Sing Unburied Sing feels sent-from-above: every sentence, every word, every narrative choice indisputable, perfect. But it also feels more choreographed, thoughtful, human. Jesmyn Ward is an architect, and reading Sing Unburied Sing is like gazing at a sky scraper while holding the blueprints. First you admire the beautiful etching on the column, then you keep … Continue reading Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward
I first encountered Sheila Heti on the Sleepover Podcast, where host Sook-Yin Lee brings three strangers together in a hotel room to work out personal problems. Heti brought artist’s doubt and white guilt to the table. The more she read online about privilege and racism, the more insecurity she felt about writing. Should she just … Continue reading Motherhood by Sheila Heti
I’ve got a young adult novel in the works that may never be published. One of my goals for this book is to make our non-magical world feel more magical. A lot of that has to do with reminding adult readers of the things they take for granted — unexplained things they’ve forgotten to wonder … Continue reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
When a book is fiction, readers assume it’s a true story. When a book is called nonfiction, readers search for holes. Primo Levi’s The Monkey’s Wrench is a fictional novel. I fought against the ‘fiction’ label – the narrator is a chemist just like Levi and the narration reads more like a true, personal letter … Continue reading The Monkey’s Wrench by Primo Levi
The Graveyard Book is a novel “for all ages” — interesting for adults and mostly safe for young readers. It’s not childish, but it’s about a child. Nobody Owens’ family are murdered on page one, and Nobody (a toddler) escapes to a graveyard before he’s killed too. There he’s given the Freedom of the Graveyard, … Continue reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
This guide to grassroots activism was written by Elizabeth May when she was Executive Director of Sierra Club of Canada, before she became leader of the Green Party of Canada. At that time she travelled the country helping local activists organize campaigns to protect things in their communities. Worried about aerial pesticide spray on the … Continue reading How to Save the World in Your Spare Time by Elizabeth May
The Machine Stops is a short story (or maybe a novella) about a future world where humans stay in their rooms and interact with the world through a web of wires. It was published in 1909, when radio was just getting going, TV was barely an idea, and the Internet was over a century away. Yet … Continue reading The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
The Time of the Wolf is a children’s novel about an eleven-year-old boy surviving in the wild, bonding with animals, and the olden days. I read a lot of these as a kid. Did everyone in Canada? It’s the late 1800s, somewhere in southern Ontario. Aaron McGregor’s parents have died of cholera and he’s moved … Continue reading The Time of the Wolf by Thomas A. MacDonald
I was paid $25 to review Miriam Toews’ novel The Flying Troutmans when I was a snotty twenty-something, and I said the book was well-written and entertaining, but didn’t seem to have anything important to say. As a cocksure creative writing grad I was obsessed with books that “needed to be written” and I gave … Continue reading Women Talking by Miriam Toews
Lab Girl is one of those books that celebrates the intelligence and wonder of plants, like The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. But that’s not all. It’s also a book that criticizes the current scientific funding model of grant applications and gatekeepers, and shows how academic research really works. And it’s also a … Continue reading Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
Amy Attas 