What are you doing with your extra hour today? I’m using mine to start this blog post!

I took a break from Reading Bingo this month to catch up on some CanLit. I finished 14 books in October – including all six Scotiabank Giller Prize finalists, with eight days to spare before the big event and one day to spare before the Between the Pages event featuring all the authors. (I was lucky to have some actual vacation time – as opposed to the more frequent notional type, where I intend to take time off and then give in to my always-expanding inbox and just end up working anyway.)

Tough call on the Giller this year! Usually there’s one book that I feel is far and away the best. (Usually it doesn’t win.) This year I was really impressed by three of them, and am still waffling between giving them 4 and 5 stars. Continue reading

Prize watch: Big day today… the Scotiabank Giller Prize short list was just announced. Congrats to all the finalists! The award ceremony is on November 10, so that gives me 35 days to read:

  • The Betrayers, by David Bezmozgis
  • Tell, by Frances Itani
  • Us Conductors, by Sean Michaels
  • The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, by Heather O’Neill
  • All My Puny Sorrows, by Miriam Toews
  • The Ever After of Ashwin Rao, by Padma Viswanathan

Think I’ll be able to do it? Better yet, who’s with me?!

Prize watch: I’m so giddy with excitement, it’s Giller Day! Well, the first of several Giller Days. The 2014 Giller Prize long list was announced this morning. I’m definitely behind in my CanLit this year (thanks to Reading Bingo, I suspect). I’ve only read ONE of these (Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab, by Shani Mootoo, which was very good). Continue reading