On the Proper Use of Stars has been sitting on my shelf for two years and I was really excited when I finally was able to pick it up and read it. You see, I have been intrigued by the Franklin Expedition for quite some time. Anyway, this is a fun read that tells the story of the expedition from th...
There are some writers who make me think of the way painters work more than anything else. These kind of writers are not so much interested in plot as they are about building up characters or settings with layers of small details like Seurat or Monet. And, just like Impressionist paintings, books by...
This is a three part novel that brings to life a cast of characters both historical and fictional and opens with a much too formal and opulent narrative to have piqued my fancy but this doesn't remove the interesting points it may have tried to convey. The first part “Monster and Marvels” is based o...
This novel is the fictional account of the disastrous attempt by Sir John Franklin and his crew to discover the mythic Northwest Passage. In 1845 they embarked on the Terror and the Erebus for a three year voyage only to be lost for ever in the unforgiving Tundra. What happened is the meat of this s...
The appeal of reading a book like Dominique Fortier’s Wonder swells and radiates as pages turn. The story begins (like Dennison Smith’s The Eye of the Day, another of my favourite books in this reading year) with a proverbial bang. But despite the eruption of Mount Pelée in Martinique dramatic...
I was completely disappointed in this novel and not because there wasn't some good writing in it, there was. But my expectations were so high for it. Even a particular blurb on the cover announced this Soucy fellow, this philosopher, as being compared almost religiously to Samuel Beckett which got ...
Review originally published on my here.Why I Read It: I received a free un-solicited copy from Random House Canada. I had no idea what it was about, but I thought "Ehh, why not?"This book was unfortunately a DNF for me. I didn't stop this book because it's a bad book; there was nothing that offended...
Slim volume. Quirky characters, quiet quirky story. But all very likeable. The cats, the animals outside, the sounds -- all play a role. But mostly of course, the choice of words -- the story of a writer and a translator. "Under the word refuge, I found this definition: "Small structure high in the ...
Quirky, quiet, off-beat. Not for everyone, but I liked it a lot. A Canadian take on American history and geography. And a look at a kind of drifting lifestyle. Interesting. "What do you think of Chicago?" he asked. "She's been a wicked city in her time, but . . .""Wicked?" asked La Grande Sauterell...
An interesting experience. Quite a bit scary.***o experienta interesanta. chiar mai mult, oarecum terifianta.
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