Off the Page
A blog on Canadian writing, reading, and everything in between

Dazzling Memoirs
Marjorie Simmins, author of MEMOIR: CONVERSATIONS AND CRAFTS, recommends her dream lineup of memoirs.

For Fans of Grisham, Munro, Wolitzer, Shriver, and More
Isn't it great when you find a new author or series that fits your reading taste to a tee? Here are a few new books that …

A Taster: Spring 2021 Nonfiction Preview
Life stories, family, baseball, and retreat. These highlight the nonfiction we're most looking forward to this spring.
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ICYMI: Don't Miss These Beauties
The pandemic has wreaked havoc on our attention spans, making it possible to miss really great fiction. These books caug …

Small Courage: Parenting Memoirs
A recommended reading list by Jane Byers, whose new queer parenting memoir is out now.

The Chat with Kimiko Tobimatsu
Author Kimiko Tobimatsu and illustrator Keet Geniza have teamed up to create Kimiko Does Cancer, a timely graphic memoir …

A Record of Literary History: Best Canadian Poetry 2020
An excerpt from Marilyn Dumont's introduction to BEST CANADIAN POETRY 2020.

The Donair: Canada's Official Food?
Excerpt from BOOK OF DONAIR explores how a bitter rivalry between Halifax and Edmonton helped propel the donair to be de …

Notes From a Children's Librarian: Questions, Questions
Great picture books that engage with questions and encourage readers to think about answers.

Most Anticipated: Our 2021 Spring Fiction Preview
Exciting debuts, and new releases by Christy Ann Conlin, Pasha Malla, Eva Stachniak, Jael Richardson, and more.
Results for keyword: “Amy Bronee”
Shelf Talkers: July 2015
It’s become a familiar cliché, a trope we’ve all seen all too often in movies, TV, and books... Strangely, though, when I was growing up, I was never, not once, asked to write an essay about what I did on my summer vacation. It would have been a pretty easy essay to write: as a kid, I spent my summer holidays exactly the same way I’m spending this one: reading. Sure, now I’m reading in my comfy chair in my office (usually with a cold beverage of the adult variety) rather than in a tree or in the hayloft (usually with a bag of penny candy from the corner store)—but the reading has remained a constant.
It’s the same way for independent booksellers across the country, including the five in this month’s installment. From a modern Canadian classic to a masterful YA book to a uniquely Canadian publishing situation surrounding one of the most controversial books in recent memory, the reading choices are as individual as the booksellers doing the reading.
And what are you reading as the dog days of summer set in?
And can I still get a little paper bag of penny candy anywhere nearby?
*****
The Bookseller: Mary-Ann Yazedjian, Book Warehouse Main Street (Vancouver, BC)
The Pick: The Cure for Death by Lightning, by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
This novel is destined to bec …
Continue reading >
Shelf Talkers: Mid-Summer 2018
Summer.
The very word sends a shiver down the spine, carrying with it memories and echoes of those glorious months from our younger days when the world seemed limitless, and full of potential.
For readers, the summer months have a special connotation. We remember not family trips, per se, but those books we read wedged in the back seat. We remember not pick-up games in the yard, but library reading programs and the stacks of books we devoured, heedless of the outside world. (Did you cross an ocean, measuring the nautical miles in page counts? Or did your reading stats take you on an epic walk? Did you get stickers, or bookmarks, or was the reading simply for its own sake, with no thought of prizes?) We remember all that time we had to read what we wanted, not what we had to read for school. Summer is when we made some of the reading discoveries that have lasted for a lifetime, books and authors who would shape us, in ways we may not even really understand.
As exciting as summer is for adults, it’s never quite so wondrous as those we remember.
But as readers, we can recapture a bit of that magic, whether we’re travelling the world, or sipping coffee on our tiny deck.
This month, the booksellers of the Shelf Talkers column pull back the curtain a little to describe …
Continue reading >
Shelf Talkers: July 2015
It’s become a familiar cliché, a trope we’ve all seen all too often in movies, TV, and books... Strangely, though, when I was growing up, I was never, not once, asked to write an essay about what I did on my summer vacation. It would have been a pretty easy essay to write: as a kid, I spent my summer holidays exactly the same way I’m spending this one: reading. Sure, now I’m reading in my comfy chair in my office (usually with a cold beverage of the adult variety) rather than in a tree or in the hayloft (usually with a bag of penny candy from the corner store)—but the reading has remained a constant.
It’s the same way for independent booksellers across the country, including the five in this month’s installment. From a modern Canadian classic to a masterful YA book to a uniquely Canadian publishing situation surrounding one of the most controversial books in recent memory, the reading choices are as individual as the booksellers doing the reading.
And what are you reading as the dog days of summer set in?
And can I still get a little paper bag of penny candy anywhere nearby?
*****
The Bookseller: Mary-Ann Yazedjian, Book Warehouse Main Street (Vancouver, BC)
The Pick: The Cure for Death by Lightning, by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
This novel is destined to bec …
Shelf Talkers: Mid-Summer 2018
Summer.
The very word sends a shiver down the spine, carrying with it memories and echoes of those glorious months from our younger days when the world seemed limitless, and full of potential.
For readers, the summer months have a special connotation. We remember not family trips, per se, but those books we read wedged in the back seat. We remember not pick-up games in the yard, but library reading programs and the stacks of books we devoured, heedless of the outside world. (Did you cross an ocean, measuring the nautical miles in page counts? Or did your reading stats take you on an epic walk? Did you get stickers, or bookmarks, or was the reading simply for its own sake, with no thought of prizes?) We remember all that time we had to read what we wanted, not what we had to read for school. Summer is when we made some of the reading discoveries that have lasted for a lifetime, books and authors who would shape us, in ways we may not even really understand.
As exciting as summer is for adults, it’s never quite so wondrous as those we remember.
But as readers, we can recapture a bit of that magic, whether we’re travelling the world, or sipping coffee on our tiny deck.
This month, the booksellers of the Shelf Talkers column pull back the curtain a little to describe …