Some stories were excellent, filled with pathos and humor. However, there was a current of hostility towards bisexuals throughout several stories. I also thought that there was some immaturity in her writing style. I think Schiff has a lot of promise and I would try future work with an open mind.

Is it odd that I feel guilty for criticizing books because writing is difficult? I'm troubled by the first story in this collection. I want stories about women with complicated sex lives. Yet I feel that The Bed Moved was just filled with tropes and offered no real insight.

Poems about women - from Marilyn Monroe and Princess Di to the students and teachers at a secondary school - that are beautiful ("yards and yards of black silk night"), queer and sometimes absurd. Map-Woman, The Diet and The Laughter of Stafford Girls' High were my favourite poems in the collection.

"She got lost in arcades, in streets with new names, in precincts and walkways, and found that what was familiar was only facade."

CW: child homicide and suicide. There were some fascinating and beautiful insights into the trials and the key players. Unfortunately, other "insights" were trite. Similarly, at times the writing was incredible and others it was disjointed. Still, for me, the positive outweighed the negative.

"When I first came into court today, I was filled with wave after wave of rage. You see this is what these men do. This is the most appalling, savage, cruel revenge a man can take on a woman - to make out it was all her fault."

TW: Sexual violence survivors' stories. The artwork is fantastic. Each story has a different style and panel layout. However, the color palette is fairly consistent (lots of purple and dark blue) which seems to connect everything. Only critique is the lack of explicitly queer and trans content.

I'm not sure what I think of "This House of Grief." It's interesting, but I'm not really enjoying the writing style. Perhaps I'm just still consumed by the exquisiteness of The Red Parts.

There are so many incredible Canadian books and authors! This graphic novel about Louis Riel is an excellent introduction to someone so incredibly important.

I am so completely overwhelmed by The Red Parts. Non fiction that defies easy categorization, partially a memoir of a murder and trial, much more an examination of the true crime genre, the patriarchy, grief and trauma. Exquisitely and cleverly written yet incredibly readable.

"She dreams of a body that cannot be injured, violated or sickened unless it chooses to be."

A heartbreaking, vital memoir that should be read by every Canadian and everyone. The writing style shifts from beautiful to stark and horrifying as Metatawabin shares his story and Knowledge.

This was an incredible book. The only drawback was that there were sections where it was painfully apparent that the co author, T.J Mitchell, has a background in film as dialogue reads like a cheesy cop drama. However, this is few and far between so I would still highly recommend Working Stiff.