pick“At some point, after I‘ve stirred the pot of real life with made-up backstory, these semifictional beings always revolt against me, freeing themselves to make their own startling, self-defeating choices.”
Emotional trauma balances the playfulness in this novel about a writer interacting with his own characters. Let yourself go with the weirdness and you might love it as much as I did.
#ShadowGiller2023 #CanadianAuthor
Recent Reads September 26: an eclectic mix of books + making stuff from the garden + nostalgia
https://youtu.be/VQlJw155sYs
#CanLit #ShadowGiller2023 #audiobooks #comics #translations #science #memoir #autism #fantasy
pickAn emotionally intense novel about a South Asian American woman working for a charity in an unnamed country in the midst of civil war. One of her colleagues has been accused of rape and she has been called in by head office for local damage control, to protect the charity‘s image. She knows both the victim and the accused. A heartfelt page turner that looks at layers of consequences precipitated by global history. #shadowgiller2023 #CanLit
pickA working class family in 1960s Edmonton is seen from the naive viewpoint of a small girl, Christine. All five senses are evoked, as well as the boundless imagination of a child, and I felt transported to another time. This quiet novella completes a trilogy best read in publication order. #CanadianAuthor #ShadowGiller2023
pickBeautifully layered historical fiction set in the early 1800s in a community of people who escaped from slavery across the US border. Relationships between Afro and Indigenous peoples are explored in a way that I‘ve rarely seen elsewhere. The two women who are the central characters are so well drawn that they live on in my head.
I expect this debut to be on Canadian awards lists this fall. #ShadowGiller2023
pickThese devilish stories set in China & North America feature varying degrees of horror & the supernatural. The difficulty in maintaining one‘s complexion (& fingers & toes) after 380 years of life. The unquiet dead, including a hair-eating grandmother & ghosts with corrosive red tongues. Fox spirits in a campus sorority. Frog-women. All highly entertaining, and I highly recommend the audiobook read by four different narrators. #CanadianAuthor
pickDamani is a bisexual South Asian making too little money driving for a ride share company in a city wracked with protests of every kind. She is deep in grief over her father‘s death & also caring for her partially paralyzed mother. Yet, this novel positively sizzles with sexy energy, the fight for social justice and a darkly funny narrative voice. #queer #LGBTQ #CanadianAuthor #ShadowGiller2023
pickStories from the sage and witty viewpoint of a woman in her eighties: I‘m here for this. Some of these start out humorous and turn to pathos near the end; I would have to stop reading in order to weep and recover my equilibrium. These are the stories I liked best. Only one, The Dead Interview (a conversation between Atwood and the ghost of Orwell) didn‘t work for me. #CanadianAuthor #ShadowGiller2023
pickClaire is a violinist who becomes addicted to opioids after a shoulder injury. Chen is a doctor at an addictions clinic in Toronto. Their stories alternate in this compassionate novel that made me care about individuals on both sides of today‘s illicit drug crisis. Audiobook read by Amy Matysio and the author — who is in actual fact an addictions physician. #Canadian #ShadowGiller2023
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