book review

In 2011, my first novel, The Bone Cage, was a finalist in CBC’s national book program called Canada Reads. NHL celebrity Georges Laraque defended The Bone Cage in the debates that aired on Jian Ghomeshi’s Q. The whole thing was an incredible thrill – especially my moment on stage at the Toronto launch. There I stood between (gorgeous) Georges Laraque and (very handsome) Jian Ghomeshi, while Jian insisted “I am not short!” and Georges and I looked down and replied “Actually, you kind of are.” The whole thing was – to put it simply – so freaking fun!

On May 10, JJ Lee visited the Fernie library to talk about his highly acclaimed memoir The Measure of a Man. The book, JJ Lee’s first, has been nominated for a slew of nonfiction prizes, including the BC Book Prize, the Charles Taylor Prize, and the Governor General’s Prize. Reviewers across the country have praised Lee’s fine prose, throwing out phrases like exquisite, beautifully and cleverly executed, and deftly crafted. The Measure of a Man deserves all this praise and more.

As soon as I finished The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott, I knew I had to write about it. It’s the kind of novel that not only bears up under multiple readings but rewards them, the kind of book that grabs hold of readers, pulling them into a fully realized world that lingers with them long after the last page. Endicott has recreated the milieu of early twentieth century vaudeville in such vibrant detail that, for the space of 530 pages, readers live there. Best of all, Endicott manages to celebrate the lives of these artists without romanticizing them.

On February 6 Valerie Compton and Rosemary Nixon will be speaking at the Fernie Heritage Library about their recently released books: acclaimed novels that also work as emotionally heightened meditations on motherhood and loss.