This Magazine

Progressive politics, ideas & culture

Menu

books

September-October 2018

REVIEW: New collection unpacks Toronto’s storied history of hip-hop

Inside Mark V. Campbell's ...Everything Remains Raw

Maria Siassina

…Everything Remains Raw: Photographing Toronto’s hip hop culture from analogue to digital By Mark V. Campbell Goose Lane Editions, $35.00 Mark V. Campbell’s …Everything Remains Raw is an in-depth look at Toronto’s burgeoning hip-hop scene from the 1980s until present day. It also explores how the city helped mold hip-hop culture. The book is a collection of […] More »
July-August 2018

REVIEW: New plays explore female empowerment, growth, and sexuality

Inside Catherine Hernandez's The Femme Playlist & I Cannot Lie to the Stars That Made Me

Kashi Syal

The Femme Playlist & I Cannot Lie to the Stars That Made Me Catherine Hernandez Playwrights Canada Press, $18.95 Catherine Hernandez is an award-winning author and activist who has dedicated her career to promoting, capturing, and performing the stories of women of colour. The Femme Playlist & I Cannot Lie to The Stars That Made […] More »
July-August 2018

REVIEW: New novel explores time travel and the vitality of love

Inside Thea Lim's timely debut novel, An Ocean of Minutes

Chimedum Ohaegbu

An Ocean of Minutes By Thea Lim Viking, $24.95 In Thea Lim’s An Ocean of Minutes, Polly Nader time-travels to the future to work off medical debts for her boyfriend, Frank, who needs a life-saving treatment. She plans to reunite with him after her work as a bonded labourer is done. However, Polly is rerouted […] More »
July-August 2018

REVIEW: New novel showcases strong, ambitious female characters in the entertainment industry

Inside Kim Moritsugu's seventh novel, The Showrunner

Stephanie Milliken

The Showrunner By Kim Moritsugu Dundurn Press, $17.99 In Kim Moritsugu’s seventh novel, she introduces us to three fearless, ambitious women who will do just about anything to stay relevant in a capricious industry. The dialogue between the characters is quick, playful, and biting, and Moritsugu has a knack for making a story feel like […] More »
July-August 2018

EXCERPT: Remembering the Sixties Scoop

Inside Ohpikiihaakan-ohpimeh (Raised Somewhere Else) by Colleen Cardinal

Colleen Cardinal

In this excerpt, Colleen Cardinal tells her story of being a child of the Sixties Scoop when she and 20,000 Indigenous children in Canada were taken from their homes to be placed in foster care or were adopted. There was a huge disparity between how us girls and our adoptive brother were treated. As a […] More »
July-August 2018

REVIEW: Novel poses challenging questions about the soul and human mind

Inside Rabindranath Maharaj's Adjacentland

Ophelie Zalcmanis-Lai

Adjacentland By Rabindranath Maharaj Buckrider Books, $22.00 “Today is a new day but yesterday was the same day.” Adjacentland is a twisted story of a man’s journey to discover who he is after waking up in an institution with no memory and only odd clues within letters and drawings to guide his way. As each […] More »
May-June 2018

REVIEW: In Elizabeth Renzetti’s new book on female experiences, the personal is political

Inside Shrewed

Jessica Rose

Shrewed By Elizabeth Renzetti House of Anansi, $22.95 In Shrewed, Globe and Mail columnist Elizabeth Renzetti asks the questions many of us ask as women: Why are there so few women in politics? Why must we feel unsafe in public spaces? Will things always be this way? However, the collection of essays really shines when […] More »
May-June 2018

REVIEW: New book explores the unlikely success of an Alberta union

Inside Jason Foster's Defying Expectations

Jessica Rose

Defying Expectations: The Case of UFCW Local 401 By Jason Foster Athabasca University Press, $34.95 Defying Expectations: The Case of UFCW Local 401 is a book about success. In it, Edmonton’s Jason Foster, an associate professor of human resources and labour relations at Athabasca University and former director of policy analysis at the Alberta Federation […] More »
May-June 2018

REVIEW: This Will Be Good paints a vivid portrait of growing into womanhood

Inside Mallory Tater's new book on burgeoning femininity

Jemicah Colleen Marasigan

This Will Be Good By Mallory Tater Book*hug, $18.00 Praise for This Will Be Good, written by Mallory Tater—a writer from the Algonquin Anishnaabeg Nation (Ottawa)—is thanks to flowing prose that evokes strong emotions. Unabashedly covering topics such as eating disorders, sexuality, and death, Tater’s stylistic voice paints a vivid portrait of a child growing […] More »
May-June 2018

REVIEW: Jen Neale’s debut novel redefines life, death, love, and grief

Inside Land Mammals and Sea Creatures

Whitney Rothwell

Land Mammals and Sea Creatures By Jen Neale ECW Press, $18.95 Despite the title of Jen Neale’s debut magic realist novel, it’s the Birds who dominate this story. Julie Bird returns to her coastal B.C. hometown to prevent her father, Marty—struggling with PTSD—from his long-desired self-destruction. When a stranger from Marty’s past arrives the day […] More »

What it was like to fight at an illegal abortion clinic in Toronto during the 1980s

Excerpted from Judy Rebick's new book, Heroes in my Head

Judy Rebick

On June 15, 1983, Dr. Henry Morgentaler opened an illegal abortion clinic in Toronto. The Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics (OCAC) had chosen a spot on the second floor of a lovely Victorian house on Harbord Street, a quiet downtown thoroughfare lined with bookstores and cafés near the University of Toronto. With the Toronto Women’s […] More »