If I am reading my research correctly, Louise Erdrich’s The Birchback House was a 1999 National Book Award Finalist. I know this book was on my shelf for a long time, but I was saving it for the Snubbed category which is no shame as it went up against some AMAZING books. She went up against Kimberly Willis Holt (winner. Yay! LOVED the book/author), Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak (OMG! What a book/author!), Polly Horvath (did not read Trolls but she is very good) and Walter […]
I was in love with the night even before I was in love with the girl
It starts in a bar. One of ours, in the heart of Khayelitsha. Nothing special on the outside but inside, tonight, two hundred people cram together beneath the corrugated roof and wait, turned out in their Friday Bests, because everyone knows you have to look good for the radio (1). Thanks to the great curating at my local public library, I stumbled onto this book totally by accident—intrigued by its cover and by the description on the inside flap. I had just seen the […]
Women talking, getting comfortable with anger
I picked up Miriam Toews’ newest novel, Women Talking, in the airport recently. I felt very lucky because it ticked so many boxes for me – I had run out of reading material on a work trip so really needed a book, it was in those new resell displays at the news stand so it was discounted enough to get through my NO NEW BOOK PURCHASES embargo, it fits with my vow to read more Canadian literature, and it was published in 2018. Toews has […]
In which I parody Kurt Vonnegut to stick it to cancer
CBR 10 Bingo: Birthday – Kurt Vonnegut born November 11, 1922 This is Kim Pendergest, Cannonball Read 10’s reporter on the Afterlife. During yesterday’s controlled near-death experience, I interviewed Kurt Vonnegut and asked him to explain why he decided to write God Bless Dr. Kevorikian. “So what’s the deal?” I asked. “Was this just a cash-grab?” “Not at all,” he said, “I started writing these as 90-second spots for WNYC, the public radio station for New York City.” “Thanks for the exposition, but I know […]