It’s that time of year again! Canada Reads is back with five new books and the Canadian celebrities who plan to defend them. Every year, Canada tunes into CBC to watch four days of painstaking debate on the book that Canadians should be reading right now. We’ve assembled three of our Canadian book lovers to…
A Whistle-Stop History of Fanfiction
Welcome to a Whistle-stop History of Fanfiction. Love it or loath it, many of us nerds know about fanfiction. It’s a huge part of modern fandom that ranges all the way from 200 word flash fiction to epic multi-chapter novels, but when did fanfiction start being part of the way we view fandom, and what…
Book Beat: Mental Health, Feminism, and Dissent
Hello again, readers! The week before last, I suggested borrowing books with both female protagonists and authors. This week, I suggest reading for mental health, but I don’t necessarily mean self-help books. For instance, I recently went by my local library’s book sale and bought a book of Irish myths, a copy of The Alchemist…
Erase the President: 5 Anti-Trump Colouring Books
So you hate Trump. (I mean, obviously, since you’re reading this site?) So you hate Trump and rather like colouring. Good news! There are now more anti-Trump colouring books on the market than I could reasonably fit into this listicle. Want to tell the president-un-elect to fuck off? There’s a colouring book for that. Want to…
Otherworlds and Underworlds: Filthy Futures in Roadside Picnic and Neuromancer
More often than not, science fiction depicting the future on Earth conjures up spick-and-span cityscapes: gleaming streets and towers, an ordered and efficient environment, and hidden danger disguised as benign societal mechanisms. What’s seen less often are chaotic, dirty, bucket-of-bolts futures where menace lurks around every corner and people spill out, swearing, from grungy dives….
Book Beat- Jane Austen’s Death, Wellcome Prize and Richard Wagamese’s Legacy
Happy Thursday, book lovers! It’s me, Ashley, again! I missed talking about the weekly book news round up! I am currently in that awful period of the semester when I have all my final essays due before exams start. So right now, the only thing I am reading is scholarly, peer-reviewed articles. Boring, I know….
Born Both: Books about the Intersex Experience
Hida Viloria was raised a girl, but always felt different. It wasn’t just that they were attracted to girls, but unlike many other people in the first world who are born intersex–meaning they have genitals, reproductive organs, hormones, and/or chromosomal patterns that do not fit standard definitions of male or female–Viloria’s parents did not have their…
Not Quite a Red Carpet Welcome for the Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde
Queens of Geek Jen Wilde Swoon Reads March 14, 2017 Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher.
Book Beat: Lumberjanes Book Cover and Title Reveal, Hillary’s Current Read, and More!
Helloooo readers! It’s Stephanie again! Since yesterday was International Women’s Day, this week’s Book Beat is all about female authors, characters, and influence. Hey, we are Women Write About Comics. Personally I only tweeted and retweeted female voices on Wednesday to give them a boost. Speaking of female voices, I recently borrowed Tracee de Hahn’s debut…
Trust, Trauma, and Family in Caela Carter’s Forever, or a Long Long Time
Forever, or a Long Long Time Caela Carter Harper Collins March 7, 2017 Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Trauma does not define a person, but it can cause seemingly endless aftershocks. Flora and Julian, a sister and brother who spent a considerable amount of…
Dogears: Inverting Tropes in Storytelling
Becoming Unbecoming Una Arsenal Pulp Press December 1, 2015 Una simultaneously explores the terror of living through her own sexual abuses and the entirely-too-geographically-close Yorkshire Ripper’s serial killings in 1977 Northern England. There is an amazing amount of thoughtful material about abuser’s tactics, survivor’s coping mechanisms, the commonplace attitudes that breed violence against women, and…
Book Beat: More Publishers Get Political and the Obamas Make Bank
‘Ello! It’s Stephanie again with this week’s Book Beat! In the past week the Obamas made bank, some ancient Egyptian myths are being translated into English, and bios begin even as biographers die! Let’s get into it. As Ashley covered last week, book publishers have gotten decidedly political lately. Our newest champion is independent Brooklyn…