We Are Who We Are (TV miniseries) By Jordana Curnoe, Contributor The HBO miniseries We Are Who We Are, directed by Luca Guadagnino, follows a headstrong army brat from New York City named Fraser (Jack Dylan Grazer) who moves to a fictional American military base in Chioggia, Italy. There, he[Read More…]
Tag: books
Remembering Alice Munro
Alice Munro died on May 13, and I ate half a grapefruit every morning for the next week. I first encountered the acclaimed author’s work in school, as Canadians often do. I remember enjoying her stories—particularly the landscapes within them—but was not yet entirely engrossed. Then moments began to emerge[Read More…]
A letter to lonely writers: Words of wisdom from Heather O’Neill
“Oh here comes the torture” and “oh what crap” are phrases that acclaimed author Heather O’Neill uses to describe the harrowing experience of reciting passages from her novels in public. She is McGill’s Writer-In-Residence, known for her debut novel Lullabies for Little Criminals, which won Canada Reads (2007) and When[Read More…]
’Until August’ —published against the late author’s wishes—revisits desire
“Memory was my source material and my tool. Without it, there’s nothing.” Gabriel García Márquez began to write Until August toward the end of his life. It was intended to be part of a much longer work, cut short by García Márquez’s battle with dementia. His final verdict was absolute:[Read More…]
Revisiting Lucy Maud Montgomery
I didn’t grow up by the sea. It’s strange that it elicits nostalgia from me—I hadn’t even visited the East Coast until last summer. But it also makes a lot of sense: I spent a good portion of my childhood within books, and many days with Anne Shirley. It started[Read More…]
Childhood through the ages
Aesop’s Fables (1571) is the oldest book in McGill’s Rare Children’s Book Collection. Written in Latin, with interpretive notes in Greek, it’s now housed in a collection of children’s literature—despite predating the Victorian conception of childhood itself. But this story also begins later, in the 1930s, with Sheila R. Bourke.[Read More…]
Goodreads Choice Awards prioritizes sameness over diversity
Most people have heard of the Grammys and the Oscars, but unless you’re an avid reader, the Goodreads Choice Awards may be less well-known. Goodreads is a social media platform dedicated to books and those who read them. Since 2009, the website has hosted its annual Choice Awards, allowing users[Read More…]
Bonding over books
The McConnell Buildings on McGill University’s and Concordia University’s downtown campuses appear inconspicuous, their exteriors giving no sign of what dwells within. This proves true with the one at McGill (did you know there’s a bar in the basement?), but was especially apparent at Concordia’s McConnell Building on Nov. 3[Read More…]
The McGill Book Fair teaches us a lesson in institutional apathy 
Despite being heard by few students during the fall of 2022, a death knell sounded marking the end of the McGill Book Fair. Started in 1972 by the Women’s Associates of McGill and the McGill Women’s Alumnae Association, the Book Fair is yet another victim of the McLennan-Redpath complex renovation.[Read More…]
The haunting myth of the celebrity novel
The practice of ghostwriting has been around for centuries—even before the official term’s coining. Back when the primary mode of communication was oral storytelling, people used ghostwriting to scribe Bible passages and transfer religious schools of thought onto paper. Today, the most common cultural association with ghostwriting involves celebrity memoirs,[Read More…]
