Category Archives: Writing

Book Review: Tabish Khair’s The Thing About Thugs

Posted on 10 November 2013 by andyq

The Thing about Thugs by Tabish Khair My rating: 5 of 5 stars First and foremost, Tabish Khair’s novel, The Thing About Thugs, is a great read. Both literary and accessible with beautiful writing and colourful characters, it’s well worth … Continue reading →

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Books I’ve Read: 2010 and before

Posted on 3 February 2013 by andyq

I first kept this list on my webpage, but then figured that it would be easier to edit (and access) on my blog. So, I started this list on 7 July 2008 (my 39th birthday), and try to keep it … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Benjamin Law’s Gaysia

Posted on 31 January 2013 by andyq

Gaysia by Benjamin Law My rating: 3 of 5 stars I like to think it’s a compliment to a book if I’m interested enough in it, engaged or enraged, in order to want to write a review. I also think … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Jonathan Franzen’s Strong Motion

Posted on 16 January 2013 by andyq

Strong Motion by Jonathan Franzen My rating: 4 of 5 stars In Jonathan Franzen’s 1992 novel, ‘Strong Motion’, we see the prodigious talent that would bring him worldwide fame with ‘The Corrections’ and the more recent ‘Freedom’. I enjoy reading … Continue reading →

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Guest Poet: Josh Stenberg

Posted on 16 December 2012 by andyq

Josh Stenberg is an Asia-based Canadian writer and translator. His writing has been published in the Asia Literary Review, Kartika Review, and Vancouver Review. He has also  translated two volumes of Chinese short fiction. the swan the swan is blackening … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Paul Kane’s Work Life: New Poems

Posted on 1 October 2012 by andyq

Work Life: New Poems by Paul Kane My rating: 4 of 5 stars Poetry is mostly undercover these days, so I think it’s interesting how you stumble across a book. I happened to be at a reading in Glebe in … Continue reading →

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Books I read in 2011

Posted on 12 January 2012 by andyq

With a comment or two, if I felt so inclined. Mary Oliver’s New and Selected Poems Volume 2 (Poetry) – some gems, and better in small doses, I was surprised that I wasn’t taken by the work of this celebrated … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Anne Tyler’s Back When We Were Grown Ups

Posted on 26 November 2011 by andyq

Back When We Were Grown Ups by Anne Tyler My rating: 2 of 5 stars I’ve read a few Anne Tyler novels, way back when, and obviously liked them enough to keep returning to them. She creates memorable, fully-dimensional characters … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Anita Desai’s The Zigzag Way

Posted on 21 November 2011 by andyq

The Zigzag Way by Anita Desai My rating: 3 of 5 stars At university, with the incomparable Geoffrey Eathorne as our professor for our Commonwealth Literature course at Trent University in Canada, I read Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day. … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road

Posted on 23 October 2011 by andyq

Michael Chabon is one of those names that I scan bookshelves for, all on the basis of one book: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. It was a big, substantial novel with ideas and history, whimsy and sadness, and … Continue reading →

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