Tag Archives: book recommendations

One eRead Canada / Un Livrel Canada: Valid

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The logo for One eRead/Un Livrel Canada

It’s April again, which means it’s time for all of Canada to read the same eBook again time again. For those of you not in the know, One eRead Canada is when The Canadian Urban Libraries Council / Conseil des Bibliothèques Urbaines du Canada (CULC/CBUC) selects one book and makes it available simultaneously in English and French to all libraries that want to participate. Since they’re electronic formats, everyone reading this post on day one can go to Overdrive and instantly borrow it without having to wait.

We have a physical edition if you need the feeling of dead trees in your hands and dinosaurs burning in your gas tank to pick it up. This year’s book can be read and listened to in its original French, and anglophones like myself can read a copy translated into English. Sorry, English-speaking audiobook lovers. CULC always selects a Canadian author, so joining in the reading makes supporting Canadian content easy. Just read the One eRead Canada book and join the discussion and interviews. The English interview will be on CBC on April 23rd at 7 pm, and the French interview will be the next day, April 24th at 7 pm on Radio-Canada.

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Valentine’s Day Read/Watch Lists Are Like a Box of Chocolates…

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Picture-of-closed-book-with-heart-shaped-bookmark-peeking-out-of-the-pages

Full disclosure, I fear I don’t have a romantic bone in my body. I actively avoid picking up anything “spicy”, meet-cutey, or romantasy (which is all the rage right now), and romcoms tend to make me give the screen a very long stink eye. But to be fair to myself, before you judge me too harshly, it isn’t for lack of trying. Earlier last year I thought to myself “hey, maybe you’re being a little too picky, why not give romance another try”, and I ventured out of my carefully crafted book and film mountain to see what was out there to discover in the pink, red, and heart shaped world of romance. I gave it fifty pages before my instincts kicked in, so one spite-read book with a sadly squandered premise later, I returned to my mountain sure in the fact that the genre just wasn’t for me.

That’s all to say that maybe I’m not the best person to come up with a Valentine’s Day related post. But time’s ticking and it’s only two days away so here we are, you and me, in between a rock and a Hallmark card shaped place. So, I hope you’re ready for a very sincere, from the bottom of my heart, extremely unconventional Valentine’s Day book and movie review where the most overdone romance tropes are turned on their heads. And hey, if you, like me, are tired of the parade of overwrought lovey-doveyness that springs up like weeds at this time of year, maybe these picks will be right up your alley.

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Brrring On the Warmth: Finding Your Cozy

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There’s no winning as a Seasonal Fusser. That’s the title I’ve bestowed upon myself, a thorny crown that almost boasts a quality of perpetual discontent with the Canadian weather we each endure and endear. Emphasis on almost — because there’s a potential remedy to seasonal fussiness that I’m going to share with you.

Close-up image of a snowflake.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

First, a quick introduction: As a new member of the HOTS team (a big and sincere thank you to my colleagues for the warm welcome, by the way!), I must confess that my go-to conversation starter is typically rooted in the capricious. And amid these frigid conditions that sheathe our windows with curtains of frost, there’s no greater example than the weather.

So, here’s my two cents: I’m a fan of long summer days marked by cerulean, cloudless skies and bright rays of sun that infiltrate my windows. I especially long for it at a time when I’m often inconvenienced by slushy sidewalks, mountains of snow, and/or freezing evenings that darken before 5 p.m.

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