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Media Hits: THE ART OF LIBROMANCY, THE HOLLOW BEAST, BURN MAN, and more!

IN THE NEWS!

THE ART OF LIBROMANCY

The Art of Libromancy by Josh Cook (Aug 22, 2023) was reviewed in Full Stop. The review was published online on February 18, 2024. You can read the full article here.

Rebecca Stuhr writes:

“In The Art of Libromancy, Josh Cook asks booksellers to live by their ideals. As a bookseller himself, at Porter Square Books in Massachusetts, he seeks to set an example for justice-based bookstores—justice for booksellers in their employment conditions, and justice as a motivation for bookselling.”

The Art of Libromancy was also featured in LitHub’s list of “Books for Indie Booksellers”, which was published online on February 23, 2024. You can read the full list here.

Rachel Conrad writes,

The Art of Libromancy is a candid and nuanced account of what it takes to be a part of an industry that faces a barrage of societal pressures and often finds itself at the forefront of social justice movements in a time where misinformation and fascism are on the rise.”

Get The Art of Libromancy here!

THE HOLLOW BEAST

The Hollow Beast by Christophe Bernard, trans. Lazer Lederhendler (Apr 2, 2024) was reviewed in Midwest Book Review. The review was published online on February 18, 2024, and can be read here.

The review reads:

“A master of epic storytelling, The Hollow Beast is an inherently fascinating saga of a read from start to finish.”

Order The Hollow Beast here!

BURN MAN

Burn Man by Mark Anthony Jarman (Nov 21, 2024) was reviewed in Midwest Book Review. The review was published online on February 18, 2024, and you can check it out here.

The review reads:

“A truly revelatory selection highlights from one of the most spirited and singular contemporary masters of the short story format.”

Burn Man was also reviewed by Jeremy Thomas Gilmer in the Ampersand Review. The full review is available to read online here.

Gilmer writes,

“This collection brings [Jarman’s] fiercest prose, his most vital characters, and builds an architecture against which our troubled times can be thrashed. The music of broken men, splintered lives, and the salted souls left behind echo through the pages.”

Get your copy of Burn Man here!

STANDING HEAVY

Standing Heavy by GauZ’, translated by Frank Wynne (Oct 3, 2023) was reviewed by Marcie McCauley in Buried in Print. The review was published online on February 22, 2024, and can be read here.

McCauley writes,

Standing Heavy (in translation by Frank Wynne) reads quickly, even though it’s rich and complex. I’d intended to read just a couple of chapters, but I spent a snowy afternoon reading the whole book until it was finished … the style is vivid, the dialogue taut, and the presentation is clever.”

Get Standing Heavy here!

ALL THE YEARS COMBINE

Ray Robertson, author of All the Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows (Nov 7, 2023) was interviewed by Lynn Saxberg in the Ottawa Citizen. The article was published online on February 20, 2024, and you can read the full interview here.

Saxberg calls the book:

“A fascinating chronicle of the band’s history told in a series of essays.”

Get All the Years Combine here!

CROSSES IN THE SKY

Crosses in the Sky by Mark Bourrie (May 14, 2024) was featured in Quill & Quire’s Spring Preview. The article was published online on February 18, 2024, and you can check out the full preview here.

Attila Berki writes:

“Bourrie looks at how such early encounters between French colonists and missionaries and Indigenous Peoples continue to resonate in those same relationships.”

Preorder Crosses in the Sky here!

Media Hits: ORDINARY WONDER TALES, THIS TIME THAT PLACE, TRY NOT TO BE STRANGE, BIG MEN FEAR ME, and more!

IN THE NEWS!

ORDINARY WONDER TALES

Ordinary Wonder Tales by Emily Urquhart (November 1, 2022), has been reviewed in the Globe and Mail! The article on essay collections was published online on December 29, 2022. Read the full article here.

Emily Donaldson writes,

“In her collection Ordinary Wonder Tales, Canadian Emily Urquhart brings her skills as a journalist, editor and folklorist … fascinatingly to bear on a series of exquisitely written essays about the relationship between living and storytelling; about how these two things rely on each other for their mutual survival.”

Get your copy of Ordinary Wonder Tales here!

THIS TIME, THAT PLACE

This Time, That Place by Clark Blaise (November 8, 2022 ) has been reviewed in The Bulwark. The review was published on December 29, 2022. You can read the review here.

Randy Boyagoda writes,

“Clark Blaise might be North America’s Great Unclaimed Writer. […] These stories, like their author, embody and enact a continental sense and sensibility.”

Get your copy of This Time, That Place here!

TRY NOT TO BE STRANGE

Try Not to Be Strange by Michael Hingston (September 13, 2022) has been reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement. The review was published online and in print on December 23, 2022. Check out the full review here.

Michael Saler writes,

“Michael Hingston’s captivating history underscores the affinity between [Javier] Marias’s preoccupations as an artist and the peculiar interplay of the real and fictional that defines the kingdom.”

Grab your copy of Try Not to Be Strange here!

BIG MEN FEAR ME

Big Men Fear Me by Mark Bourrie (October 18, 2022) has been excerpted in Ottawa Citizen. The excerpt was published online on December 29, 2022.

Check out the full excerpt here.

Get your copy of Big Men Fear Me here!

GLOBE AND MAIL 2023 PREVIEW!

The Full Moon Whaling Chronicles by Jason Guriel (August 1, 2023), Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton (April 18, 2023), and Breaking and Entering by Don Gillmor (August 15, 2023) have been featured as part of the Globe and Mail’s 2023 preview. You can read the full preview here.

Check out The Full Moon Whaling Chronicles here.

Check out Instructions for the Drowning here.

Check out Breaking and Entering here.

CASE STUDY, CONFESSION WITH KEITH, TRY NOT TO BE STRANGE and more: Reviews and Lists!

IN THE NEWS!

CASE STUDY

Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet (November 1, 2022) has been reviewed in the Michigan Daily! The review was published online on September 21, 2022. Read the full review here.

Julian Wray writes,

Case Study reflects on relationships of power: the physical power of abusive men over women, the lingering power of memory over oneself. It reflects on the power of one’s wishes over one’s reality, the schism we create in ourselves when we resign to our present state and nothing more. Rebecca is a case study of what happens when desires run away on their own, such that a person is left to watch them go.”

Case Study has also received a starred review in Foreword Reviews! The review will be printed in their November/December issue. Check out the full review here.

An excerpt from the review:

“The fictional author and Burnet share the same initials, which should be a clue as to how close the book will come to breaking the fourth wall … The matryoshka-style layering of narratives, each dependent on the other, is engaging and disorienting. Case Study is an immersive novel that stretches its fiction to fact-like proportions.”

Order your copy of Case Study here!

CONFESSIONS WITH KEITH

Confessions With Keith by Pauline Holdstock (September 20, 2022) was reviewed at the Winnipeg Free Press by Bev Sandell Greenberg! The article, “Domestic story of a dysfunctional delight” was published online on September 26, 2022. You can read the full article here.

Greenberg writes,

“Replete with sensory details, the four-part narrative consists of journals written in Vita’s voice in succinct, cheeky prose … The journals establish a sense of intimacy that endears us to Vita, but they also convey a level of tension palpable on every page … Holdstock’s fast-paced comic novel with its entertaining narrative will captivate readers, especially those who relish domestic tales.”

Confessions With Keith was reviewed in The Vancouver Sun by Brett Josef Grubisic! The article, “Holdstock extracts witty, painful glimpse into one woman’s revolving life” was published online on September 21, 2022. Read the full article here.

Grubisic writes,

“Magnetic … artfully expressed—funny, honest, wry, intimate—private thoughts … On page after assured page, Vita [is] confounded thrilled, irked, hurt, and envious—about minutia as well as the big picture—and all of which are facets of what she calls ‘the senselessness of human existence.'”

Get your copy of Confessions with Keith here!

ON BROWSING

On Browsing by Jason Guriel (October 8, 2022) has been excerpted in The Walrus. They’ve titled it “I Miss Being Bored at the Mall.”

You can read the whole excerpt here.

Grab your copy of On Browsing here!

BIG MEN FEAR ME

Big Men Fear Me by Mark Bourrie (October 18, 2022) has been included in the Quill & Quire Fall Books Preview published online on September 21, 2022. Check out the full list here.

Attila Berki writes,

“Mark Bourrie revives the life of George McCullagh—a charismatic high-school dropout, a self-made millionaire, the creator and owner of the Globe and Mail, and a man with great political potential—whose fall in the mid-20th century would be as steep as his rise to prominence.”

Order your copy of Big Men Fear Me here!

TRY NOT TO BE STRANGE

Try Not to Be Strange: The Curious History of the Kingdom of Redonda by Michael Hingston (September 13, 2022) has been featured in the New York Times as part of their Newly Published column. The article was published on September 21, 2022. You can read the full article here.

The New York Times writes,

“This combination literary history, travelogue and cautionary tale tells the history of the formerly uninhabited Caribbean island of Redonda and its development into a ‘micronation’ ruled by writers, beginning with the science fiction author M.P. Shiel in 1880.”

Try Not to Be Strange was also featured in Fine Books & Collections as one of their editor’s picks. The article was published online on September 16, 2022. You can read the full article here.

Fine Books & Collections writes,

“Combining travelogue, memoir, and literary history, Hingston has crafted a fascinating tale full of eccentric characters. Editions of all sizes play a role in the drama, and bibliophiles will also relish the author’s auction experience.”

Grab your copy of Try Not to Be Strange here!

THIS TIME, THAT PLACE

This Time, That Place by Clark Blaise (October 18, 2022) has been reviewed at Kirkus Reviews. The review will go live September 28, 2022.

The reviewer writes,

“These stories cover ground not only geographically. They are also crowded with character and incident, always fiercely and smartly observed … Blaise has gathered here a smart, sprawling collection of stories about family, rootlessness, and identity.”

Grab your copy of This Time, That Place here!

CASE STUDY, ESTATES LARGE AND SMALL, THIS TIME THAT PLACE: New York Times, CBC, and other media hits!

IN THE NEWS!

THIS TIME, THAT PLACE

This Time, That Place: Selected Stories by Clark Blaise (November 8, 2022) has been featured in the New York Times. The article was published on August 5, 2022.

The New York Times writes,

“This collection of 24 stories presents a life’s work by the Canadian American author and paints a restless, uneasy portrait of society at the turn of the 21st century.”

Check out the full list here.

Get your copy of This Time, That Place here!

CASE STUDY

Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet (November 1, 2022) has been reviewed in Kirkus Reviews. The review was published online on July 27, 2022. Read the full review here.

Kirkus writes,

“A provocative send-up of midcentury British mores and the roots of modern psychotherapy … brisk and engaging.”

Case Study has also been longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize on July 26, and shortlisted for the 2022 Gordon Burn Prize on August 3!

View the Booker longlist here, and the Gordon Burn shortlist here.

Preorder Case Study here!

ESTATES LARGE AND SMALL

Estates Large and Small (August 16, 2022) by Ray Robertson was featured on a CBC Books list highlighting ’27 Canadian books we can’t wait to read in August.’ The list was published online on August 3, 2022. You can see the full list here.

The book was also featured on a list of bookseller recommendations by 49th Shelf. That list was published online on July 30, 2022 and is available here.

In his 49th Shelf recommendation, bookseller David Worsley writes,

“Ray Robertson has an unwavering morality and like a lot of smart people, he’s really, really funny. This is my favorite of the year so far.”

An interview with Ray Robertson was published on Open Book on August 4, 2022. You can read the full interview here.

Ahead of the interview, Open Book editors write,

“A funny, thoughtful, and heartbreaking love letter to the power of books and reading, Estates Large and Small is Robertson doing what he does best—asking probing questions about why and how we can best live and understand ourselves and one another.”

Get your copy of Estates Large and Small here!

THE DAY-BREAKERS, THE AFFIRMATIONS, HAIL THE INVISIBLE WATCHMAN, EYES OF THE RIGEL, A FACTOTUM IN THE BOOK TRADE, POGUEMAHONE: Media Hits!

IN THE NEWS!

THE DAY-BREAKERS

The Day-Breakers by Michael Fraser (April 5, 2022) has been featured by CBC Books as part of ’27 Canadian books coming out in April we can’t wait to read.’ The list was published online on April 5, 2022. Take a look at the full list here.

Michael Fraser has been interviewed by Valentino Assenza on HOWL (CIUT) about his new collection, The Day-Breakers. The episode aired on April 5, 2022 at 10pm et. You can listen to/download the full HOWL interview here.

Michael Fraser was also interviewed by Pearl Pirie on Pearl Pirie about The Day-Breakers. The Pearl Pirie interview was published online on April 5, 2022. You can read his interview with Pearl Pirie here.

Get your copy of The Day-Breakers here!

THE AFFIRMATIONS

The Affirmations by Luke Hathaway (April 5, 2022), was reviewed by Holly M. Wendt in Ploughshares: ‘Conversation in The Affirmations.’ The review was published online on April 12, 2022. You can read the complete review here.

Wendt writes:

“The depth of references offers opportunities for entry and distance alike. Ranging freely across centuries of works, sacred and secular, Hathaway’s book, published last week, is as deftly conversant with John Donne as with Auden, as expert in its command of music, metrical and lexical as the maritime landscape. […] The object […] of The Affirmations, is not simply reifying what has come before, but challenging, re-imagining, and reclaiming what has been made into a tool of oppression.”

Order The Affirmations here!

HAIL, THE INVISIBLE WATCHMAN

Hail, the Invisible Watchman by Alexandra Oliver (April 5, 2022), has received a starred review from Annick MacAskill on Quill & Quire. The review was published online on April 1, 2022. Check out the full review here.

MacAskill writes:

“This last sequence, a series of English sonnets spoken in the voices of two of Wilson’s characters as well as a third-person narrator, is particularly well realized. Oliver proves herself a master at her chosen form; the sonnet and its demanding rhyme scheme serve as a springboard for the narrative moments and reflections she depicts. […]

Oliver displays a fidelity to rhyming verse not often found in contemporary Canadian poetry. The formal aspects of Oliver’s writing do not detract from, but rather enable her quick wit and clear-eyed assessments.”

Order Hail, the Invisible Watchman here!

EYES OF THE RIGEL

The third novel in Roy Jacobsen’s The Barrøy Chronicles, Eyes of the Rigel (April 5, 2022), has been reviewed in Publishers Weekly! The review was posted online on January 28. Though the review states that this is the last of the series, I’m pleased to let you know that Roy has surprised us with a fourth novel, and we will be continuing Ingrid’s journey in Spring 2023. You can read the full review here.

The reviewer writes:

“[An] expressive story of a woman’s search for her lover in post-WWII Norway. The translators inventively capture Ingrid’s dialect (“An’ thas knew this all th’taim”) as well as the power of the tense interactions between the characters. This delicate account of yearning perfectly caps the strong series.”

Order Eyes of the Rigel here!

Check out the first two books in the series, The Unseen and White Shadow, here!

A FACTOTUM IN THE BOOK TRADE

A Factotum in the Book Trade by Marius Kociejowski (April 26, 2022) has been reviewed by Danny Heitman in the Wall Street Journal as part of the article ‘5 Tales of Top-Shelf Book People.’ The article was published online on April 7, 2022. You can read the full article here.

Heitman writes:

“His polished sentences faintly resonate with Proustian echoes … Mr. Kociejowski … has a loose sense of narrative that perfectly simulates an afternoon ramble through a vintage bookshop. A dizzying diversity of books and authors strike against each other, creating sparks of insight. In the space of a few pages, he mentions Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry Green, Emily Dickinson, William Hazlitt, J.L. Carr and Patrick Leigh Fermor, offering concise assessments of each. Frequent footnotes, rendered as chatty asides, deepen his memoir’s digressive charm.”

A Factotum in the Book Trade by Marius Kociejowski (April 26, 2022) has also been reviewed in the Ottawa Review of Books by Timothy Niedermann! The review was published online on April 4, 2022. Have a look at the full review here.

Niedermann writes:

“Despite having a library with upwards of 1,000 volumes, Kociejowski does not feel he himself is a collector, however. He calls himself a “bibliophile”: a book lover. And this is the essence of A Factotum in the Book Trade. It is about love for books.

A Factotum in the Book Trade is an extraordinary work that will give all readers an increased appreciation for what books are and the many intricate roles that books play in our lives.”

A Factotum in the Book Trade was reviewed by Michael Turner in the British Columbia Review. The article, ‘Where the Magic Happens,’ was published online on April 8, 2022. You can read the full article here.

Turner writes:

“[I]n the book’s swirling opening chapter […], we find him reflecting on a working life (mostly in the antiquarian book trade) […] Mortality sets off this reflection (“What is forever when set against the universe? About the length of a sticking plaster”) (p. 1), then books (“‘The world is made,’ says Stéphane Mallarmé, ‘in order to result in a beautiful book.’ All else — the filling of an order, the cataloguing of a book — is mere procedure”) (p. 2) and bookselling (“The book trade is naturally secretive even when it pretends otherwise. What one might think is an open book is actually a closed one”) (p. 3).

It is this interplay between books (Kociejowski has authored books of poetry and travel writing) and bookselling (a staging ground into which enter books, employees and casual customers, but also literary archives, personal libraries, collectors and celebrated authors like Patti Smith, Robert Graves and Bruce Chatwin) where the magic happens.”

Order A Factotum in the Book Trade here!

POGUEMAHONE

Poguemahone (May 3, 2022) by Patrick McCabe has been reviewed by Sean O’Brien for The Telegraph. The review was published online on April 5, 2022. You can read the full review here.

O’Brien writes:

“McCabe, best known for The Butcher Boy and Breakfast on Pluto (both Booker shortlisted in the 1990s, and adapted into films), is not the first prose writer to seek the lingering prestige of poetry without having to write it. In fact it’s easy to ignore the verse, except as an effective scoring method: the reader hears the book as something spoken aloud, or whispered, or snarled, or insinuated or spat into his ear. The voice is an insistent companion who, having got hold of an elbow, has no plans to stop until his hour is exhausted or the auditor collapses under the weight of memory, bile, repetition and implication.”

Patrick McCabe was interviewed on BBC Front Row for Poguemahone. The interview aired on April 12, 2022. Poguemahone was also publicly announced as a May Indie Next pick by the American Booksellers Association on April 12, 2022.

You can listen to the full BBC episode here and view the May Indie Next list here.

Preorder Poguemahone here!