The lovely (and generous) folks at Penguin have really good timing. They've just sent me a pair of parenting books at a time when I'm struggling intensely with parenting. I don't like to talk about it a lot in the public sphere, but I'm having some serious challenges with parenting -- in particular … [Read more...]
The Element
As the economic crisis deepens and the unemployment rate climbs, thousands of Canadians are deeply concerned about their professional futures.Their instinct may be to take the easiest paycheque they can find, but what they should realize is that this transitional time offers them teh chance to take … [Read more...]
Jane in Bloom
In the shadow of loss, a wallflower blossoms.Jane's big sister, Lizzie, has always been the center of attention. No one ever pays attention to boring, plain Jane. But when Jane's twelfth birthday marks the beginning of Lizzie's final descent into a fatal eating disorder, Jane discovers that the … [Read more...]
One Big Happy Family
Well, I have to admit to being slightly skeptical when I first picked up One Big Happy Family: 18 Writers Talk About Polyamory, Open Adoption, Mixed Marriage, House Husbandry, Single Motherhood, and Other Realities of Truly Modern Love (Edited by Rebecca Walker). That opinion (along with many … [Read more...]
The Help – and a Giveaway!
THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.From the publisher of The Help: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step. Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter … [Read more...]
We Generation
I often find reason to reflect on how incredibly different my daughters' childhood will be than mine was. And it's not just cell phones and google or our relationship with technology that makes childhood different today; it's our relationship with childhood itself. Author Michael Ungar, … [Read more...]
“A Book is a Present You Can Open Again and Again”
My Aunt Barb once gave me a gift of a book and a package of adhesive book plates inscribed with this phrase:A book is a present you can open again and again.I cherished both the book (the complete and uncut hardcover version of Stephen King's The Stand: an extraordinary read) and the book plates. … [Read more...]
Will Work from Home Winner
Congratulations to Chantal, winner of the Will Work from Home Giveaway! Here is Chantal's commuting story: "When I was pregnant with my first son I had a 35 minute commute to work. I lived out of town and drove though one small community on my way to the city. In my last trimester my son had … [Read more...]
The Wise Woman
Can you think of anything more wonderful than opening up your mailbox and finding books inside? Neither can I. So, as I said last week, I was thrilled to get a package with a number of books from the really nice folks at Simon & Schuster Canada this summer. The first book from this package … [Read more...]
Promise of the Wolves
A while back, the nice folks at Simon & Schuster sent me this book: I've always had a soft-spot for fantasy and sci-fi, so I took a peek within. Here's how the promotional material read: WHAT IS THE PROMISE OF THE WOLF? NEVER CONSORT WITH HUMANS. NEVER KILL A HUMAN UNPROVOKED. NEVER … [Read more...]