is a fictionalized telling of the life of Suzanne Meloche (Barbeau) by her granddaughter, Anais Barbeau-Lavalette. Suzanne is the second book I’ve read of the five shortlisted for the 2019 Canada Reads competition. With the first being By Chance Alone (a memoir written by a…
In his powerful memoir, Holocaust survivor Max Eisen details his early years, his internment in Auschwitz and his emigration to Canada. When the 2019 Canada Reads longlist was announced, I had hoped By Chance Alone would be selected for the shortlist. I suppose I would have read it eventually, but in a year where the…
Following a commercial flop with his debut novel, author Thad Beaumont begins writing violent crime stories featuring tough-guy Alexis Machine under the pseudonym George Stark. This seems to do the trick as Beaumont is massively successful. But the urge to return to his original dramatic style brings about the end of Stark. After a mock…
Forgotten Hero tells the story of Folke Bernadotte, Swedish head of The Red Cross, who had orchestrated the rescue of 30,000 Jewish women near the end of the Second World War. I received an advanced copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I wouldn’t consider myself a World War II history buff…
Where do I even begin with this one? If you could place your current consciousness back into your younger self, what would you change? Would you ask out that girl? Save a loved one from tragedy? Would you pull a Biff Tannen and amass a fortune betting on horse racing? Blake Crouch’s Recursion is a…
With Vultures, Wendig takes the entirety of his six book saga and culminates it with a high-stakes chase against fate. We pick up with Miriam after the catastrophic events of The Raptor and The Wren. Newly pregnant and on the run, Miriam is getting ready for a final showdown with her tormentor, The Trespasser. However,…
Following the departure of Superman and the old guard of heroes, a new generation is content to play judge, jury and execution by killing its enemies. 10 years have passed and a battle in the heartland of America results in a nuclear explosion that wipes out millions of people and effectively obliterates stockpiles of America’s…
Every Read Thing 