"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 and elsewhere.
*****
The Two of Us, by Kathy Page
Reviewed by Vicki Ziegler at Bookgaga:
Kathy Page’s hypnotic short story collection The Two of Us reinforces its title from the first to the last of its unforgettable tales. Each story, unto itself and building successively, piece by piece, spirals in and out from the power of duos and duality. That power is dizzying, and intensifies and deepens with each relationship depicted … and discovered.
**
Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis and Inuit Issues in Canada, by Chelsea Vowel
Included by Alyssa Sherlock as one of "5 Books by Indigenous Authors You Should Read" at I am Writer, Hear Me Roar:
The reviewers are right—Indigenous Writes is a super accessible introductory book, aimed at Canadians ignorant of Indigenous issues in Canada. It provides a starting point for understanding Indigenous issues in Canada. The chapters are kind of written like (in depth, very well researched) blog posts. Reading this book definitely changed my perspective on a lot of things, and I definitely agree with Vowel that all Canadians need to become more aware of these issues.
**
3 Summers, by Lisa Robertson
In Sina Queyras's essay "Sapere Aude: On 3 Summers and the Poetry of Lisa Robertson," at the Los Angeles Review of Books:
Great poets create poems that teach you how to read them, and that is the case with Robertson. So, though at times the work may feel opaque, it is generally about exactly what you suspect it is just below the surface of your conscious responses. The condition of encounter then, is a kind of wilful suspension of one’s resistance to style in favor of linear lyric poetry, or what Robertson has termed, “porch verse” (i.e., lyric poetry which can be commented on from the sublime vista of one’s domestic plateau). That is a provocation, and intended with the general good humor of Robertson’s prodding.
**
And Then the Sky Exploded, by David A. Poulsen
Profiled by Eric Volmers in the Calgary Herald:
The new book offers an intriguing double narrative that follows the journey of a modern teen named Christian, who is horrified to find that his beloved great grandfather’s funeral that the man he adored was a member of the Manhattan Project and helped design the A-bombs that destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima during the Second World War.
Devastated by the discovery, Christian is naively determined to make amends during a school trip to Japan. That’s where he meets Yuko, an 81-year-old survivor of Hiroshima, whose story as an 11-year-old in 1945 Hiroshima is told through flashbacks.
“I like to try to put my characters in difficult circumstances and see how they can work themselves out of it,” Poulsen says. “Often those circumstances seem to involve major global things that have gone on in history. I’ve written about Vietnam and the Holocaust and now this. I wanted to examine the whole thing from a kid’s perspective.”
**
Bear's Winter Party, by Deborah Hodge, illustrated by Lisa Cinar
Reviewed by Linda Ludke at The National Reading Campaign:
Lisa Cinar’s expansive watercolour illustrations are full of bold, thick brush strokes and arresting colour combinations like cool blues and lemon yellows. In Bear’s neat-as-a-pin, cozy kitchen, a tea kettle whistles in the background while bear-shaped cookies cool on trays. A recipe for Bear’s Honey-Ginger Cookies is included that is perfectly made for sharing—as is this sweet tale.