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Pop Forecast for July 3: Ant-Man and The Wasp and more
Chris Lackner MOVIES Big release on July 6: Ant-Man and The Wasp. Big picture: Set in the immediate aftermath of Captain America: Civil War, reformed thief Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is under house...
View ArticleEven Oprah Winfrey has reason to celebrate Holland America’s latest ocean liner
New ships are always exciting, and there are a lot of them coming to an ocean near you, both this year and next. One that I’m particularly excited about is Holland America Line’s Nieuw Statendam...
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Intense Love and Ruin novel focuses on Gellhorn and Hemingway
Love and Ruin Paula McLain Doubleday Canada Jamie Portman Novelist Paula McLain is learning once again that when you write about Ernest Hemingway, you spark a backlash. Seven years ago, she decided...
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Judy Leigh’s novel A Grand Old Time breaks age barrier
A Grand Old Time Judy Leigh HarperCollins Jamie Portman LONDON — Judy Leigh was thrown by the question. Why had she chosen to write a book about an old woman? “I didn’t see this one coming,” Leigh...
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New novel I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You takes lessons from the past
I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You: A Letter to My Daughter David Chariandy McClelland & Stewart Dana Gee Award-winning Vancouver author David Chariandy has laid his history out in the open in his new...
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Cold Skies: A DreadfulWater Mystery features laid-back Cherokee sleuth
Cold Skies: A DreadfulWater Mystery Thomas King HarperCollins Pat St. Germain Retired cop Thumps DreadfulWater is leading a cozy life as a landscape photographer in the bucolic burg of Chinook, Mont.,...
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Trio of Canadian novels brighten summer reading
Pat St. Germain Radiant Shimmering Light Sarah Selecky HarperCollins A down-at-the-heels Toronto pet portraitist who sees animal auras, Lilian Quick is a social-media addict who compulsively posts...
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Pop Forecast for July 9: Skyscraper, How it Ends and more
Chris Lackner MOVIES Big releases on July 13: Skyscraper; Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. Big picture: Skyscraper is Die Hard meets The Fugitive meets an easy Dwayne Johnson payday. The Rock...
View ArticleGlobal Voices: Rooting out unconscious bias
A San Francisco woman called police to report a black child selling water on the sidewalk. Two Native American teens were yanked out of a college tour in Colorado when a woman told police that the boys...
View ArticleNew National Geographic Venture readies pair of West Coast voyages
If you like your ships small and cruises adventurous, you could hardly do better than Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic. Lindblad, together with its unique partnership with the fine folks at...
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Linwood Barclay delivers thrills whether for adults or young readers
Pat St. Germain A Noise Downstairs Linwood Barclay Doubleday Canada Eight months after small-town college English professor Paul Davis happened on a murderer preparing to dispose of a pair of bodies...
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Thea Lim’s An Ocean Of Minutes tells intensely human story
An Ocean Of Minutes Thea Lim Viking Jamie Portman TORONTO — “People wishing to time travel go to Houston Intercontinental Airport..” That’s how Thea Lim wanted to begin her ambitious new novel, An...
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Pop Forecast for July 16: The Equalizer 2, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Chris Lackner “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” but these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in...
View ArticleGlobal Voices: Taking ‘think globally, act locally’ to heart
Immigrant children peer out of barred windows in a building surrounded by razor wire. This isn’t Texas, though; it’s Laval, Que. Canadians are appalled at stories of migrant children torn from their...
View ArticleThe good, the bad and sad — the changes in store for different luxury liners
Summer is here and with the increased temperatures comes an influx of cruise news. It’s a busy time in the cruise industry, as lines announce new itineraries, tweak winter deployments, and get ready...
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Zoe Patterson’s Trafficked Girl a profile in courage
Trafficked Girl: My Story of Fighting Back Zoe Patterson, with Jane Smith HarperCollins Canada Jamie Portman LONDON — Zoe Patterson was 13 when she was placed in a residential care home in the English...
View ArticlePop Forecast for July 23: Mission: Impossible — Fallout and more
Chris Lackner “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” but these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in...
View ArticleGlobal Voices: We need diverse superheroes
When we were kids, we used to buy comics in bulk at a corner store near the local gas station. It was $3 for a random grab bag. Batman, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four — we never knew what we’d get. Except,...
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Music Man presents challenges for Stratford Festival
Jamie Portman STRATFORD, Ont. — What was he letting himself in for? That was the initial reaction of Daren A. Herbert, an award-winning song-and-dance man, when he had his first look at the historic...
View ArticleRevelling in Crystal’s newest river cruise ship
It is hard to believe that just a few years ago, luxury cruise line Crystal didn’t operate a single river cruise ship. It had a loyal following of guests who enjoyed sailing aboard its oceangoing...
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