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!
