Review: The Accidental Veterinarian by Philipp Schott

I love my cats (as you will see in this post) but I never dreamed (as lots of kids do) of being a veterinarian, and I've never really been interested in the profession (or any medical profession, for that matter). Even so, Philipp Schott's The Accidental Veterinarian hooked me pretty much immediately and kept me laughing throughout. It is a fun, humorous and fascinating peek into the veterinarian profession, told by a thoughtful and quirky veterinarian.

The Accidental Veterinarian is written as a series of short essays of insights into the chaos and reality of the job. It includes entertaining advice on how best to take care of your animals (such as how to "pill the cat"), essays about Schott's personal journey into veterinary medicine, and (the best part) fun, silly stories from his years practicing. Including the time he treated an ostrich, and the time he treated a lionfish.

The Accidental Veterinarian is an incredibly fun, absolutely hilarious read that I think anyone would enjoy, not just animal lovers. I was laughing out loud after the first few pages, and didn't stop until the end. Philipp Schott is a lovable and humorous narrator, and his character shows through in his writing. I mean, I knew I was going to love this book when only a couple of chapters in Schott spends an entire chapter comparing the veterinary medicine building at the University of Saskatchewan to Hogwarts and states that "Manitoba is clearly Hufflepuff."

I also loved that while there are tons of silly, extreme and hilarious stories for your enjoyment, Schott also touches on the realities of being a vet and some of the hardships of the job. Some of his essays touch on having to put down animals on a regular basis and play grief counselor to many, many people, or the impact of the stresses of the job itself and the problem of suicide in the profession. It really demonstrates the thoughtful side of his character when he consistently points out that people are just as important a part of the job as the animals.

In any case, The Accidental Veterinarian is a quick, enjoyable read that gives a tremendously interesting glimpse into the life and trials of a veterinarian that I really think anyone would enjoy.

 ***

And bonus quote:

"But all that said, the love of animals is still at the heart of things. I often think of a card we got many years ago from a young child who boldly wrote, 'I want to be a vat!' Yes, I too once aspired to be a large container, but I became an animal doctor instead, and I have never regretted that decision."

The Accidental Veterinarian comes out in April 2019! Click one of the links below to add it to your list or pre-order.

Find it on
ECW Press
Amazon.ca 
Amazon.com
Goodreads

Review: Whenever You're Ready by Shawn DeSouza-Coelho

I am not a huge theatre nerd. In school I loved watching the musicals that my friends were in, but I never had any desire to get more involved than that one time I volunteered to do stage crew work. Then during the first show I forgot to move a prop off so the cast could do their dance properly, and that was it for my stage career.

However, Whenever You're Ready made me want to immediately move to Stratford, buy a lifetime membership to the Stratford Festival, and start working towards my new career in the theatre.

Whenever You're Ready is a biography of stage manager Nora Polley, who worked for 52 years at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. It's hailed as one of the only stage manager biographies around, and I'm sure people who know way more about Canadian theatre than me would devour it. But I enjoyed it immensely and I hadn't even heard of most of the people mentioned in this book (which I sorely regret now; they all sound like fascinating people).

Whenever You're Ready is a unique biography, in that it's actually written in first person, as if Nora Polley herself wrote it even though the authorship credit is given to Shawn DeSouza-Coelho. If you believe the afterword that everything is true to Nora Polley's experiences, it has the effect of a beautiful, immersive dive into Nora Polley's life, character, and career.

And what a career. Whenever You're Ready covers her first foray into the festival, to what she gets up to after her retirement with an amazing collection of fascinating theatre stories and the trials and tribulations of stage management in between.

While Whenever You're Ready is the biography of a stage manager, and it does contain many stage management anecdotes and things Nora learned along the way, it also profiles many other theatre people; actors, artistic directors, and other people involved in the theatre scene. Nora Polley's character shows through in the way she describes the people she worked with; her admiration for them and their work shines, and makes you wish you knew these people as she did. But you do get a glimpse of these incredibly unique, creative people as you read about her own career. In her first person biography, Nora Polley shines through as someone humble and hardworking, but also someone imperfect, human, and often unsure of her next step.

In any case, Whenever You're Ready paints a fascinating picture of an era in Canadian theatre, one filled with entertaining anecdotes, fascinating people, and one rock of a stage manager there to witness and work through it all. I think anyone who enjoys interesting life stories and has even just a passing interest in theatre should pick this up.

Whenever You're Ready on ECW Press
Whenever You're Ready on Amazon.com
Whenever You're Ready on Amazon.ca
Whenever You're Ready on Goodreads

Review: Nobody Cares by Anne T. Donahue

On the back page of Nobody Cares is the catch phrase "Just a girl, standing in front of  a reader, reminding them they aren't alone." That line pretty much sums up the feeling of the book: a simple book of relatable personal essays.

Nobody Cares is based off Anne T. Donahue's online newsletter of the same name, and you can definitely feel that Donahue has an internet audience in mind throughout her book. While none of the personal essays really hit me hard, it was partly my own expectations, and I still enjoyed it enough to read the entire book fairly quickly. In some parts I did wish she dug a bit deeper, but I don't think that's what this book is trying to do.

The personal essays in Nobody Cares are light, short personal lessons that the author has learned over the course of her life. Basically each one is in the style of an inspirational online article. It's half advice column, half diary entry. They cover a variety of situations in Donahue's life, from friendship and dating to just things you learn growing up. A lot of her essays also focus on her personal experiences with anxiety, and learning that "nobody cares." Donahue's honest voice and ability to laugh at herself makes Nobody Cares an entertaining read.

I think this book would be a good gift book for anyone in your life, perhaps especially people who suffer from anxiety since a lot of Anne's personal essays focus on that. It was very much a feel-good book of essays. A good quick, easy read for a sunny day.

Nobody Cares on ECW Press
Nobody Cares on Amazon.ca
Nobody Cares on Amazon.com
Nobody Cares on Goodreads

Review: The Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

I finished reading this book a week ago and I am STILL suffering from a book hangover. Nothing will ever be as magical and wonderful as this world and these characters, I'm sure of it... every other book and potential book has a grimy sheen. Life will never be the same.

The title of this book is basically what the book is about: it's a fantastic sci-fi romp about a multi-species crew on a ship on a long journey to a small, angry planet. And it was SO GOOD. Hands down the best book I've read in 2018 so far.

The Long Way isn't really an action-packed adventure until closer to the end, but the rest of it is filled with everything I could have ever wanted. Packed with excellent characterization and character development, intense and mind-blowing world-building, and, one of the most important aspects of science fiction, a sly commentary on our world as we know it. A lot of the book's theme focused on cross-cultural (or cross-species) interactions and how we learn from other cultures, and as a Cultural Studies major I was LOVING IT.

The characters though were definitely the best part and I wished I could spend all my time with them. They were so interesting and didn't play to type which was awesome. There’s the soft-hearted and pacifist space captain Ashby (I love the idea of a pacifist captain rather than the typical hard-hearted egotistical-but-loveable loose cannon), the nervous newbie but ultimately super strong and confident clerk Rosemary, the friendship between two techs Kizzy and Jenks that is so intense but never romantic (there's a scene at the end between them that was the cause of crying), a cool lizard pilot, a Navigator that thinks on a different plane, and a cook-slash-doctor who is one of the last of his kind. And they all obviously love and support each other so much. The whole book is pretty much about this misfit found family, and I am so here for it. 

The best books make you laugh out loud, cry, AND question the universe, and The Long Way managed to expertly accomplish all three.  Go read it right now. I promise you won't regret it.

Review: What to Do When I'm Gone by Suzy Hopkins and Hallie Bateman

What to Do When I'm Gone is a mixture of memoir, providing comfort to those who have recently lost loved ones, and humourous anecdotes and advice just for growing up and life in general. It is (kind of) a graphic novel that includes numbered instructions, written to a daughter by her mother, for what to do after her mother dies. 

What to Do When I'm Gone manages to strike a perfect balance between all aspects, managing to be both touching and funny. When I was reading this book, my grandfather had passed away not that long ago and I was about to graduate, and it somehow was able to address both feelings of loss and anxiety about the future. I wasn’t really sure what to expect going in, but I closed the book feeling calm and at peace, as if I was hugged by my mom. It was such a comforting and enjoyable book to read.

It's a quick read, definitely more of a coffee table or gift book than anything. I would recommend this book as a gift to a loved one, someone who has just suffered a loss, your mother, or just someone who needs some guidance in their life. I think I’m going to keep it on my shelf to reread every now and again.

Review: Land Mammals and Sea Creatures by Jen Neale

I really, really wanted to like this book. The opening scene of the whale beaching hooked me immediately. The description of it was gorgeous and spine-tingling.

Land Mammals and Sea Creatures is set in a small town on an island on the west coast of Canada. It follows Julie, who has just returned to town to take care of her mentally ill father, a veteran who suffers from PTSD. Things really start getting strange, though, when a whale ends up on the shore, a stranger comes to town, and animals start dying everywhere.

The description of animal life coming and going is by far the strength of this book. The uncanny deaths of various animals occur throughout, and the way that Neale is able to portray these gruesome scenes in vivid detail is amazing.

However, I just wasn’t in the right head space for the kind of message this book was trying to get across – it was just too sad and frankly, disgusting, for me to really enjoy. I realize that is the point and if you aren’t quite as sensitive a reader as me you might be awed by how Neale writes a perfect picture of a decaying town infested with the smell of whale rot, and then uses these natural pictures to attempt to say something about grief. For me, at the time I read it, it was just too much about death without really going anywhere beyond that, and I just want more hope in my books at the moment. However, perhaps for someone who needs to come to terms with letting go as Julie and her father do, it would be the book for them. 

Land Mammals and Sea Creatures comes out May 2018 from ECW Press. 

Goodreads

ECW Press

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Amazon.com 

Review: Rose and Poe by Jack Todd

Rose and Poe is a retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, from the point of view of Caliban and his mother.

Before I begin this review, I just want to say that I have never read the Tempest, or at least if I have I don’t remember reading it, so I can’t compare the adaptation or anything. For that, you’ll have to read it yourself (and The Tempest, I guess, if you aren't familiar with it). What I can do is tell you if it’s an enjoyable read, which it is.

The plot is fairly straightforward, about a sexual assault trial and trying to catch the actual perpetrator. It’s not a complex mystery case or anything like that, as the plot is mostly a backdrop for the characters and the setting, which are Todd’s strengths in this book. Rose and Poe are based on Caliban and his mother from The Tempest, and my guess is they are background characters in that play. Todd does an excellent job of bringing them to the forefront, developing their characters and making the reader empathize with them. I think Rose’s love and protection for her son are what make it easy to side with her and Poe. The alternating perspectives also provide a more rounded picture of the characters and the events that take place.

Todd's other strength is his setting; he has a way of perfectly describing the scene, which also has the effect of setting the tone for various events. His descriptions of the storm that takes place in the middle of the book are spine-chilling.

One of my favourite things about Rose and Poe, however, is the slight sprinkle of magic that Todd writes in the book, from a speedy delivery “sprite” called Airmail, to Poe’s giant qualities, to a walking staff that seems to hold more power than an ordinary staff should. The magic seems both everyday and slightly out of place to the characters in this book, which makes the setting all the more intriguing. All in all it was just a fun, suspenseful read and I encourage you to pick it up.

Rose and Poe on ECW Press
Rose and Poe on Amazon.ca
Rose and Poe on Amazon.com

Review: Book of Negroes CBC Miniseries

Hello! Today I come to talk about a book and a book to screen adaptation, specifically Book of Negroes, which is originally a book by Lawrence Hill. I read it initially in grade 11, so I didn't remember the plot, but I did remember enjoying it and eventually being drawn into the story and the characters. 

Over 6 weeks in January, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) aired a mini series that was based on the book. It was 6 parts, each part an hour. Since sometimes when book-to-film adaptations come out, bookish people write blog posts on them, I thought I'd do a review of this mini series! 

So, the Book of Negroes storyline covers the life a girl, Aminata, from her life in her African village in Guinea, and her experience being taken from her home and being sold as a slave across the ocean. The story is then her story of struggle as she travels and tries to find her way back to her loved ones and her home, all the while fighting for her life. If you've never read the Book of Negroes, you really should. It's a very interesting history of the slave trade, and I think that is something important to know about. I know that it you could learn about it from a textbook, but when it is from the perspective of a character, in this case Aminata, you get to see how her personal life was affected and you can empathize with her. Aminata herself is an amazing, strong character and she never gives up a fight and always stands up for herself and those she loves. 

I suppose it's a bit easier to adapt a book (quite a long one too) into a 6 hour series rather than a movie, but CBC did so well with this one. I didn't remember the book much, which may have helped me not to be too judgmental of discrepancies. But what I did remember - the intense story of struggle that Aminata went through and how she fought with everything she had to get through hard times - that was all included in the mini series. Each hour long episode, despite being an hour, never felt like it was long enough. The plot moved along at a quick pace and there was enough interesting twists that it was easy to get caught up in the story and be moved along. Everything made sense and fit together well, although of course some of the plot points were devastating for Aminata, and that was hard to watch. 

The various characters were also very well rounded and interesting, especially Aminata. Sometimes when I read a book or watch a film where the characters are fascinated by this one character and say that she's special all the time and that she's destined for great things, I can't help but roll my eyes and think, oh whatever, she's not that special (*cough*Divergent*cough*). But not with Aminata. She is so strong-willed and tough, you can't help but cheer for her all the way through and think yes, yes, of course she's going to do great things. Not only that but you want more people to see her brilliance for what it is - although of course, the sad thing is with racism, her strength and intelligence are often discounted because of her skin colour. 

Aminata was not the only interesting character, however. I don't know how characters were introduced in each episode, but it was still heartbreaking to leave each one when the time came. Of course, this was also probably because of the relationships that Aminata cultivated with people, always so open and compassionate. 

The Book of Negroes mini series kept me (and my best friend who I watched it with) clutching our blankets the whole way through, and crying with Aminata through her ups and downs. Especially the last episode, there were so many heartbreaking things that happened. 

The Book of Negroes is more than just a simple story of a black slave during the time of the slave trade. It is an important and interesting story of a strong-willed young woman's life. I hope you will check out the mini series, and dive into a fuller understanding of the slave trade while you are wrapped up in Aminata and her story.

You can find the Book of Negroes mini series on CBC here, and it is also on BET here. I believe it is also on iTunes. 

If you want to check out the book, you can find it on Goodreads here.