Grief is a difficult subject matter, even though we all experience it at one time or another. I wasn’t really expecting to see it being dealt with so prominently in Sharon Shinn’s Troubled Waters. Zoe Arderlay has lived in exile with her father for ten years. After he passes away, she is whisked away to... Continue Reading →
Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern
What would you do if you had a book that told you the future? Not everyone's future, just yours, one day at a time in your own handwriting, from in a magical book that came from the local travelling library. Sixteen year old Tamara Goodwin finds herself with such a book when she and her... Continue Reading →
Book Thief by Markus Zusak
“The Book Thief” is a title you have probably heard of within the past few months. Markus Zusak’s 2005 novel won awards and critical acclaim when first published, and had a second wave of attention with the 2013 film adaptation last year. I did not know what to expect when I first opened... Continue Reading →
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
From June 8th to June 15th, Thunder Bay is celebrating its 4th annual Thunder Pride. Full of events and activities culminating in a parade on June 14th. It is a event full of social inclusion and awareness for all members of the LGBT community. So in this week I will provide a few reviews of... Continue Reading →
TBPL Staff Poetry Favourites “If” by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling 1865–1936 Our Chief Librarian, John Pateman has chosen 'If' by Rudyard Kipling "because it is inspirational for when times are both good and bad." If By Rudyard Kipling If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when... Continue Reading →
Quiet, Please: Dispatches of a Public Librarian by Scott Douglas
Have you ever wondered what it is a librarian actually does? When I started off as a page at the old Mary JL Black Library in 2006 I can tell you with all honesty I had no idea what a librarian did. It’s funny, but we think that librarians and libraries are a thing of... Continue Reading →
Young adult read focuses on the “after”, My Life After Now by Jessica Verdi
I thought My Life After Now by Jessica Verdi would be important to read because there are so few young adult books that acknowledge HIV/AIDS as an ongoing health epidemic in contemporary North America. I expected it might be dry, solely issue-driven, alarmist, or full of stereotypes and misconceptions. I was wrong. While this book's... Continue Reading →
Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
This book was recommended to me by a work mate, and when I eventually picked it up I had absolutely no idea, whatsoever, what it was about. I didn’t even read the blurb on the back – nothing. A forgivable mistake, then, when I assumed from the title and cover that it was going to... Continue Reading →
What I Was, by Meg Rosoff
This YA/adult crossover title follows the classic format of a great flashback: our narrator H is reflecting at the end of his life on his relationship with a fellow youth whom he met while attending a boarding school on the coast of England in the 1960’s. Finn, a boy repeatedly described by H as “almost... Continue Reading →
A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Schiltz
A Drowned Maiden’s Hair starts with Maud Flynn’s improbable adoption by the maiden Misses Hawthorne (Hyacinth, Judith and Victoria). She is told that she will be a ‘secret child’ but not given a reason; coddled with ice cream, books, and new clothes, Maud is not overly concerned. She also is enamored of Hyacinth Hawthorne, the... Continue Reading →
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