I don’t do book reviews. At best I occasionally air thoughts on something I’ve read… and then not always the whole book, but one story, one essay, an aspect that strikes me. A sentence maybe. Recently I’ve begun a Q&A series, which I enjoy because I can pretend the chat is happening over food and drink. I even note the appropriate food and drink for the book. (Online is such nerdish tiny-personal-universe fun, eh?) Most of what I read, however, goes publicly unbabbled—for reasons due mainly to timing and whim.

Having said that, I like what John Mutford is doing over at The Book Mine Set, especially his annual Canadian Book Challenge, so have gathered and submitted a collection of CanLit babbled about on Matilda over the past year.

The art of reviewing I respectfully, and happily, leave to others.

~

My Father’s Hands Spoke in Yiddish, by Karen Shenfeld (poetry)

BoYs,  by Kathleen Winter (short stories)

Join the Revolution, Comrade,  by Charles Foran (personal essays)

Close to Spiderman, by Ivan E. Coyote (short stories)

The Cat’s Pajamas, by Wallace Edwards (children’s picture book but really so much more…)

Comfort Me with Apples,  by Joe Fiorito (extremely delicious essays on food)

Stunt, by Claudia Dey (a novel, which I nearly didn’t finish, then loved madly for reasons I am only too happy to explain)

Player One, by Douglas Coupland (Massey Lectures in the form of a novel, sort of…)

Room, by Emma Donoghue (a novel, read in a garret)

Seeds of Another Summer, by Beth Powning, (essays on nature and gardening and life)

CanLit Food Book, edited by Margaret Atwood (beautifully odd assortment of food-related bits by Canadian authors, including recipes, essays, excerpts, drawings, random thoughts, directions for making toast…)