Tag Archives: canadian book awards

Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill (book review)

By monnibo | Published: November 26, 2010

I’ve been hearing about Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill for a few years now in the Canadian Lit scene as it was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and won the 2007 Canada Reads. When it popped up again in the recent Top 40 Canada Reads books, I decided to go pick up a copy. I’m certainly glad I did. At 12-years-old, Baby vacillates between childhood comforts and adult temptation: still young enough to drag her dolls around in a vinyl suitcase yet old enough to know more than she should about urban cruelties. Motherless, she lives with her father, Jules, who takes better care of his heroin habit than he does of his daughter. Baby’s gift is a genius for spinning stories and for cherishing the small crumbs of happiness that fall into her lap. But her blossoming beauty when she turns 13 captures the attention of a charismatic and dangerous local pimp who runs an army of sad, slavishly devoted girls—a volatile situation even the normally oblivious Jules cannot ignore. You know that nagging feeling you get when you’ve forgotten to finish something, but can’t quite place it? That’s how I felt whenever I wasn’t reading this book. It’s beautifully written, well-told, compelling, and sometimes painful. Baby, the main character, is so innocent and sweet and you can’t help but love her. Baby’s coming-of-age story is saddening because no one should lose their childhood the way she has. Yet it’s impossible not to fall in [...]

Posted in Books, Reviews | Also tagged book, book review, Canada Reads, canadian author, canadian book, heather oneill, lullabies for little criminals, montreal | 3 Comments

Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant (book review)

By monnibo | Published: September 5, 2010

Come, Thou Tortoise is a heart-warming book with really lovable characters. There was subtle humour with a quiet yet engaging plot. Audrey is brilliant, quaint, silly, admirable, and really just honest-to-goodness good. The book jacket blurb doesn’t do the novel justice and some things I quite disagree with (such as the term”IQ-challenged”). I picked up the book after all the great reviews I read. A delightfully offbeat story that features an opinionated tortoise and an IQ-challenged narrator who find themselves in the middle of a life-changing mystery. Audrey (a.k.a. Oddly) Flowers is living quietly in Oregon with Winnifred, her tortoise, when she finds out her dear father has been knocked into a coma back in Newfoundland. Despite her fear of flying, she goes to him, but not before she reluctantly dumps Winnifred with her unreliable friends. Poor Winnifred. When Audrey disarms an Air Marshal en route to St. John’s we begin to realize there’s something, well, odd about her. And we soon know that Audrey’s quest to discover who her father really was – and reunite with Winnifred – will be an adventure like no other. Somehow Come, Thou Tortoise is light, quirky, and funny while still being honest, gritty, and real. I don’t think adventure or mystery is quite the right word to describe this book. It is a character-driven story about family, truth, and love. Audrey’s life is turned upside down by the ‘comma’ her father is in and by her Uncle Thoby’s breakdown. Featuring several flashbacks and [...]

Posted in Books, Reviews | Also tagged book review, canada also reads, canadian author, canadian book, come thou tortoise, debut novel, jessica grant, london england | 1 Comment

The Outlander by Gil Adamson (book review)

By monnibo | Published: July 2, 2010

book review for The Outlander by Gil Adamson

I wanted to read this book after I listened to the Canada Reads debates in 2009. It wasn’t the winning book (that was The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill), but the positive things said about The Outlander by Gil Adamson stuck with me. (Note: Gil is short for Gillian, and therefore pronounced like ‘Jill’) In 1903 a mysterious young woman flees alone across the West, one heart-pounding step ahead of the law. At nineteen, Mary Boulton has just become a widow—and her husband’s killer. As bloodhounds track her frantic race toward the mountains, she is tormented by mad visions and by the knowledge that her two ruthless brothers-in-law are in pursuit, determined to avenge their younger brother’s death. Responding to little more than the primitive fight for life, the widow retreats ever deeper into the wilderness—and into the wilds of her own mind—encountering an unforgettable cast of eccentrics along the way.

Posted in Books, Reviews | Also tagged book review, Canada Reads, canadian author, canadian book, gil adamson, the outlander | 1 Comment

Book Awards Galore!

By monnibo | Published: March 17, 2010

The BC Book Prizes announced the 2010 Finalists on Thursday, March 11. Yes, this is self-promo since I work with the BC Book Prizes, but I really believe in what we do so I don’t care! There are some great authors and illustrators listed for seven different awards. We also organize a free Soirée and right now we’re planning our 7th annual BC Book Prizes On Tour. This tour takes finalist authors all over the province — we’re planning three legs: Northern BC, Kootenays, Okanagan and Vancouver Island. Sign up for email newsletters on our website to get all the updates. Canada Reads 2010 also concluded the debates on Friday, March 12. The winner was Nikolski by Nicolas Dicker, translated by Lazer Lederhendler. In my review of Nikolski, I mention I was pleasantly surprised by the translation. However, I’d like to comment that the Canada Reads debates weren’t as intriguing for me this year compared to last year. I remember painting my bedroom last March/April and listening to the debates. I kept thinking “oh I want to read that” for each of the books. I loved The Book Of Negroes and still really want to read Fruit: A Novel About A Boy and His Nipples by Brian Frances and Outlander by Gil Adamson. I think that this year they spent too long debating what makes a book “Canadian”, which was never really the point of Canada Reads. I guess that they [CBC/Canada Reads] need to make their criteria less vague [...]

Posted in Books, Personal, Sharing | Also tagged bc book prizes, book awards, british novel, Canada Reads, canadian book, giller prize, orange prize for fiction, pulitzer prize, uk fiction | Comments closed

Canada Reads Indie & Canada Also Reads

By monnibo | Published: February 15, 2010

Some people have been disappointed with the Canada Reads 2010 list. Reasons include the authors/publishers/books being too well-known already. There are two new grassroots challenges called Canada Reads Independently and Canada Also Reads which aim to shed light on the lesser known titles/authors/publishers. How very Canadian of us! Personally, I haven’t read any of the books but I did know of Generation X and The Jade Peony already. I’m enjoying reading the Canada Reads list but also want to spread the word about these Canadian works too. CANADA READS INDEPENDENTLY When I first heard about Canada Reads Independently 2010, I thought it was a list of books from independent presses. Wrong. It turns out that Kerry Clare of Pickle Me This launched Canada Reads 2010: Independently for a different reason. Kerry says, “I’m not going to knock [Canada Reads] because I love the spirit behind the whole thing… but it just wasn’t the reading list for me. What I wanted was what I found from (most of) the 2009 lineup– book recommendations out of nowhere, books I’d never pick up otherwise, that challenge my sensibilities, and that I might just fall in love with.” In an interview with Julie Wilson (aka BookMadam) at CBC Book Club, Kerry said, “I’m going to be reading the five books over the next two months, posting reviews as I go, and rating the books against one another. I’ll be inviting other readers to comment on my reactions to the books, perhaps have some guest [...]