"On Our Radar" is a monthly 49th Shelf series featuring books with buzz worth sharing. We bring you links to features and reviews about great new books in a multitude of genres from all around the Internet.
*****
Not the First Thing I've Missed, by Fionncara MacEoin
Reviewed by Emily Davidson at ARC Poetry Magazine:
"Not the First Thing I’ve Missed, Saskatoon poet Fionncara MacEoin’s debut collection, anthologizes the break and swell of the everyday. The book indexes shortcomings, poverty, addiction, the transience of home, and the promising breadth of nature. Despite the book’s title, it is hard to imagine, with her spare, merciless, fearless verse, that MacEoin misses much of anything at all."
*****
Will Starling, by Ian Weir
Reviewed by Steven Brown in the Vancouver Sun:
"So what exactly is the story about? That would be telling. It’s a rollicking good yarn with many twists and turns. It’s a mystery solved. It’s moonlit graveyards and surgeon’s tables, primitive instruments and strange experiments. It’s dastardly doings too ’orrible to contemplate. Decay, putrefaction and stench are writ large and the author, master of the macabre, slathers it on at every opportunity. Will Starling is a kaleidoscope of beautiful ghastliness."
*****
Dojo Daycare, by Chris Tougas
Reviewed by Helen Kubiw at CanLit for LittleCanadians:
"In fun rhyming verse, author and illustrator Chris Tougas, takes the high spirits of ninja boys and girls and releases them in their new dojo daycare where Master attempts to harness their energy into reflecting on honor, kindness and respect. But the dojo is more playground than learning venue and the little ninjas, bare-footed and dressed in their black suits, tend to end up in a series of Kaboom! Kapow! riots, frustrating the Master throughout the day."
*****
Honeycomb, by Patricia McCowan
"With minimal adult guidance, the girls learn specific elements of their craft, how to navigate opportunities in the music industry and how to work together, even coming to understand that their arguments are a natural part of the music-making process.
A fast-paced narrative set to the tune of talented-teen melodrama."
*****
Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words, by Malka Marom
Reviewed by Sharon Lacey at Rebeat:
"In 1979, Marom asks Mitchell what her goal for her career is. “To make modern American music,” she replies, simply. This book, an absolutely essential read for any Joni Mitchell fan, reveals she has achieved so much more than that as a poet, painter, and musician. But it also makes you wish you could be friends with both Mitchell and Marom, just to listen to them talk some more."