Posts

Media Hits: THE NOTEBOOK, OLD ROMANTICS, CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES, and more!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS!

THE NOTEBOOK

The Notebook by Roland Allen (Sep 3, 2024) was included in the New Yorker‘s list of “The Best Books of 2024!” The list was published online on December 4, and is available to read here.

The Notebook was also included in the Globe and Mail‘s “Holiday Books Gift Guide for 2024!” The listed was posted online on December 6, and you can check it out here.

Nathalie Atkinson writes,

“[Allen] charts the evolution of notebooks as a repository for thought and follows the crucial role logbooks, diaries and journals have played in humanity’s development.”

Ryan Holiday featured The Notebook in his list of “The (Very) Best Books I Read In 2024.” The list was posted on December 8, and you can read it here.

Holiday calls it,

“[A] lovely book about one of the most transformative pieces of technology ever invented.”

Grab The Notebook here!

OLD ROMANTICS

Old Romantics by Maggie Armstrong (Apr 1, 2025) was featured in the Irish Independent on December 4 for the article, “Novels not to be missed,” available to read here.

Aingeala Flannery wrote,

“A dazzling snapshot of Dublin in the early 21st century, full of wry social observation . . . it will appeal to anyone who likes clever, modern, writing about womanhood.”

Preorder Old Romantics here!

QUESTION AUTHORITY

Mark Kingwell, author of Question Authority (Nov 5, 2024), was interviewed by Deborah Dundas in the Toronto Star. The interview was published online on December 7, and you can read it here.

Get Question Authority here!

SETH’S CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories 2024 (Oct 29, 2024) were reviewed in Cemetery Dance. The review was published online on December 4, and you can read it in full here.

Blu Gilliand writes,

“It’s become a favorite December tradition for me—reviewing the new set of Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories as delivered to my stocking each year by the fine folks at Biblioasis. This year’s package contains tales of dread that will raise goosebumps on your arms faster than the coldest winter wind . . . These stocking-sized one-sit reads really are a great way to spend those quiet moments when you can find them among the holiday craziness.”

Grab all three 2024 Christmas Ghost Stories here!

THE PAGES OF THE SEA

The Pages of the Sea by Anne Hawk (Sep 17, 2024) was listed as a Guardian Best Fiction Book of 2024. The article was published on December 7, and you can read it here.

Justine Jordan writes,

“This fresh perspective on the Windrush generation uses dialect to convey [a] young child’s thoughts with vivid immediacy.”

Grab The Pages of the Sea here!

CROSSES IN THE SKY

Crosses in the Sky by Mark Bourrie (May 21, 2024)was featured in the Toronto Star on December 4, for Heather Mallick’s “Five of my best reads of 2024.” Check it out here!

Mallick writes,

“Canada’s greatest historian has done it for a third time, stripping the carcass of Canadian history and leaving readers horrified, riveted, in shock . . . A triumph.”

Get Crosses in the Sky here!

SORRY ABOUT THE FIRE

Sorry About the Fire by Colleen Coco Collins (Apr 2, 2024) was included in the California Review of Books’ “31 Outstanding Poetry Books from 2024,” which you can view here.

David Starkey writes,

“Readers interested in entering [Collins’s] manically creative world must be prepared to relinquish their preconceptions of how words and sentences ought to be linked together.”

Get Sorry About the Fire here!

Media Hits: QUERELLE OF ROBERVAL, CASE STUDY, THE DAY-BREAKERS, and more!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS

QUERELLE OF ROBERVAL

Querelle of Roberval by Kevin Lambert (translated by Donald Winkler) (August 2, 2022) is listed at Quill & Quire as a book of the year. The list was published online on December 7, 2022. You can find the whole list here.

Steven W. Beattie writes,

“This excoriating novel, first published in French in 2018, relocates Jean Genet’s notorious anti-hero to a small mill town in Quebec, where his libertine lifestyle collides with a fraught and controversial workers’ strike. Sexually explicit, graphically violent, and surprisingly lyrical, Lambert’s second novel, in a fluid and furious translation by Donald Winkler, is the most audacious work of fiction published in the English language this year.”

Kevin Lambert also published a piece with Lit Hub recommending books that, like Querelle of Roberval, might disturb the reader. In an article called “Edgy, Unapologetic, and Transgressive: 8 Books That Seek to Unsettle the Reader,” Lambert writes,

“With Querelle, I wanted to write a book about political topics like capitalism, anti-social queer politics, and working class strikes, but without telling the readers what to think, and by doing this, preserving their sense of liberty, inviting them to join the debate and the conflict (“querelle” means “conflict”).” The piece was published online on December 8, 2022.

You can read the whole article here.

Grab your copy of Querelle of Roberval here!

CASE STUDY

Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet (November 1, 2022) has been reviewed in the New Yorker. The review was published online on December 12, 2022. You can read the full review here.

The New Yorker writes:

“With its layers of imposture and unreliability, the novel suggests that our personhood is far more malleable than we believe.”

Case Study has been featured as one of Shelf Awareness’s “Best Books of the Week.” The article was published on December 9, 2022. You can read the full article here.

Case Study has also been reviewed in Reviewing the Evidence. The review was published online on December 12, 2022. You can read the full review here.

Reviewer Yvonne Klein writes,

“What decidedly it is is an enticing piece of metafiction that is impossible to put down, but not because it offers generated tension that is happily released when order and safety are restored. Instead it tempts us down one fascinating path after another without promising or providing any solutions.”

Grab your copy of Case Study here!

THIS TIME, THAT PLACE

This Time, That Place by Clark Blaise (October 18, 2022 ) has also been featured as part of Shelf Awareness’s “Best Books of the Week.” The article was published on December 9, 2022. You can read the full article here.

Pick up your copy of This Time, That Place here!

THE DAY-BREAKERS

The Day-Breakers by Michael Fraser has been selected as one of CBC’s Best Poetry Books of 2022. The article was published online on December 8, 2022. You can read the full list here.

The Day-Breakers was featured by ByBlacks as part of their list to “Celebrate Black Canadian Authors This Holiday Season With These 36 Books.” The article was published online on December 12, 2022. You can read the full list here.

Get your copy of The Day-Breakers here!

HAIL, THE INVISIBLE WATCHMAN & THE AFFIRMATIONS

Hail, the Invisible Watchman by Alexandra Oliver, and The Affirmations by Luke Hathaway (April 4, 2022) were both selected as one of CBC’s Best Poetry Books of 2022. The article was published online on December 8, 2022. You can read the full list here.

Hail, the Invisible Watchman and The Affirmations were also both reviewed in Able Muse! Both articles were published online on December 14, 2022. Read The Affirmations review here and Hail, The Invisible Watchman review here.

Brooke Clark writes, of The Affirmations:

“This is a book that will be read and reread by those attuned to its pleasures. For myself, I can only say it could have gone on forever; once I entered the mental world created by The Affirmations, I never wanted to leave it.”

Susan McLean writes, of Hail:

“Alexandra Oliver, in Hail, the Invisible Watchman (Biblioasis, 2022), shows off her bravura poetic technique and her sharp satiric eye, extending her darkly ironic visions from the individual poems that populated her first two collections, to the more novelistic narrative mosaics in her latest book.”

Order The Affirmations here!

Order Hail, the Invisible Watchman here!

SETH’S CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories (November 1, 2022) were reviewed in Paste Magazine’s ‘5 Cozy Christmas Reads to Warm Your Holiday Season’! The article was published online on December 9, 2022. Read the review here.

Alana Joli Abbott writes,

“Taking classic short stories and adding design and geometry-heavy illustrations, Seth reintroduces eerie works from writers including Gertrude Atherton, Lady Asquith, and Shirley Jackson, among many others … great small gifts for holiday exchanges.”

Pick up the 2022 set of Christmas Ghost Stories here!

Check out the rest of the series here!

THE POWER OF STORY

The Power of Story: On Truth, the Trickster, and New Fictions for a New Era by Harold R. Johnson (October 11, 2022) has been featured as part of CBC’s “Best Nonfiction Books of 2022.” The article was published online on December 13, 2022. You can read the full review here.

Grab your copy of The Power of Story here!

CONFESSIONS WITH KEITH

Pauline Holdstock’s Confessions with Keith (October 25, 2022), has been listed as a book of the year at the 49th Shelf! The list, called “22 of ‘22: Our Books of the Year,” was published online on December 12, 2022. You can find the whole list here.

Order your copy of Confessions with Keith here!

BEST CANADIAN ESSAYS 2023

The Miramichi Reader has reviewed Best Canadian Essays 2023 edited by Mireille Silcoff. The review was published online on December 12, 2022. You can read the whole review here.

Pick up Best Canadian Essays 2023 here!

Grab the full Best Canadian 2023 set here!

Rave Reviews: CASE STUDY, ORDINARY WONDER TALES, THE POWER OF STORY, ON BROWSING and more!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS!

CASE STUDY

Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet (November 1, 2022) has been featured by The New York Times as one of “100 Notable Books of 2022.” The article was published online on November 22, 2022.

You can read the full article here.

Pick up your copy of Case Study here!

ORDINARY WONDER TALES

Ordinary Wonder Tales by Emily Urquhart (November 1, 2022), has been reviewed by Robert J. Wiersema in the Toronto Star! The review was published online on November 24, 2022. Read the review here.

Wiersema writes,

“A book of both deep thought and intense feeling, Ordinary Wonder Tales is, literally, a collection of wonders, and a truly beautiful account of a life lived in the nexus of the temporal and the eternal. It’s a treasure.”

Emily Urquhart, author of Ordinary Wonder Tales was interviewed by Jackie Sharkey on CBC Afternoon Drive! The episode was posted on November 15, 2022. Listen to the full interview here.

Ordinary Wonder Tales has been reviewed in the Midwest Book Review! The review was published online on November 14, 2022. Read the review here.

Reviewer Susan Bethany writes,

“A collective masterpiece of literary criticism, insights, observations, perceptions, and appreciation, Ordinary Wonder Tales by Emily Urquhart is an extraordinarily thoughtful and thought-provoking read.”

Ordinary Wonder Tales was also reviewed by Kerry Clare in Pickle Me This! The review was published online on November 21, 2022. Check it out here.

Clare writes,

“These essays—beautiful, rich and absorbing—will change the way you see your place in the world, and they’ll leave you noticing all the magic at its fringes.”

Grab your copy of Ordinary Wonder Tales here!

A FACTOTUM IN THE BOOK TRADE

A Factotum in the Book Trade by Marius Kociejowski (April 26, 2022) has been featured on the Globe and Mail’s list of “The Best Books to Gift This Year.” The list was published online on November 18, 2022. Read the full list here.

The Globe and Mail writes:

“Poet and former London antiquarian bookseller recalls his life between the covers, from growing up in rural Ontario to his journey among eccentric buyers, sellers and other obsessives.”

Get your copy of A Factotum in the Book Trade here!

YOU ARE HERE

You Are Here: Selected Stories by Cynthia Flood (November 15, 2022), has been reviewed in the BC Review! The review was published online on November 21, 2022. Check it out here.

Reviewer Ginny Ratsoy writes,

“Curated from a body of work published over a 35-year period, You Are Here presents insightful, often incisive, glances into fictional lives … Cynthia Flood employs a realistic style to glances into characters who are products of their respective time and place, while at the same time surprising, sometimes jarring, us with unpredictability.”

Get your copy of You Are Here 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 reviewed in The Spectator. The article was published on November 24, 2022. You can read the full review here.

Leaf Arbuthnot writes,

“There is an island in the Caribbean so small that it doesn’t appear on many world maps … The island is the subject of the Canadian writer Michael Hingston’s often excellent Try Not to Be Strange. I can see booksellers scratching their heads over where to shelve it. Part memoir, part travelogue, it’s also a beer-soaked history of pub-going in mid-20th-century Soho, and an exhaustive record of a made up and deeply eccentric monarchy.”

Pick up your copy of Try Not to Be Strange here!

THE POWER OF STORY

The Power of Story: On Truth, the Trickster, and New Fictions for a New Era by Harold R. Johnson (October 11, 2022) has been reviewed in the December issue of the Literary Review of Canada. The review was published online on November 21, 2022. You can read the full review here.

Christina Turner writes,

“Johnson’s idea is a powerful one: that a person is not only the “author” but also the “editor” of his or her life, that reframing a narrative is enough to change it.”

The Power of Story has also been reviewed in The Link. The review was published online on November 24, 2022. You can read the full review here.

Claire Helston-VanDuzer’s writes,

“[The Power of Story] is quite the legacy to leave behind … Clear and telling, this final work by Johnson is educational, cohesive and a very intriguing read.”

Get your copy of The Power of Story here!

ON BROWSING

Jason Guriel’s On Browsing (October 4, 2022) was listed as a best book of 2022 at the Times Literary Supplement. The list was published online on November 20, 2022. Find the whole list here.

A.E. Stallings writes,

“I enjoyed Jason Guriel’s hymn to life before algorithms, On Browsing, in which I recognized my own youth among malls, bookstores and card catalogues.”

Grab your copy of On Browsing here!

BIG MEN FEAR ME

Big Men Fear Me by Mark Bourrie (October 18, 2022) has been reviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press. The review, “Press baron’s rise and fall a riveting read,” was published online on November 19, 2022. You can read the full review here.

Douglas Johnston writes,

“Bourrie’s research is meticulous, and his writing has great pace and bounce. McCullagh’s rags-to-riches accession to press baron, and dark sudden demise, is a remarkable story.”

Get your copy of Big Men Fear Me here!

ESTATES LARGE AND SMALL

Ray Robertson, author of Estates Large and Small (August 16, 2022) was interviewed by Bookin podcast. The interview was published online on November 21, 2022. You can listen to the full episode here.

Estates Large and Small was also reviewed in the December issue of the Literary Review of Canada. The review was published online on November 21, 2022. You can read the full review here.

Jules Lewis writes,

“Sinking deeper into these existential questions, as Estates Large and Small does, scrapes away a sheltering layer of existence, bringing the reader into closer proximity to both joy and loss. Musing about his profession, Phil at one point says, ‘I was only renting my books.’ Indeed, Ray Robertson asks us to think about life as a rental, and to make the best out of it before our lease runs out.”

Grab your copy of Estates Large and Small here!

CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories (November 1, 2022), have been reviewed by Lindsey Childs in Prairie Fire! The review was published online on November 15, 2022. Read the full review here.

Childs called this year’s stories:

“A nice, creepy reprieve from all the holly and jolly of the holidays. Seth’s black and white illustrations provide a delicious sense for foreboding and unease to these tales of the dearly departed.”

Pick up the 2022 Christmas Ghost Stories here!

Check out the whole series here!

THINGS ARE AGAINST US, A GHOST IN THE THROAT, CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES, ROMANTIC, VILLA NEGATIVA: Media Hits!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS!

THINGS ARE AGAINST US

Lucy Ellmann’s Things Are Against Us has been named a ‘Best Book of the 2021’ by The Independent! The list was published online on December 13. You can see the whole list here.

Martin Chilton says,

“Stimulating, entertaining and spiky. Some of her targets are dreary sexist men but she skewers them with real humour. Ellmann is fond of puns, alliteration and long lists of sharp adjectives, and her put-downs are like a literary version of watching popcorn kernels sizzle and suddenly pop in the pan.”

Get your copy of Things Are Against Us here!

 

A GHOST IN THE THROAT

A Ghost in the Throat cover

A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa was included in the New York Times Critics’ Top Books of 2021! The list was posted on December 15. You can read the whole list here.

Get your copy of A Ghost in the Throat here!

 

CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories (October 26, 2021) were featured along with an interview with Seth in Zoomer! The feature was published on December 10. You can read the full article here.

Reviewer Nathalie Atkinson said,

“The Biblioasis editions are handsome objects with embossed covers, double-page spreads that act like a cinematic establishing shot, and the artist’s thematic spot illustrations … The Seth editions are harbingers of a Christmas ghost story revival.”

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories were also mentioned in the Washington Post‘s books newsletter! The newsletter went out on December 10.

Ron Charles said,

“Each of these tiny books—20 volumes now—is cleverly illustrated by the cartoonist known as Seth. Even smaller than a Christmas card, they make fun literary stocking stuffers.”

Seth was interviewed for the Proust Questionnaire on CBC The Next Chapter! The interview was posted on December 11, and re-aired on December 13. You can listen to the segment here.

Get all three 2021 Christmas Ghost Stories here!

 

ROMANTIC

Romantic by Mark Callanan was listed in CBC Books’ Best Canadian Poetry of 2021! The list was posted on December 14. Check out the whole list here.

Get your copy of Romantic here!

 

VILLA NEGATIVA

Villa Negativa was reviewed in The Malahat Review! The review was published in their Autumn 2021 print edition.

Reviewer Jay Ruzesky said,

“Villa Negativa is a collection of three intensely personal reflections rendered in precise language and spanning an emotional range so wide that readers should do some mental stretching before reading the books. While examining anorexia, a failed or failing relationship, and a sister’s long, agonizing illness, McCartney manages to expose humour, so that the reader is compelled forward even as we are anxious about how things are going to come out in the end.”

Get your copy of Villa Negativa here!

THE SINGING FOREST, DRIVEN, ON PROPERTY, ON DECLINE, CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES, A GHOST IN THE THROAT: Best of the Year and Gift Picks!

/in /by

IN THE NEWS!

THE SINGING FOREST

The Singing Forest by Judith McCormack (September 21, 2021) has been named a ‘Best Historical Fiction Novel of 2021’ by the New York Times Book Review! The list was published online on December 9. You can check out the full list here.

Alida Becker said in her review:

“Blends thought-provoking reflections on the moral reckoning of war crimes with a warm, wry, almost Anne Tyler-esque depiction of a young woman’s attempts to decode her eccentric professional and personal families … Leah’s losses, her questions about her parents, are subtly contrasted with larger questions about truth and responsibility, especially when she flies off to conduct interviews in Minsk, “where facts had been malleable for so long, where they had become saleable commodities.”

Get your copy of The Singing Forest here!

DRIVEN

Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers by Marcello Di Cintio (May 4, 2021) was included on the CBC Books “Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2021′ list! The list was published online on December 9. You can see the full list here.

Get your copy of Driven here!

ON PROPERTY

On Property by Rinaldo Walcott (February 2, 2021) was also included on the CBC Books “Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2021′ list! The list was published online on December 9. You can see the full list here.

Get your copy of On Property here!

Check out our Field Notes bundle here!

ON DECLINE

On Decline cover

Andrew Potter, author of On Decline (August 17, 2021) was interviewed by Sean Speer in The Hub! The interview was posted today, on December 10. You can read the full interview here.

Get your copy of On Decline here!

Check out our Field Notes bundle here!

CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES 2021

Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories (October 26, 2021) received a glowing review in The Charlatan! The review was posted online on December 7. You can read it here.

Reviewer Isabel Harder said,

“Seth’s books—petite and illustrated with gorgeous minimalist designs—feel somehow like a more mature version of my childhood traditions. In reality, Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories are a tradition everyone, young and old, can make a part of their holidays. With these beautifully illustrated books, it seems in this case one really can judge a book by its cover.”

Christmas Ghost Stories were mentioned on CBC The Homestretch as part of book columnist Anne Logan’s Christmas picks! The segment aired on November 30. You can listen to it here.

Christmas Ghost Stories were also featured in Hermine Annual’s ‘2021 Holiday Gift Guide for Book Lovers’! The gift guide was posted on December 6. You can view it on their website here.

The Doll’s Ghost by F. Marion Crawford from Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories was chosen as an Ampersand Review holiday staff pick by managing editor Robyn Read! The pick was posted on twitter on December 7. You can check it out here.

Get all three 2021 Christmas Ghost Stories here!

Check out the rest of the series here!

A GHOST IN THE THROAT

A Ghost in the Throat cover

A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa was included in Entropy magazine’s ‘Best of 2020-2021 Nonfiction Books’! The list was posted on December 9. Check out the full list here.

Get your copy of A Ghost in the Throat here!