Before I jump into this review, I have to say something that might be difficult… Yes, this book is historical fiction and yes, it’s set in the 1980’s. 😅 Hotline is described as a love letter to the 80’s and its challenges surrounding immigration, specifically in Canada. This novel chronicled Muna, and her son, fleeing war torn Lebanon and trying to rebuild a life in Montreal. This book was so chock-full of personality that it was no surprise to see it long listed for the Giller Prize as well as being included in the most recent Canada Reads nominations. Muna’s story is not unique, in fact the author loosely based her character on his own mother. It’s easy to assume that the immigrant experience is without the substantial roadblocks as pictured in this book. The way that Nasrallah wrote Muna was the perfect portrait of the systemic racisms and micro aggressions that immigrants face, not only in the 80’s, but today as well. From something as seemingly small as Muna allowing herself to be known as “Mona” to her peers and clients shows the quiet ways in which our society forces a person to lose pieces of their identity to be “Canadian”. This was a simple story told incredibly well. Muna is a woman who is overqualified for a job she has to learn to love. She is a woman whose heart has to keep beating after losing her husband under unfathomable circumstances. She is a mother who is faced with raising her only son in a world that is entirely foreign and quietly hostile towards her. Ultimately, though, Muna is a woman who perseveres. And, with the loosely tied ends to this book, she is a woman who is not limited by her story. I highly recommend the audiobook for this one and I hope you give it a try!
Happening tonight! @afsulli, author of The Marigold will be interviewing @menaka_rw for the #GillerBookClub. They will discuss Menaka's 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize longlisted novel THE ROOFTOP GARDEN. Tune in at 7 p.m. ET! 🔗 Click the link in bio to register. --- Andrew F. Sullivan is the author of The Marigold, a finalist for the Aurora Awards and the Locus Awards, and named a Best Book of the Year by Esquire, The Verge, Book Riot and the Winnipeg Free Press. He cowrote The Handyman Method with Nick Cutter, a novel about home improvement gone wrong. Sullivan is also the author of the novel WASTE, a Globe & Mail Best Book of the Year, and the short story collection All We Want is Everything, a Globe & Mail Best Book of the Year and finalist for the ReLit Award. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario.
Esi Edugyan, HALF-BLOOD BLUES (HarperCollins, 2011) • In French-flapp’d paperback, this is a later printing of the author’s breakthrough second novel, winner of the Giller Prize and shortlisted for many others. Signed by the author on the title page. (“Autographed Copy” sticker in place but removable.) • $20
@menaka_rw is participating in the #GillerBookClub on May 22 to discuss her 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize longlisted novel THE ROOFTOP GARDEN. Tune in at 7 p.m. ET! 🔗 Click the link in bio to register. --- Menaka Raman-Wilms is a writer and journalist based in Toronto. She’s the host of The Decibel, the daily news podcast from The Globe and Mail. Previously, she was a parliamentary reporter for The Globe and Mail and an associate producer at CBC Radio One. She has a masters in creative writing from the University of Toronto and a masters in journalism from Carleton University. She’s also a classically trained singer. For several years, Menaka reviewed books for the Ottawa Review of Books, and has moderated panel discussions at Ottawa’s Prose in the Park literary festival. In 2019, Menaka’s story “Black Coffee” was shortlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize. She received the young writer's award from the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto at the Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story in 2016, and won Room Magazine’s 2012 fiction contest.
THE IN-BETWEEN WORLD OF VIKRAM LALL by M.G. Vassanji 📚 “I have no explanations for myself either. My life simply happened, without deep designs on my part. Perhaps this narration of my life will explain me to myself. Perhaps it won’t.” In the past few months my reading life has, by sheer coincidence, centred around characters finding themselves in the “in-between”. In between cultures, in between conflicts, & for the most part, in between identities. As evident by the title, the same theme goes for the story of Vikram Lall, a Kenyan-born boy of Punjabi descent. THE IN-BETWEEN WORLD OF VIKRAM LALL follows Vikram & his sister, Deepa as they come-of-age in Kenya in the midst of its bid for independence in the 1950s. While Kenya is the only home that they have ever known, the two struggle to determine how they fit in amidst the divide between the Kenyans and the British, while also straining against the conventions of their own culture in a changing world. This story was a reminder to me of the importance of historical fiction. Covering a changing Kenya from the 50s through to the 80s, I found myself learning a lot about this country’s tumultuous political history. Vassanji adeptly weaves real-life events & political figures into Vikram’s tale using rich, descriptive writing. Born in Kenya to an Indian immigrant family & then raised in Tanzania, his love for his African home is evident in his writing. I was glued to the page soaking in every word written, & walked away feeling like I learned a lot - arguably, one of the best things about reading. This one has made it into my top three reads of the year so far. #theinbetweenworldofvikramlall #mgvassanji #gillerprize #meganreadsthegillers #gillerprizewinner #readcanadian #cantlit #readcanlit #cravingcanlit #historicalfiction #storiesofafrica #vintagecontemporaries #penguinrandomhouse #booksonidentity #nevernotreading #noseinabook #bookworm #booksandgardens
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Read for: Giller Prize Winner It’s hard to rate short stories because some stand out so much more than others. For the most part, these short stories centre around average people living ordinary lives. At some point however, the protagonist is forced to confront the consequences of their choices and actions. It’s written with a tenderness and emotional depth I think only Alice Munro could pull off. #runaway #alicemunro #gillerprize
This story does a very good job of detailing what life is like for a new immigrant to Montreal and the struggles that come along with that. The book is set in the mid-80s where Muna arrives to Canada from the war and hardships in Lebanon, where her husband presumably died after being kidnapped and where her in-laws no longer want to bear the burden of supporting her and her young son. While struggling to put the past behind her, she faces a slew of new struggles including language issues, finding a suitable home and job, adjusting to the Montreal weather, prejudices, and new illnesses. She lands a job at a call center (an environment I too had to put up with when on the search for a perfect job), where they sell diet plans and meals and where she becomes a sort of therapist to her clients. Being on her own, she is forced to make decisions that she wouldn't normally make in order to survive and to keep the impact of all these choices from affecting her son Omar. It's quite a heartfelt and sincere story that opened my eyes to the challenges immigrants have to face to come here, and would appeal to those immigrants looking for solace and understanding. A very good and Montreal-centric book. 4.5/5 @dimitrinasrallahsrecords @vehiculepress #book #books #read #reading #Goodreads #bookstagram #hotline #dimitrinasrallah #fiction #candareads #bookssetinmontreal #montreal #montrealbooks #callcenterlife #gillerprize #readingchallenge #immigrants #bookssetincanada #singlemomlife #noseinabook #bookclub #borrowed #bookrecommendations #bookreview #bibliophile #keepreading
A few much needed minutes of calm. And I am now learning that Trinity College at Cambridge University has divested itself of all arms manufacturing companies including Elbit Systems, the Israeli arms manufacturer— And so my calm has in an instant been rattled… Our esteemed @gillerprize, it really is past time to dignify us all by either cutting ties with Scotiabank which has a massive investment in Elbit Systems, or encouraging Scotiabank to divest itself fully of these investments. Cutting their investment by half is a first step, which they recently took, but the amount of the investment is immaterial. The remaining investment continues to fund war, which still amounts to war profiteering. The Scotiabank Giller Prize is every fiction writer’s dream prize. But is money sourced, even partially, from arms making what we want in our hands? This is a worldwide movement- no point stubbornly getting left behind. The arms industry has no place in the arts. Friends, feel free to share and/or post to your story, if you’d like. #trinitycollege #worldpeace #gillerprize #ceasefirenow #scotiabankgillerprize #scotiabank #cambridgeuniversity
The next #GillerBookClub will take on May 22 at 7 p.m. ET. @afsulli will interview @menaka_rw about her 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize longlisted novel THE ROOFTOP GARDEN. We hope you will tune in! 🔗 Click the link in bio to register.
Yesterday my favourite Canadian writer died. Alice Munro. What a literary legacy she has left the world and this is a great comfort because something of her will never die. If you’re not sure what should be on your summer reading list yet, let’s all just agree to read as many of her short stories as we can to honour the life she lived and how she stewarded her gifts for our good. . . . #alicemunro #literarygiant #nobelprize #gillerprize #bookerprize #governorgeneralawards #alicemunroshortstories #writer #shortfiction #thesenseofanending
Thank you, Alice, for the profound impact you've made on the world. We've lost a great one. 😪
Join @kkuitenbrouwer on May 14 at 7 p.m. ET for the #GillerBookClub! She will be discussing her 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize longlisted novel WAIT SOFTLY BROTHER. 🔗 Click the link in bio to register! --- Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer is a novelist, short story writer and essayist who makes Prince Edward County, Ontario her home. Her most recent novel is Wait Softly Brother. She is also the bestselling author of the novels All the Broken Things, Perfecting, and The Nettle Spinner, as well as, the short fiction collection Way Up. Her writing has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Toronto Book Award, Canada Reads, the ReLit Prize, the Amazon First Novel Award and the Trillium Award and has won a Danuta Gleed Award and a Sidney Prize. Kathryn has taught and mentored creative writing students at Colorado College, the University of Toronto, the University of Guelph, Brock University and the Royal Military College. She currently mentors private clients, as well as, graduate fiction students in the MFA at the University of King’s College in Halifax.
📚 After watching Gail Anderson-Dargatz interview Nina Dunic about the latter’s recently published novel, The Clarion, I couldn’t resist buying it. 🎺 As some of you know, my son is a trumpet player. It’s his trumpet in the photo. (Sadly, he’s taking an extended break from playing it because he’s so busy with schoolwork these days. I hope he goes back to it one day…) 🤫 For a novel about a trumpet player, The Clarion is very quiet, as they say. I very much enjoyed it, and it reminded me of My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, which I also read recently. 🧠 They’re similar in that the prose is beautiful in an understated way, there’s a LOT of interiority, and not much seems to actually *happen* in the story. In another sense, though, many of the important things in life happen. 💕 The Clarion is a novel about love and loneliness, chance and connection, self-sabotage and missed opportunities. 🏆 If you enjoy literary fiction, I recommend this Giller Prize long-listed novel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . #canlit #gillerprize #literaryfiction #bookrecommendation #bookreview #histfic #historicalfiction #bookstagram #books #ilovebooks #bookworm #booknerd #booksofig #readersofig #readingcommunity #booksbooksbooks #lovebooks #booklovers #bookfriends #literature #novel #canadianliterature #bookishaccounts
Make sure to add these 12 new titles to your #TBR! 📚 Supplication by Nour Abi-Nakhoul, published by @mcclellandstewart 📚 This Country is No Longer Yours by Avik Jain Chatlani, published by Bond Street Books 📚 Mystery in the Title by Ian Ferguson & Will Ferguson, published by @harpercollinsca 📚 This Summer Will Be Different by @carleyfortune, published by @penguinrandomca 📚 Bird Suit by @sydneyhegele, published by @invisibooks 📚 Behind You by @legshernandez, published by HarperAvenue 📚 Outcaste by Sheila James, published by @goose_lane 📚 How it Works Out by @myriamontheoutside, published by @doubledayca 📚 Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by @jackielaubooks, published by Emily Bestler Books 📚 The Education of Aubrey McKee by Alex Puglsey, published by @biblioasis_books 📚 Peacocks of Instagram by @deerajagopalan, published by @houseofanansi 📚 Unrest by @gwen_tuinman_novelist, published by @penguinrandomca
🌹 #4xallesneumachtderMai 📚💮 An einem #challengemonday habe ich schon lange nicht mehr mitgemacht, aber da @stefanieleben_2.0 nach #Neuzugängen gefragt hat, mache ich sehr gerne mit, denn davon habe ich ein paar 😉 Oben zu sehen mein Quartalskauf bei der @buechergilde 😍 Sind die Cover von "Junge mit schwarzem Hahn" von Stefanie vor Schulte und "Zauber der Stille" von Florian Illies nicht wunderschön. Ich liebe ja so bedruckte Leinen-Cover ohne Schutzumschlag🥰 Die wunderschöne Karte gab es im Rahmen des "Welttags des Buches" als Geschenk dazu. 😊🌹Danke dafür. Unten links seht ihr "James" von Percival Everett @hanserliteratur , das habe ich von der lieben @jtk_0701 als Tauschbuch bekommen. Herzlichen Dank 😍 Last but not least "The Sleeping Car Porter" von Suzette Mayr habe ich mir neulich als englisches Buch gekauft. Auch wunderschöne Cover, oder? [Unbezahlte Werbung] #büchergildegutenberg #stefanievorschulte #jungemitschwarzemhahn #Florianillies #zauberderstille #büchergilde #percivaleverett #James #hanser #suzettemayr #thesleepingcarporter #gillerprize #bücherliebe #SchöneBücher #SchöneCover #GermanBookstagram #Bookstagramgermany #Bücherliebe
Join us for the #GillerBookClub on May 14 at 7 p.m. ET. Author Tanis Rideout will join @kkuitenbrouwer to discuss her 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize longlisted novel WAIT SOFTLY BROTHER. 🔗 Click the link in bio to register!
Let’s kick off a new month with a list of new releases! These books are available today: The Game of Giants by Marion Douglas, published by @freehandbooks, The Philosopher Stories by Jerry Levy, published by @guernicaeditions, The Harvesters by Jasmina Odor, published by Freehand Books, Art of Camouflage by @powersarak, published by Freehand Books, Vigil by susieisnothere, published by @breakwaterbooks, I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley by @thomvernon, published by Guernica Editions.
Death by a Thousand Cuts by @ssb1983, published by @mcclellandstewart and The Mother Act by @heidi.c.reimer, published by @penguinrandomca are two new titles you’ll want to add to your bookshelf! #CravingCanLit
John MacLachlan Gray’s latest Raincoast Noir mystery is out today. Pick up a copy of Mr. Good-Evening, published by @douglasmcintyre2013.
Canadian Independent Bookstore Day will take place on Saturday, April 27. This is an opportunity to support your favourite #indiebookstores! Learn more here: www.indiebookstores.ca/cibd IndieBookstores.ca @indiebookstoresca #CIBD2024 #CravingCanLit
Congratulations to @sam_wiebe__ on the release of Ocean Drive, published by @harbour_publishing! #CravingCanLit
I’m a Canadian Bookstagrammer, of course I’ve read… Jumping on this trend I saw from @bonkraereads 🤓 Not pictured is the novel that I believe, unequivocally, every Canadian should read - Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. It’s at home in my classroom most of the time. If you haven’t read it, go buy it. *Of course, when I speak of Canadian literature, it is important for me to acknowledge that Canada exists on the traditional territories of FNMI peoples. I acknowledge their enduring presence on this land. ❤️ #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #canadianlit #canadian #readthenorth #readthis #booklover #fridayflatlay #reader #recommended #penguin #penguinrandomhouse #mcclellandandstewart #vintagebooks #viking #vikingbooks #knopf #knopfcanada #canadareads #gillerprize #heatherspicks #aresenalpulppress
EDIT: Due to unforeseen circumstances this Giller Book Club has been cancelled. We hope you will join us on May 14 when Tanis Rideout interviews Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer about her book WAIT SOFTLY BROTHER. --- The next #GillerBookClub is taking place on May 1 at 7 p.m. ET. Author @thepingtothepong will join @erum__hasan to discuss her 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize longlisted novel WE MEANT WELL. 🔗 Click the link in bio to register!
Don't forget to add these dates to your calendar! 📚 Longlist - Sep. 4 📚 Shortlist - Oct. 9 📚 Winner - Nov. 18
We Meant Well (2023) by Erum Shazia Hasan Long listed for 2023 @gillerprize. •Fantastic, compulsive read. And the ending was perfect. •From the first page, I was invested in Maya’s story as the organizer of a charitable orphanage in an unnamed country who must investigate allegations of assault against a co-worker. •Maya lives in a “between world”, knowing that she lives in the world of the people that she helps but that she can leave, often feeling like she has become part of “whatever is stopping them.” #WeMeantWell #ErumShaziaHasan #CanLit #GillerPrize
These three titles are available today! Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr, published by @mcclellandstewart, NORMA by Sarah Mintz, published by @invisibooks and Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit by @nadinesg, published by @houseofanansi.
@gailandersondargatz will join @dunicnina for the #GillerBookClub tonight at 7 p.m. ET. They will be discussing Nina’s novel, THE CLARION. Everyone is welcome to join this free event! 🔗 Click the link in bio to register. ___ Gail Anderson-Dargatz’s novels The Cure for Death by Lightning and A Recipe for Bees were both short-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Her thrillers The Almost Wife and The Almost Widow were national bestsellers. Gail also writes hi-lo books for the educational market. She taught for nearly a decade in the MFA program in creative writing at the University of British Columbia, and now mentors writers privately. For more, go to her website: gailanderson-dargatz.ca.
Sometimes a book finds you, and you 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 you were always meant to read it. All the Quiet Places was one of those books for me. I am definitely not surprised that it has received the accolades that it has, and is deserving of every one. Beginning in 1956, All the Quiet Places is the coming-of-age story of Eddie Toma. He exclusively narrates this story from the tender age of 6 until his teen years as we navigate through reservation life, Residential Schools, PTSD, and the post-colonial world of Canada’s Indigenous population with increasing awareness. For many, this will not be an easy read, but it is beautiful and so carefully written. You’ll watch through Eddie’s eyes as his life is affected by the choices of the adults around him, and how, in turn, those adults are affected by the Indian Agents that keep them staunchly oppressed. Reading this through a child’s eyes, a child who becomes more and more aware of what their future of oppression looks like, is gut-wrenching. The self- realization of a colonized child will forever stay in my heart in its heart-breaking honesty. Truthfully, even though this is a historical fiction, so many of these EXACT challenges still face the Indigenous populations of Canada today. The systemic racism and oppression of these communities is so deep-seated and government is resistant to create lasting change lest they upset the status quo. As always, for Canadians especially, it is so important to read hard and uncomfortable truths such as this. The better we understand, the more likely our sympathy becomes empathy, and our empathy can become action. 🧡
Our store has a great variety of Literature both soft cover and hardcover for those discerning tastes. Giller, Booker, Nobel and Pulitzer books abound. #gillerprize #pulitzerprize #nobelprize #bookerprize #usedbookstore #usedbooks #vacationreading #readerschoicebookstore #bibliophile #booknerd #booksbooksbooks #rawihawg #gillerprize #booksofinstagram #bookworm #bookaddict
The Clarion by @dunicnina #yyt #books #booksaremylife #booksaredeadly #bookworm #giller #gillerprize #bookclub #canlit #bookrecommendations #bostonterrier #reading #kindle #happy #bookishlife #beautifulbooks #totalbooknerd #booksofinsta #readersofinsta
Congratulations to @amyjmattes whose novel, Late September was published on April 13! @nightwood_editions
The #GillerMantellaScholarship will award $10,000 to three deserving high school graduates who are pursing an education in literature or creative writing. Applications close tomorrow. 🔗 Click the link in bio to learn more and apply! @mantellacorporation @univcanada
Titling this photo “Fleeting Moments of Solitude”, as I wait with bated breath to see whether this current ‘naptime’ will last 10 minutes or a coveted 30. On a reading note, if you haven’t read THE IN-BETWEEN WORLD OF VIKRAM LALL, this is your nudge to pick it up. It has me thoroughly absorbed in Vikram’s life during the decolonization of Africa in the 50’s & 60’s. #whatimreading #currentlyreading #theinbetweenworldofvikramlall #mgvassanji #gillerprize #gillerprizewinner #noseinabook #nevernotreading #bookworm #lazysundays #readthisbook #comingofagestories #historicalfiction #momsreading #readinglife
The second submission deadline is approaching! Books published between March 1, 2024, and April 30, 2024, must be received on or before April 19, 2024. 🔗 Click the link in bio to learn more.
@kati_with_no_e handed me this book. “You’ll like it, mum”. OMG incredible. Nursing in Ireland during the 1918 flu pandemic. Nursing, politics (how can you write about Ireland and it not be political), history, totally relevant to today. Can’t put it down. Irish Canadian author. #talktomeaboutreading #thepullofthestars #nursing #gillerprize
Popular books I decided to grab! #yellowface #monkeybeach #canadianauthors #bookstagram #rfkuang #canadianbooks #indigenousstorytelling #nostressbookclub #asianauthors #bookcovers #newyorktimesbestseller #gillerprize #governorgeneralawards
Join @dunicnina for the #GillerBookClub on April 16 at 7 p.m. ET. She will be discussing her 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize longlisted novel THE CLARION. 🔗 Click the link in bio to register! --- Nina Dunic is a two-time winner of the Toronto Star Short Story Contest, has been longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize four times, won third place in the Humber Literary Review Emerging Writers Fiction Contest, and was nominated for The Journey Prize. Nina lives in Scarborough.
I’m in my favourite place again: out of town! I’m visiting family and chasing the eclipse and while I do have some free time, my days are quickly becoming booked solid with visits, events, plans. What an amazing dilemma to have! I brought three books on this trip because I should probably still have some reading time, but we’ll see. With me are: 📖 Girls Interrupted by Lisa Whittington-Hill • A book of essays, I’ve been fitting time in with this book whenever I have just a few minutes to read. I’m excjted to keep going! 📖 Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitken • I started reading this at the end of my trip to Philadelphia last weekend and it’s fine. I like it enough to keep going, but I’m not sure if I will love it like everyone else has told@me they did. 📖 Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles • It’s been on my #tbr For YEARS. It’s the only book I haven’t read from 2019’s #GillerPrize shortlist. It’s in my #12BooksFrom12Friends list for this year thanks to @magsisreadingagain. What are you reading this week? #vacationreading #travelreading #girlsinterrupted #elsewhere #smallgamehunting #smallgamehuntingatthelocalcowardgunclub #canlit #canadianbooks #readcanadian #amreading #alwaysreading
We've extended the deadline for the #GillerMantellaScholarship, presented by @mantellacorporation! The scholarship will award $10,000 to three deserving recipients to further their post-secondary education. Applications will close on April 16. 🔗 Click the link in bio to learn more and apply!
I read The Clarion last fall when it was on the longlist for the #GillerPrize and I’ve been revisiting it a little now that it’s on deck for the next #GillerBookClub event. I could share my thoughts about it, but this exquisite excerpt will do a better job than I ever could. “If I saw Isabelle again, I would tell her about me. I would tell her what I hadn’t been able to tell Christopher or anyone else. I had two hearts. People with one heart don’t get it, and they want you to have one heart like them-but you don’t. They want you to close one and keep the other and have that only, because it’s wrong to be the other way-selfish. And I could see that. I told myself that too. And I knew the lying was like death, creeping under the surface until the ground split and it came up hot, obliterating everything else, but it was also the truth, unflinch-ing, inevitable, final. If you have two hearts, you will be pained or cause pain, likely both, a lot of each, yet nothing saves you, nothing cures that second heart, nothing kills it. Guilt and shame glance off at soft angles, inert. The meaningless trivialities of single-hearted people. In fact, it grows stronger as you get older; it grips you at the throat until your eyes burn hollow. It reminds you when you try to live without. And if my family found out, it wouldn’t be the devastation of the lying, it would be that I was now finally telling the truth, and they finally knew who I was — and who I was was wrong.” The Giller event will feature authour Nina Dunic in conversation with Gail Anderson-Dargatz. As always, I expect this to be an interesting peek into Dunic’s experience of writing and so much more. Register using the link in my bio. The event takes place on April 16th at 4pm here on the west coast. Even if you can’t make it, sign up anyway to receive a replay of the event. #gillerprize2023 #theclarion #ninadunic #readcanadian #canlit #canadianbooks #canadianbookstagram #bookstagram #alwaysreading
Join us on April 16 at 7 p.m. ET for the #GillerBookClub with @dunicnina and @gailandersondargatz. They will be discussing Nina's 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize longlisted novel THE CLARION. 🔗 Click the link in bio to register!
Okay, here’s the rest of the @eventmags haul. (Earlier this week I posted about one of the books, here are the other eleven I bought for me and I also bought one that isn’t pictured for someone else.) 📖 The Incomparable Aruk by Mordecai Richler • I haven’t ever read Richler, but I started to flip through the first pages and I feel like I really could. 📖 Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill • This will not be my first time trying to read this. Or owning it. I will never learn. 📖 The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews • I know. Another striped spine. But this one is hard cover!! 📖 Morse Code for Romantics by Anne Baldo • @theworldwithrey picked this one up first and when she put it down, I swooped in. No idea what to expect, but I dig the title. 📖 River Theives by Michael Crummey • A favourite authour and a book I haven’t read. 📖 Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk • I never read this book in the 90s, but I wanted to. 📖 The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronsky • Another random selection, but it sounds kind of out there and I am here for that. 📖 Garbo Laughs by Elizabeth Hay • Have I read Hay? No. Do I feel like I should? Clearly. 📖 The Republic of Love by Carol Shields • Every time I buy a lot of books, there is always at least one that falls under the “@danathebooklady told me to” category. 📖 The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon • I loved the movie Wonder Boys and it’s the only Chabon book I’ve read to date. Plus the design of this cover is A++. 📖 The Bishop’s Man by Linden McIntyre • A former #GillerPrize winner. (2009) Do you see any books that you’ve loved? Loathed? Other? #booksale #usedbooks #bookhaul #canlit #canadianbooks #canadianbookstagram #neverendingtbr #thriftedbooks #thrifted #bookstagram #alwaysreading #books #bookworm #noseinabook
A recording of the the #GillerBookClub with @dravotcarnehan26 and Cary Fagan will not be available because of technical difficulties. We're sorry to those of you who were looking forward to watching it at a later date.
Author Cary Fagan is joining @dravotcarnehan26 this evening for the #GillerBookClub. They will be discussing ALL THE COLOUR IN THE WORLD, shortlisted for the 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize. This virtual event is free to attend at 7 p.m. ET! 🔗 Click the link in bio to register. --- Cary Fagan is the author of nine novels and five books of short stories. His collection, 'My Life Among the Apes,' was longlisted for the Giller Prize. He has been a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award ('The Student') and the Writers Trust Fiction Prize ('A Bird's Eye.') and has won the Toronto Book Award and the Vine Award for Canadian Jewish Literature. He is also an acclaimed writer for children. His books have been translated into thirteen languages. He lives in Toronto.
Let's talk 2023 Giller winner tomorrow at Pride book club, Tuesday March 19th, 6:30. Pride book club is held every second last Tuesday of the month. Message us to become a book club member! We've got five unique clubs! #Pride #arnpriorpride #gillerprize #canadianfiction #bookclubs #bookclub #bookstagram
@dravotcarnehan26 will be discussing his 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize shortlisted novel ALL THE COLOUR IN THE WORLD tomorrow during the #GillerBookClub. Tune in at 7 p.m. ET! 🔗 Click the link in bio to register. --- CS Richardson‘s first novel, The End of the Alphabet, was an international bestseller, published in fourteen countries and ten languages, and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Canada and the Caribbean). His second novel, The Emperor of Paris, was a national bestseller, named a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year, and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. An award-winning book designer, CS Richardson worked in publishing for forty years. He is a multiple recipient of the Alcuin Award, Canada’s highest honour for excellence in book design. He lives and writes in Port Hope, Ontario.
𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 Five Little Indians by Michelle Good Last week I had two buddy reads on the go and Five Little Indians was one, everyone loved it, and everyone felt it should be required reading in Canadian schools. Michelle Good writes about five indigenous children who were taken from their families and put in residential schools. It only scratches the surface on the horrors and trauma experienced there and instead the story focuses on the after math of their lives as adults when they finally got to leave. All five children now adults, forge a new path and not all are happy. Good shows us how the long term affects of what happened at these schools ripples through their lives, the PTSD, lack of resources for reconciliation and healing and the fear of telling the truth. This book isn’t long and there are aspects I wanted to personally see explored more but it opens up a conversation that is long overdue and I can see this being part of a new curriculum to educate us of an important part of history. Each character in this book felt tangible, their experiences felt truthful, the aftermaths honest, nothing was dramatized or glossed over, the author excelled at keeping this real and relevant. I loved all these characters, I was emotional over them and this is a story I won’t forget. A must read for Canadians and readers all around the world to showcase a history that deserves more acknowledgment and learning. ❓What was the last book to teach you something?
Join us for the #GillerBookClub on March 19 at 7 p.m. ET. Cary Fagan will join @dravotcarnehan26 to discuss his 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize shortlisted novel ALL THE COLOUR IN THE WORLD. 🔗 Click the link in bio to register!
Have you submitted your application for the #GillerMantellaScholarship yet? There’s still time! 🔗 Click the link in bio to learn more! @mantellacorporation @univcanada
Want to guarantee yourself a spot at the 2024 Queen’s University Giller Prize Event next Monday? Register online NOW at the link below! Posted @withregram • @queensenglit Our 2024 Giller Prize Event is swiftly approaching! Registration is required for this event, and you can do so by visiting the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-Kt5v8xQx90ESwniDvFQmh2WfS3MigobJG_sUPbKV-LARlQ/closedform?pli=1 @queensgillerprizeevent @queensgillerevent @gillerprize @knopfca @queensuniversity @downtownkingston @queensuisabel #gillerprize #gillerprize2023 #canlit #canadianliterature #ygk #ygkevents #downtownkingston #mydowntownktown #novelideakingston
Birnam Wood- Eleanor Catton. #bookerprize 📕📕📕📕📕⭐️. #book #bookswaps #booklover #bookstagram #booksarelife #booksaredeadly #bookaddict #bookerprize #gillerprize #canlit #bookstagramcanada
Filed under THINGS I DID NOT NEED: five more books from the local Salvation Army. I’ve started to stop in there every week or two and spend a few minutes scanning the wall of books they have on sale for $1.99 or $3.99 for hardcovers. I never really thrifted for books in the past, but it has proved to be a very satisfying practice lately. My most recent visit resulted in the purchase of these five books including two #GillerPrize winners! 📖 A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews 📖 A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 📖 The Time In Between by David Bergen 📖 Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay 📖 The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg Yes, this is the third time I’ve bought a copy of A Complicated Kindness, but, in my defence, they just keep getting better and I have really fond memories of reading it when it first came out. Do you buy used books? If so, where do you get them? #thriftedbooks #usedbooks #thrifted #bookstagram #canadianbookstagram #canadianbooks #alwaysreading #readcanadian #gillerprizewinners #canlit #booksbooksbooks
NEXT MONDAY: Giller Prize-winning novelist SARAH BERNSTEIN—in person right here in Kingston! And her ‘Study for Obedience’ is in stock right here at Novel Idea! Posted @withregram • @queensgillerprizeevent The Queen’s Giller Prize Event is in 1 week! This FREE event will feature an academic panel, interview with the winning author Sarah Bernstein, as well as a reception with FREE snacks and refreshments. It’s an event you don’t want to miss, so mark down the date and stay posted… [Alt Text: Title reads “2024 Queen’s University Giller Prize Event Presents: Sarah Bernstein’s Study for Obedience”. Background is comprised of torn pages from the book and a sketch of the author. “Join the Queen’s English Department March 18th at the Isabel Bader Centre for an Academic event and Reception! 6:30 to 8:30pm Screening Room. 8:30-10:30pm Film and Media Lounge’’ is typed on a piece of scrap paper and affixed to the background with a piece of red tape. Bottom of the image reads “Isabel Bader Centre , 390 King Street West, Free Food and Beverages, Academic Panel, Featuring an Interview with Sarah Bernstein” in red text. Lower left corner contains the event logo.] @queensenglit @queensgillerprizeevent @queensgillerevent @gillerprize @knopfca @queensuniversity @downtownkingston @queensuisabel #gillerprize #gillerprize2023 #canlit #canadianliterature #ygk #ygkevents #downtownkingston #mydowntownktown #novelideakingston
Grateful for the opportunity to read and learn from this work written by the author born and raised in a Tibetan refugee community in Nepal before immigrating to Canada. Very powerful retelling of the refugee experience, powerful mother-daughter bonds, the call of a homeland and North American arrogance. “It’s strange, isn’t it, how a few slivers of the past seem to swell in the mind while so much else falls away?” “Professor Wallace then praised my term project and said that I had potential. This was the kind of encouragement I could believe in, both conservative and open-ended.” “How I missed the packages he used to send to me from Nepal. Before opening one of his letters, I would hold the envelope to my nose and find that somehow, even a slim stack of paper beaten by weeks of travel could still hold the scent of home, a freshly baked bricks, of wilting, sun-drenched miracles, of stray dogs with fleas in orbit. And most of all, the scent of his library. Nothing smells like that here.” #wemeasuretheearthwithourbodies #tseringyangzomlama #canadianauthor #gillerprize #gillerprizelonglist #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booksbooksbooks📚 #rubybookshelf #canlit #canadianliterature #librarybook
@deborah.m.willis reads March 14th @pagesbooks, 7:00 pm. Discussion to follow. Deborah Willis is a writer based in Calgary, Canada, who has published two acclaimed books of short fiction and a novel. Her collections of stories have been long-listed for The Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award, and named the best books of the year by The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, and NPR. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The Virginia Quarterly, The Iowa Review, Lucky Peach, and Zoetrope. Her first novel, Girlfriend on Mars, was published in 2023 by Penguin (Canada), W.W. Norton (U.S.), and Serpent’s Tail (U.K.) and is translated into Italian, Danish and French. The New York Times lauded the novel’s “scorching” humor and Kirkus called the book “[w]insome, sweet, and apocalyptic—a perfect blend for the end of times.” #gillerprize #yyc #yycarts #fiction #novel #writer #amwriting #canlit
#bostonterrier #bostonterriersofinstagram #birnamwood @penguinrandomhouse @carolshieldsprize #eleanorcatton #reading #booksbooksbooks #booksaredeadly #booklover #bookerprize #gillerprize
We're delighted and proud to share that the 2022 #ScotiabankGillerPrize broadcast received two nominations for this year's @thecdnacademy: Best Writing, Variety or Sketch Comedy & Best Host, Live Entertainment Special. Congratulations to @cbc, @frankcontent and @barryavrich22 on the nominations! We're proud to work alongside you.
Tonight! @donnabnurse will join @dionneirvingwriter for the #GillerBookClub. They will be discussing Dionne's collection of short stories THE ISLANDS. Tune in at 7 p.m. ET. 🔗 Click the link in bio to register! --- Donna Bailey Nurse is a leading Canadian critic who specializes in the work of Black women writers around the world. She is a columnist for CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter and a contributor to the Walrus, Maclean’s and the Literary Review of Canada. She has curated literary events including Beloved: A Celebration of Toni Morrison and Black Women Writers for Toronto’s Luminato Festival and is the author of Revival: An Anthology of Black Canadian Writing and What’s a Black Critic To Do? Donna has been a juror for the Governor General’s Non-Fiction Prize, the Hilary Weston Prize, the Amazon First Novel Prize and in 2019 the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Born in Toronto and raised in Pickering, Ontario, Donna’s next project is a two book deal for HarperCollins exploring her Black Canadian heritage.
Applications are now open for the #GillerMantellaScholarship! If you are a Black, Indigenous, or racialized student pursuing a post-secondary education in literature or creative writing, this scholarship is for you. Don’t delay! Only the first 35 submitted applications will be accepted for review. 🔗 Click the link in bio to learn more. @mantellacorporation @univcanada
I have got my hands on ‘The Sleeping Car Porter’ by Suzette Mayr. The story is about Baxter, who works as a porter for a passenger train to finance his dream career in Dentistry while traveling around the world. Baxter faces several challenges in his job. His hard work on an every day seems unimaginable like Disrespect, Bullying, Starvation, and Sleeplessness. If you are someone who has worked in the hospitality or service industry, or if you have any interest in understanding the daily sacrifices of these professionals during the 19th century. This book would be a go-to choice for you. On every page, Suzette Mayr has driven the character’s pain over and over. ~thesoullessreader #booklovers #books #bookstagram #suzettemayr #thesleepingcarporter #writers #writersbookstagram #booknerd #gillerprize #canadianauthor
@dionneirvingwriter will be discussing her short story collection THE ISLANDS on March 5 at 7 p.m. during the #GillerBookClub. It was a finalist for the 2023 #ScotiabankGillerPrize. This event is free to attend! 🔗 Click the link in bio to register! — Dionne Irving is originally from Toronto, Ontario. Her work has appeared in Story, Boulevard, LitHub, Missouri Review, and New Delta Review, among other journals and magazines. Her first novel Quint came out in the fall of 2021. She currently teaches in the Creative Writing Program and the Initiative on Race and Resilience at the University of Notre Dame, and lives in Indiana with her husband and son.
Although it's the shortest month of the year, it's full of things we love to celebrate. Black history should be admired and observed all year-round, but to finish off this special month, we're highlighting an amazing author — Suzette Mayr! Suzette is a critically acclaimed writer who has won countless literary awards and nominations. Her latest novel, The Sleeping Car Porter (Coach House Books), won the 2022 Scotia Bank Giller Prize. We’ve proudly published two of her books — her debut, Moon Honey, and her second, The Widows. Don’t miss the release a new edition of Moon Honey, featuring an interview between Suzette and scholar Karina Vernon, as well as an afterword by Kaie Kellough in Fall 2024! Grab some copies: https://buff.ly/3P2MJGa 🌙🍯 #NeWestPress #Publishing #CanadianLiterature #ReadLocal #IndependentPress #AlbertaPublisher #IndiePress #NewRelease #Books #Reading #Bookstagram #Beautiful #BookStore #Library #Blogging #BookTok #BookBlogging #Bookish #BookLover #BookShelf #BooksBooksBooks #Canada #Alberta #BlackHistoryMonth #February #GillerPrize #SleepingCarPorter #MoonHoney #TheWidows #CoachHouseBooks @coachhousebooks
As we continue highlighting Black authors for Black History Month, our Throwback Thursday #TBT features award-winning fiction, reviewed November 2022 by Poetry Editor Michael Greenstein, The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr. Published by Coach House Books @coachhousebooks 📚”From the very first paragraph of The Sleeping Car Porter, Suzette Mayr mesmerizes her reader with a narrative thrust forward and lyricism that lingers: “9:45 p.m. Standing next to his step box, Baxter hovers: immobile and elastic, ready to spring forward to lift a suitcase, dissect a timetable, point to the conductor, nod, lift more suitcases, now hat boxes, answer more questions, and nod, nod, nod.” This precise moment gives way to the larger year, 1929, on the verge of the Great Depression with its share of suffering around railways. That the protagonist Baxter is 29 years old points to his overlapping with the twentieth century; and, indeed, Mayr’s historical novel, based on extensive research, offers a slice of the century in an unforgettable train ride across Canada. The dynamic rhythm of the prose describing Baxter’s stasis and motion parallels the throbbing systole and diastole of the train and rails throughout the novel. The last sentence of the paragraph repeats the sibilance of steam whistles: ‘A sea swell of passengers, spilling toward his car; a maelstrom of departure-time panic.’” Michael’s article continues ➡️ TAP our TMR link in bio #tbt #throwbackthursday #canlit #fiction #awardwinner #gillerprizewinner #gillerprize #blackhistorymonth
“Writing takes a lot of patience and tolerance for failure. I write twenty pages for every page I keep. Although a writer comes to a novel with an idea of what it’s going to be, ultimately, you cannot succeed with a novel unless you allow its inherent energies to direct you, even if that means abandoning your original conceptions.” @gillerprize-winning novelist Michael Redhill is a lifelong writer, having written in many forms and genres. He recently joined us as a Leighton Artist to move his novel The Trial of Katterfelto, the second in a triptych of novels titled MODERN GHOSTS, over the finish line. “I have been fortunate enough to be resident in the Leighton Studios a number of times, this being my sixth time in thirty years. I don’t think I have published any of my novels without having spent some time at Banff Centre working on them.” When The Trial of Katterfelto is accepted for publication and goes into preproduction, he’ll begin concentrating on the final volume in the trilogy. “Hopefully, I’ll be back here to put the finishing touches on that one, too!”
Applications for the Giller Mantella Scholarship, presented by @mantellacorporation open in one week! Three deserving students will receive $10,000 to help with their post-secondary education. Please make sure to have the following items ready so you can submit your application. 📚 Letter of reference 📚 Transcripts 📚 A 500-word essay describing your passion for literature 🔗 Click the link in bio to learn more!
2024 Reads #TheSleepingCarPorter by @suzettemayr "When a mudslide strands a train, Baxter, a queer Black sleeping car porter, must contend with the perils of white passengers, ghosts, and his secret love affair. This story brings to life an important part of Black history in North America, from the perspective of a queer man living in a culture that renders him invisible in two ways. Affecting, imaginative, and visceral enough that you’ll feel the rocking of the train." 🚃 #canadianblackhistory #blackhistorymonth #gillerprize #kobo #libby #overdrive #ebook #bookclubpick