Cormorant Books

Help us get on Canada Reads!

2010-10-18T15:26:00.001-04:00

Every year CBC’s Canada Reads hosts a “battle of the books,” where five celebrity panelists defend their favourite work of Canadian fiction. Over the course of three months, books will be eliminated one by one until one panelist triumphs with the book for Canada to read that year.

Want to be involved? This year, Canada Reads has opened up the selective process to the public. Throughout the month of October, YOU and your friends can vote for what you consider to be the ESSENTIAL CANADIAN BOOK OF THE DECADE! The top 40 choices will be put on a shortlist for the panelists to choose from. To make your recommendation fill out the online form here: http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/

Can’t decide? Here are some of our recommended titles:

The Heart Specialist by Claire Holden Rothman

"The Heart Specialist is an electrocardiogram of a novel. Claire Holden Rothman sensitively traces the peaks and valleys experienced by a woman breaking through the formidable gender barriers of early twentieth-century medicine. Her Dr. Agnes White is a fascinating character, an anomaly in her time, an authority on the human heart who knows so little of the workings of her own. I ached for her."

— Caroline Adderson, author of Pleased to Meet You

Still Life with June by Darren Greer

"It's hilarious and redemptive, brimming with revelation. Still Life With June is modern and urban without being too edgy for the masses. This book is highly recommended."

— The Edmonton Journal

Oonagh by Mary Tilberg

"Beautifully written by this masterful storyteller, Oonagh draws us into a story of race and class, joy and sorrow, fear and newfound freedom writ large. The tale of Chauncey Taylor’s flight to freedom, his success in his barbering business in Upper Canada, and his love for his sharp-tongued Irish lass are painted with a fine hand, as are the underlying tensions of race and class that threaten their union."

— Karolyn Smardz Frost, author of I've Got a Home in Glory Land

Oodori by Darcy Tamayose

"Tamayose's prose brims with lyrical display ... We're offered fervid reminders of nature's beauty every few pages ... Odori is finally a war novel, its point to seek meaning amid chaos, to show the exquisite and eternal amid the blood and brutality and death. Yet where Tamayose truly excels, where her writing seizes you (well, me) in mind and heart, is where mortal truths insist on breaking through her gauzy curtain."

— The Globe and Mail

New Under the Sun by Kevin Major

“"[poses] a profound question that will leave readers wondering about race, history, legacy, and compromise ... a skilful work of fiction."

— Quill and Quire

Canada Reads 2011 will air in February 2011. Tune in to see if your title will be picked as the title for Canada to read!

We are digital!

2010-07-05T16:44:00.000-04:00

Our quest here at Cormorant Books is, first and foremost, to deliver great literature. Part of that means providing readers with the option of enjoying their literature in as many ways as possible. So it should come as no surprise that, starting this summer, we will be making a growing library of our titles available in ebook format.

The first six titles available are Beyond Measure by Pauline Holdstock, Born With a Tooth by Joseph Boyden, Home Schooling by Carol Windley, Pure Inventions by James King, The Frankenstein Murders by Kathlyn Bradshaw, and The Worlds Within Her by Neil Bissoondath.

Check out our ebook page here.

Preview: Jeanne's Road

2010-04-13T15:59:00.000-04:00

It is 1933. A journalist travels to the small mining town of Rouyn in northern Quebec — a community that has become a refuge for Russians, Finns, Ukrainians, Chinese, and Jews. While there, he crosses paths with famed Canadian Marxist Jeanne Corbin, who has come to rally a group of striking workers, and sees his life forever changed. Jeanne’s Road is an essential read, bringing to life a lost era of Quebec history through its powerful yet unsentimental love story.

Read the preview here

Hooked on Canadian Books is a Globe and Mail bestseller!

2010-04-12T09:34:00.000-04:00

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/bestsellers/

#4 in Literature. Hurrah!

Still Life with June is Salty Ink's Book of the Month for April

2010-04-01T10:09:00.001-04:00

The fine folks at Salty Ink, a website that shines a spotlight on Atlantic fiction, has chosen Darren Greer's hilarious, profound, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting novel Still Life With June as its April Book of the Month.

This is a snippet of what they have to say about it:

Still Life with June was, by page 9 or 10, clearly going to be of the best books I’d read all year. Before I’d finished it, it had become a plain favourite book of mine. It’s all there: great writing, a distinctive style, an engaging story told in a calculated way.

And that's just the beginning. Click here to read the rest of the review/tribute.

Announcing Dancing Cat Books, our new Children's/YA imprint!

2010-03-25T13:03:00.000-04:00

Noticed the new banner? That's to celebrate the launch of our new imprint, Dancing Cat Books, dedicated to publishing author-driven literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry for the young adult and middle-grades, as well as picture books.

Visit www.dancingcatbooks.com and learn all about it!

Preview: Hooked on Canadian Books - The Good, the Better, and the Best Canadian Novels Since 1984

2010-02-25T10:16:00.000-05:00

Having been a contributing reviewer for The Globe and Mail for more than twenty years, T.F. Rigelhof knows good literature. This conversational survey of the novels published since 1984 presents his readings of well-known Canadian writers while bringing the work of newer and lesser-known voices to more deserving attention.

Read the introduction

Three Novels Shortlisted for the OLA Evergreen Award!

2010-02-24T14:27:00.000-05:00

You heard it here first. Cormorant Books is proud to announce that three of its novels - The Heart Specialist (Claire Holden Rothman), Underground (June Hutton), and Oonagh (Mary Tilberg) - have been shortlisted for the Ontario Library Association's 2010 Evergreen Award.

Click here for background on the Evergreen award

Click here for the complete 2010 shortlist

Preview: The Queen of Unforgetting

2010-02-19T09:20:00.000-05:00

For a postgrad study, Mel takes a job at the newly reconstructed historical site at Sainte-Marie-among-the-Hurons, where Jean de Brébeuf and seven other missionaries met their tragic ends. But when an obsessed admirer threatens to destroy her academic career, Mel soon learns that delving into Ontario history is no escape from her own past.

Read a preview excerpt

'Because I Have Loved and Hidden It' reviewed in Xtra

2010-02-01T12:14:00.000-05:00

"The sights, sounds, smells and even tastes of Julia’s Plateau neighbourhood are articulated in glorious Technicolor. The reader is led on a journey around Montreal — and Moser’s obvious passion for her city makes it a very pleasant trip."

Read the rest of the review

Read a preview of the novel

Preview: Such a Good Education

2010-01-26T11:58:00.000-05:00

Tracing the formative years of a teenaged girl in 1950s Montréal,Such a Good Education is a scathing critique of traditional values, exposing the ignorance and poverty that troubled many French-Canadian families during the mid-twentieth century.

Read the online preview

Sally Clark

2010-01-22T13:06:00.000-05:00

Waiting for the Revolution author Sally Clark is, in addition to being a talented writer, also a painter and a filmmaker. Check out her work at her website, sallyclark.ca.

Ten Questions with Jeffrey Round

2010-01-14T15:25:00.001-05:00

Hop on over to Open Book Toronto, which is running a Ten Questions interview with Jeffrey Round, author of The Honey Locust.

Read the interview here!

Review of 'The Honey Locust' at Quill and Quire

2010-01-06T15:14:00.000-05:00

And here's a review from the folks at Quill and Quire:

"Round’s prose style, though not flashy, is seamless and accomplished. The Honey Locust is a well-written exploration of conflict in all its forms."

Read the entire review
Read a preview of The Honey Locust

June Hutton takes 'Underground' by storm

2010-01-06T14:55:00.001-05:00

See Mom? I can too write good headlines.

But on to June: she and her novel Underground are absolutely everywhere!

Here's a review at The Historical Novel Review, which calls Underground "a compelling tale of one man’s journey of self-discovery through pain, love, war, and hardship. And for a debut novel, it’s incredibly engrossing." You can read the entire review here.

And here are a pair of interviews with June at Eric Forbe's Book Addict's Guide to Good Books and Evadne Macedo on Writing.

For more on June Hutton and Underground:
www.junehutton.com
Underground at cormorantbooks.com

'The Heart Specialist' named best book by a Montreal author

2009-12-17T16:05:00.000-05:00

The accolades just keep rolling in for Claire Holden Rothman's novel The Heart Specialist, which was listed in this article at Hour.ca as the best book by a Montreal author.

It's about time you read a preview of the book and found out what the buzz is all about!

More words on City of Words

2009-12-15T11:09:00.000-05:00

Got some last minute Christmas shopping that needs to be done? Don't know what to get the people left on your list? Well, I've put together a handy-dandy guide to help you choose the perfect present.

Does the giftee:

- like books?
- live in/near Toronto, or is curious about seeing Toronto from a literary perspective?
- enjoy beautiful photographs?
- own a coffee table/want to own a coffee table/stack flat surfaces in their living room to create a makeshift coffee table?

Then may we humbly suggest City of Words: Toronto Through Her Writers' Eyes, a tome that is currently doing bananas* at Toronto-area bookstores.

Need more convincing? Check out these writeups at the Toronto Star and torontoist.com to see just how well the book captures the soul of our city. And head on over to our website for previews of photos in the book!

*Note: Authentic publishing term

City of Words and The Heart Specialist top Ben McNally's best

2009-12-10T09:17:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, December 4, Ben McNally and his partner Lynn Thompson presented their top 45 books of the season.

We are proud to see both The Heart Specialist and City of Words in the fiction top five!

Click here to read more.

Win a free copy of City of Words!

2009-12-10T09:10:00.002-05:00

Open Book Toronto is offering up a free copy of City of Words. To enter, head over to the contest page and make a comment telling them about one of your favourite things about Toronto.

You can also read about some of Sarah Elton's Toronto favourites, such as the book(s) which, in her eyes, best represent Toronto:

There are so many! Ondaatje made part of Toronto's history come to life with In The Skin of a Lion, and Austin Clarke captured another in his Toronto Trilogy. Dionne Brand's What We All Long For portrays the city as it is today, I think. And then there's David Bezmozgis' Natasha, which combines great writing with great storytelling and at the same time tells us about life here.

Be sure to enter soon - the deadline is December 18th!

Trailer for The Wolf's Head by Peter Unwin

2009-12-09T11:13:00.000-05:00

See more information on The Wolf's Head

Read a preview

Review of The Honey Locust

2009-12-03T12:27:00.000-05:00

Check out this rave review of Jeffrey Round's The Honey Locust at stageand page.com:

"The fiction is charged with wisdom as it probes what lies under surfaces of reality and discovers that darkness is not just a camera’s fade to black but the ruins of Angkor Wat, the Lacandan rainforests, the shell-shocked regions of former Yugoslavia, and, most of all, the human heart—that crater where we often miss the chance to forgive and forget and where we waste time and effort in fighting and distancing ourselves from one another."

Read the rest of the review

A Perfect launch for Perfect Red

2009-11-30T14:52:00.001-05:00

A little cheesy, maybe, but Thursday's Toronto launch for Perfect Red: The Life of Paraskeva Clark by Jane Lind really was a great success. We took over Libby’s Fine Art Gallery, filling every floor with fans, friends, and family of both the artist and the author. Nicholas Hoare came by to sell books, Jane to sign them, and a great time was had by all.

Jane Lind and Cynthia at the signing table

A view of the crowd

As you can see, it was a full house. Everyone was excited to hear Jane talk about Perfect Red, and to be surrounded by so many beautiful examples of Paraskeva Clark’s art. Thanks to all who could join us!

From the outside looking in

A happy Jane

One more for the road

And for those who couldn't be there, here is a video of John and Jane's speeches:

Review of Valentine's Fall

2009-11-24T10:24:00.000-05:00

A shout out to David Kidney over at the Green Man Review for his great take on Cary Fagan's Valentine's Fall. According to David, "Fagan's writing is crisp, vivid, always enjoyable."

Read the rest of the review here.

Canada Counts reviewed by The Globe & Mail Online

2009-11-23T11:35:00.003-05:00

Something to write home about.

Peter Scowen of Globe Books has selected Canada Counts as their illustrated book of the week. According to Mr. Scowen,

"Children will be learning to count with the help of the unique and defiantly nationalistic vision of one of the country's great modern artists."

You can read the rest of the review here.

Remember, that's The Wolf's Head by Peter Unwin ...

2009-11-18T14:18:00.001-05:00

Peter Unwin (The Wolf's Head) is my hero.