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Zachary HouleAbout Zachary Houle Zachary Houle is a writer living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He has been a Pushcart Prize nominee for his short fiction, and the recipient of a writing arts grant from the City of Ottawa. He has had journalism published in SPIN magazine, The National Post (Canada), Canadian Business, and more. Reviews
Chronic City by Jonathan LethemAlas this is a meandering and fairly plotless book, one that is as bewildering as it is baffling. [9 November 2009] 
Brilliant Colors: IntroducingIntroducing might make a case for Brilliant Colors being a knock-off group, a carbon copy of the Vivian Girls with subtle differences. But Brilliant Colors are a good carbon copy. [4 November 2009] Going Away Shoes and Ferris Beach by Jill McCorkleOne can’t help but draw a parallel between McCorkle’s work and the stories of A. M. Homes – just without the controversy or big gross-out that Homes reaches for. [3 November 2009] 
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey NiffeneggerThis follow-up to The Time Traveler's Wife netted the author a cool $5 million. Was the money worth it? [20 October 2009] 
It Feels So Good When I Stop by Joe PernicePernice channels his inner Charles Bukowski by offering a tome that is totally dirty realism intact. [14 September 2009] 
The Peep Diaries by Hal NiedzvieckiNiedzviecki holds a party for his 700 Facebook followers, but is dismayed when only one person is willing to actually show up. [9 July 2009] 
Waiting for the Sun by Barney HoskynsHow many songs can one city inspire? Hoskyns offers up a solid background history on the L.A. music scene through nearly four decades and innumerable shifts in musical style. [10 June 2009] 
Grunge Is Dead by Greg PratoPrato's book makes one misty eyed for the good ol’ days, when flannel was the fashion and sludge rock was king. [22 April 2009] 
Captain Freedom by G. Xavier RobillardThis book is seemingly one long joke mainly repeated over and over again, but the joke’s a pretty good one, [8 April 2009] 
The Caryatids by Bruce SterlingRobots destroying LA for the sake of entertainment, a Chinese government willing to nuke blocked rivers to get water flowing again, and clones ... this Hugo award-winning author delivers up a far-fetched, disjointed vision of the future. [25 March 2009] 
Blackstrap Hawco by Kenneth J. HarveyThere’s a gem of a story to be found here; you just have to stick around for the parts that count. [5 February 2009] 
The Retreat by David BergenFor the crime of falling in love with a police officer’s white niece, an 18-year-old Ojibway boy is left for dead near the remote town of Kenora, Ontario. Cue racial tension. [12 November 2008] 
Revolver by Kevin ConnollyWith this collection, Connolly has really lost the plot. It is, alas, choc-a-bloc with "just messing around". [10 September 2008] 
The Ravine by Paul QuarringtonThis is clever and full of metafictional events, from sequences that are relayed to the reader as though it were a TV script, to phone conversations that the narrator has with everyone. [9 September 2008] 
The Killing Circle by Andrew PyperAlthough mildly entertaining, this doesn’t have the guts to offer up something truly compelling: a twisted murder mystery about the real nature of writing and why we do it. [8 September 2008] 
Lockpick Pornography by Joey ComeauYou have to admire the guy's chutzpah and directness, and love the fact that he's utterly circumventing the 'norms' of how one is a success in the publishing world. [11 May 2006] 
PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives by Frank WarrenCards bearing messages like 'I love to pee when I'm swimming' could be deceptive emotions, the Internet equivalent of an anonymous prank call. [11 April 2006] 
Think!: Why Crucial Decisions Can’t Be Made in the Blink of an Eye by Michael R. LeGault'The logical outcome of reality TV is snuff movies,' warns LeGault, quoting the opinion of another analyst without any facts to merit this assumption. [21 March 2006] 
A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 by Simon WinchThrough no weakness on the author or publisher, it arrived not long after Hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans, another American city at the opposite end of the country and century. [2 March 2006] 
The Brooklyn Follies by Paul AusterReading this novel is like watching Auster trying his best to remake his beloved city out of sand castles on Coney Island instead of the shattered fragments of the World Trade Center. [20 February 2006] 
Delaying the Real World: A Twentysomething’s Guide to Seeking Adventure by Colleen KinderI have to wonder how much experience Kinder has in doing any of the things she suggests in this book. [9 May 2005] 
Ticknor: A Novel by Sheila HetiSheila Heti is the next big thing being primed to come out of the Canadian literary scene. [3 May 2005] 
Drift: Poems by Kevin ConnollyWhat separates Connolly from the pack, however, is that the guy can also be very, very funny. [19 April 2005] 
Safety of War by Rob BenvieMan, I cannot begin to bitch enough about impenetrable prose of the sort you'd normally find on the lyric sheet to 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'. [5 April 2005] 
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz ZafonThis book had the makings of a great literary-mystery hybrid of the sort not seen since, perhaps, Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye. [29 March 2005] 
The Final Solution: A Story of Detection by Michael ChabonIs Michael Chabon only interested in treading water after winning the Pulitzer?" [15 February 2005] 
Eighty-Sixed: A Compendium of the Hapless (Stories) by Brian AmesI think it wouldn't be a stretch to suggest that some readers might soon be calling Word Riot Press the Sub Pop of the book world. [8 February 2005] 
For Those About to Rock: A Road Map to Being in a Band by Dave BidiniWhat's truly refreshing about this attempt at juvenile rock memoir, rock history and all-around 'how to make it' guide,' is that Bidini doesn't talk down to his young audience. [25 January 2005] 
Hello, I’m Special: How Individuality Became The New Conformity by Hal NiedzvieckiNiedzviecki pins the blame for the apathetic lack of rebellion on an entire global culture industry that endlessly spits out reaffirming Sly Stone-esque 'Everybody Is a Star' and 'You Can Make It If You Try' platitudes. [7 December 2004] 
A Girl Like Sugar by Emily Pohl-WearyIt's essentially a glossy pulp Chick Lit novel masquerading slightly as something else altogether, a candy kiss hiding barbed wire. [30 November 2004] 
Revenge: A Noir Anthology About Getting Even by Kerry J. Schooley and Peter SellersFor a collection that focuses so squarely on getting 'an eye for an eye', there's a surprisingly lack of payback for the reader. [9 November 2004] 
Men and Cartoons: Stories by Jonathan LethemSometimes, you realize that the artist who once changed your life is no longer speaking about you in the way you thought they once did. [12 October 2004] 
A Certain Chemistry by Mil MillingtonMillington engages in far too much foreplay before getting to the nitty-gritty of the story. It takes roughly 170 pages until anyone actually drops their pants. [25 August 2004] 
Waking Beauty by Elyse FriedmanFriedman spends a great deal of the book inverting common clichés and stereotypes when it comes to femininity and even human sexual power relationships. [28 July 2004] 
American Whiskey Bar by Michael TurnerNotwithstanding the $5,000, I'm afraid that Klaus 9 might get ticked off if I reveal too much. [13 July 2004] 
So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star: How I Machine-Gunned a Roomful of Record Executives and Other TrSlichter seems to have cleverly rewritten his material in the apparent hope that it can be used as a textbook by burgeoning young stars to slip past the Simon Cowells of the music world. [29 June 2004] 
Grab Bag / The Haunted Hillbilly by Derek McCormackNo wonder there's a skeleton on the front cover. The story is entirely bare bones. [15 June 2004] 
The Pornographer’s Poem by Michael TurnerIf you're expecting drippy, dewy-eyed Spielbergian schmaltz, or a wistfully nostalgic look back into the bygone days of lost youth, you best look elsewhere. [11 May 2004] 
The Last Crossing by Guy VanderhaegheJust like Oprah has her vested interests in promoting a certain style of literature, the CBC Radio panel appears to have picked an overlooked book with which everyone would find some familiarity. [27 April 2004] 
Baseballissimo: My Summer in the Italian Minor Leagues by Dave BidiniNettuno is painted as an almost mythical place, like Garcia Marquez's Macondo, where the only news of major league North American baseball comes via such quaint outlets as the newspaper and, occasionally, the radio. [6 April 2004] 
Very Short Stories by Josh ThorpeI'm not sure if this is an anthology of prose, poetry, a collection of gags, or something else altogether. [9 March 2004] 
The Sleeping Father by Matthew SharpeIt's also a book that comes into this world with incredible weight on its shoulders. Not only does it have to fight off a kind of TV Movie of the Week stigma, there's the bad taste caused by previous novels tackling similar territory. [28 January 2004] BlogsRe:Print: Girls Fall Down [30 July 2008] |
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