Tag: canadian author

Note to Self: Bitter, Sweet by Laura Best

I read Bitter, Sweet by Laura Best on February 1, 2010.

Here’s the thing, I’ll always support an artist I like as a person over one I couldn’t stand to know in real life. I’m that way with writers, musicians, actors and directors. One of the reasons I avoid the gossip rags? If I knew too much about the artist as a person in their everyday lives, and found out they abused animals or beat their girlfriends or hurt the people who love them, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy their work.

It’s happened before but I won’t name names…right now anyway. Muhahahaha.

When it comes to Laura Best, however, I’m pretty sure she’d be a person for whom my respect would increase if I had the opportunity to know her in the real world. She was …continue reading

Note to Self: The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint

Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!

I finished Charles de Lint’s The Onion Girl on January 28, 2010. It took me several weeks to start reading the book, but only because I wasn’t making the time to do so each night. Funny thing, I had it checked out from the library for six weeks longer than they typically allow. I kept telling them, “But I haven’t been able to read it yet,” in the most pathetic and desperate voice possible. Not whiny though. I loathe being whiny. My gut just knew it was a book I would love.

So, it might’ve taken me close to two months to finally open it up, but it only took me five days to read all of its 508 pages. And color me impressed by my first experience with de Lint’s work. Characters too real to be merely a figment of the author’s imagination, the multiple points of view, the in-depth worldbuilding minus the huge info dumps of which I’m not a fan, a seamless weaving of plot and subplot — man, that’s how I want to write some of my stories. …continue reading