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Reading is always a good choice: Fall books preview 2013

worst person ever
Best. Author. Ever.

Every year for the past six I’ve written a fall books preview for the Ottawa Citizen. It’s labour intensive in the sense that I have to research all the fall offerings from the many large and small publisher catalogues (most are online now, which helps) then write a succinct few sentences on a variety of books ranging from fiction to non-fiction, lifestyle to memoir, biography, food, sports and Young Adult/Kids books. Since I’m writing largely from marketing copy with so few books actually finished or even in the advance reading copy stage, it takes awhile to come up with something new, fresh and lively to say. The task takes me awhile to research and a longer while to write.

apparition gg
A lively YA read.

Still, I love doing it because a) it introduces me to the new exciting list; b) I get boxes of books, the equivalent of Christmas morning to a book-lover; c) it’s become an annual assignment that I can count on.

So without further ado: Fall Book Season: Fact and Fiction

This year we added a side bar: What they’re reading this fall

My personal recommendations are:

Shaena Lambert, Oh My Darling 

all stories take place in and around Vancouver; she has unusual ways of describing the most common of feelings

Joseph Boyden, The Orenda

it’s been too long since we’ve heard this important and interesting literary voice

Doug Coupland, Worst. Person. Ever.

Favourite. Author. Ever. / Most. Inspirational. Creative mind. Ever.

Stephanie Domet, Fallsy Downsies

another inspirational person and wonderful writer

Steve Paikin, Paikin and the Premiers: Personal Reflections on a Half Century of Ontario Leaders.

Steve Paikin is my best example of a hard working, wide-brained, fully engaged and professional journalist and a helluva nice guy

Gail Gallant, Apparition

I love YA novels and this one is a page turner. Also, you gotta love a TV writer turned novelist!

Happy Reading!

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TVO The Agenda guest blog / A Reckoning with Emotional Clutter

“On Thursday, The Agenda explored whether our modern obsession with collecting “stuff” — gadgets, toys, appliances, and other consumer goods — might be coming at too high a cost to our pocketbooks and our emotional well-being. (You can watch that program above.) 
Writer Carla Lucchetta, who has contributed many personal essays to The Agenda over the years, was inspired by the program to tell a story about a cherished object, emotion, and learning move forward.”
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A review of Vagina: A New Biography by Naomi Wolf

American feminist writer Naomi Wolf

Veteran 3rd wave feminist Naomi Wolf‘s new book, Vagina: A New Biography, reveals some new science about female sexual response and the power that good, attentive sex can give women. It’s been receiving scathing reviews, but I think there’s valuable and interesting information contained within.

I went out on a feminist limb and liked the book, then reviewed it for  TVO The Agenda’s blog:

The sexual revolution has not been kind to women or men; our information about the intricate science of female sexual response is at least a half century out of date; history reveals that in many cultures the vagina was once revered but has also been continually under attack as a systemic way to suppress women’s power; the click-of-a-computer-key availability of porn is rewiring our brains and impeding our ability to be intimate; and a woman’s sexual history – especially if it is violent – is held in nerve memory, but can be healed.

Read the full review on The Agenda website.