Wait Until Late Afternoon

Like conceptual artwork, Wait Until Late Afternoon, a book-length poem in two voices, requires some contextual explanation before its intent and effect can be fully appreciated. In what amounts to an artist’s statement printed on ... Read More »

February 25, 2010 | Filed under: Poetry

★ Windstorm

By Joe Denham

B.C.-based fisherman and timber framer Joe Denham caused a stir with his first poetry collection, Flux, in 2003. The book garnered considerable critical acclaim and Denham’s poems were widely anthologized. Even so, in a 2004 ... Read More »

February 25, 2010 | Filed under: Poetry

Jew and Improved: How Choosing to Be Chosen Made Me a Better Man

By Benjamin Errett

Benjamin Errett’s memoir about his conversion to Judaism upon becoming engaged to a Jewish woman has at its centre a potentially interesting subject, but the author squanders opportunities to explore his spiritual journey in any ... Read More »

February 25, 2010 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

Toby: A Man

By Todd Babiak

The son of two marginally successful hot dog vendeurs in the Montreal suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Toby Ménard is the perfect gentleman. So perfect, in fact, that his face can be seen smiling down from billboards ... Read More »

February 25, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Spice Necklace: A Food-lover’s Caribbean Adventure

By Ann Vanderhoof

If there is a common element to travel writing, it is the obsessive quest to capture the authenticity of the cultures and locations being described. The Spice Necklace, best-selling author Ann Vanderhoof’s chronicle of the ... Read More »

February 25, 2010 | Filed under: Food & Drink

Vancouver Special

By Charles Demers

Vancouver is notoriously difficult to pin down or define. The city is characterized more by its contradictions than by any overarching symbol or mindset: its natural beauty is at odds with its metropolitan leanings; its ... Read More »

February 25, 2010 | Filed under: Science, Technology & Environment

Edible City: Toronto’s Food from Farm to Fork

By Christina Palassio and Alana Wilcox, eds.

Edible City addresses the past, present, and future of food in Toronto. Like its predecessors – uTOpia, GreenTOpia, and HTO – the book is a fascinating mix of political advocacy, social history, and reportage. The ... Read More »

February 25, 2010 | Filed under: Food & Drink

★ The Best Canadian Essays 2009

By Alex Boyd and Carmine Starnino, eds.

The word “essay” comes from the French verb essayer, which means “to try.” Essays, therefore, should always be considered works in progress. But the 14 pieces in Best Canadian Essays 2009, culled from literary and ... Read More »

February 25, 2010 | Filed under: Anthologies

Queer Film Classics: Trash

By Jon Davies

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, notes author Jon Davies in his new study of the counterculture classic Trash, a 1970 film produced by Andy Warhol and directed by Paul Morrissey. But what it ... Read More »

February 25, 2010 | Filed under: Art, Music & Pop Culture

Blood and Groom

By Jill Edmondson

The death of a son or daughter is capable of producing emotional devastation from which it is nearly impossible to recover. For Thaddeus Lewis, a preacher who travels throughout Upper Canada in the late 1830s, ... Read More »