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: “the crooked thing”
Stories that Excavate the Underworld
Some books reveal layers. Dizzying layers about characters, and why they are reckless, why they fall in love, why they wear basketball shorts in the rain, or lay down in the pond with the koi fish. There is a layer of topsoil over a layer of subsoil, over sand, silt and clay all with its own colour and texture. I have an insatiable desire to know about who and why. In my book, The Crooked Thing, I keep going down to the underworld, excavating, trying to scoop up the dark into the light. For my list I have chosen writers and stories that build worlds that reveal character. Who they are and what they want.
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The Love of a Good Woman, by Alice Munro
Nobody does it better to my mind than Alice Munro. She makes it look so easy. “The Love of a Good Woman,” would become the title story of her story collection that would go on to win the Giller Prize and National Book Critics Circle Prize. The story is one of Munro’s most famous works, one written about endlessly, because it is so masterful. With her literary lens focused on small towns and seemingly "or …
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Stories that Excavate the Underworld
Some books reveal layers. Dizzying layers about characters, and why they are reckless, why they fall in love, why they wear basketball shorts in the rain, or lay down in the pond with the koi fish. There is a layer of topsoil over a layer of subsoil, over sand, silt and clay all with its own colour and texture. I have an insatiable desire to know about who and why. In my book, The Crooked Thing, I keep going down to the underworld, excavating, trying to scoop up the dark into the light. For my list I have chosen writers and stories that build worlds that reveal character. Who they are and what they want.
*
The Love of a Good Woman, by Alice Munro
Nobody does it better to my mind than Alice Munro. She makes it look so easy. “The Love of a Good Woman,” would become the title story of her story collection that would go on to win the Giller Prize and National Book Critics Circle Prize. The story is one of Munro’s most famous works, one written about endlessly, because it is so masterful. With her literary lens focused on small towns and seemingly "or …
