Still reading this one — brilliant. About the mill at Pictou NS, can’t stop reading it.  And Coles even cancelled the author’s book launch in their  store in the mall there because the mill told them to do it, in so many words…

MacIntyre’s new book is riveting.  It has to do with the Toronto media, the massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps (1982), the Falange and Israel.  Look up what the Falange is.   Women’s roles pretty rocky, yet the book ‘works’...

This book does not work quite as well.  If you liked “The Help” which was all the rage about 4 yrs ago, you’ll like this book. 3 different characters, one less likeable than the next — but it all works out in the end.  Plus there is a bit of murder and mayhem in the middle. This book by Eddo-Lodge works and works well.  In a straightforward and delightful way she explains exactly why, as a black person in the UK, she’s not talking to whites– even well- intentioned ones –about race. Highly recommend it.

If you wonder about getting old or are already there, you must read this brilliant book.  You’ll never forget the characters. You’ll want to meet the narrator and travel with her on her social work rounds which concern seniors’…

A family of two, one from the Caribbean and one born in Canada, lives in today’s Scarborough, the suburb of Toronto. This is a novel that flags race, class and entitlement.  It’s wonderful.  Chilling and honest. 

This book is by a new friend and first time author, Jen Powley. She  has drawn a fine and  deliberate picture of what it’s been like for her to live with MS.  Clever, funny and radical. Her spirit and her understanding of chinks in the spirits of others is amazing.

Marshall’s book is also an autobiography and a bit humorous.  Marshall, a Toronto actor formerly in the DeGrassi series, had a tumour on her spine which was removed. Still, at 45 yrs of age her life in Lyndhurst — arguably the best rehab hospital in the country — is very harsh.  The book reveals a lot about physical and psycho-social therapy. Her relationships with her husband and sons is portrayed in an intimate way.  I felt the book was a bit slick — but for people who have never suffered a serious illness or injury, it’s a very useful read. 

You can never go wrong with Norman Finkelstein.  Gaza now ignored by the media — was all over the news during Israel’s various sieges, massacres and destructions of the largest open air prison in the world.  When we read about 17 yr old Ahed Tamimi and her jailing on 12 counts of assaulting an IDF soldier on her front steps– you see what the Israeli state is doing to Palestinians – in the West Bank, Gaza and at home in Israel where Palestinians make up 20% of the Israeli population…