ByGD
Children in Reindeer Woods.
What. The. Fuck.
I’m glad I didn’t have to read this book for a course because that is all I have to say about it and that wouldn’t get me a very good grade. Shit. I did read it for a course. I have to try to figure this book out. Read More
ByGD
The public library waitlist for Joseph Boyden’s books is so long, I knew Through Black Spruce would be good. I am still number 19 in line for Orenda. And now I know why. Through Black Spruce begins with the story of a plane crash. In the first chapter we learn that the narrator is a comatose bush pilot; the coma is not from a plane crash; he implies violence. In this first chapter, Boyden shows the whole snowy world that his First Nations characters inhabit; he familiarizes us with the eccentric rhythms of their speech and the practicalities of survival in the far north. He introduces the major themes in the book and gives a glimpse of the recurring title image.
I read those four pages and thought, “Damn. Now that’s how you start a book.”
ByGD
Photo by Gratisography
While I am learning how to write at the Iceland Writers Retreat, here is a quick look at what my statistics page has to tell me about what I wrote on this blog in March.
ByGD
View from Perlan, near the hotel where I will be staying.
Tomorrow I leave for Iceland! While I’m there, I plan to focus on the Iceland Writers Retreat workshops, but I have posts – mostly book reviews – scheduled while I’m gone. Bonus: all of the books are by authors who are involved in the retreat, and whom I will very likely meet this week. Read More
ByGD
Although I agree with her whole heartedly, Caitlin Kelly has walked this talk so much more truly than I have that I feel her words are more appropriate than my own. Click through to read