Reads For The Road: "The Improbability of Love" by Hannah Rothschild

by Lindsay Shapka in , , , ,


When Annie finds and purchases a small, dingy painting hiding in the corner of a junky antique shop, she has no idea that it is about to expose her to some of Europe's darkest secrets — if you are hunting for the perfect beach read that is smart, entertaining, and well-written I've found it!

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Reads For The Road: "Wilful Disregard" by Lena Andersson

by Lindsay Shapka in , , ,


This novel by Swedish writer Lena Andersson is a whirlwind of intense and all-to-real emotions. Though I am not usually a fan of novels, this book — translated from Swedish — jumped out at me (literally, it fell off the bookshelf as I walked by) when I walked into a bookstore while travelling in Sweden this past summer.

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The "Book Flood" Hits Iceland: The beautiful Icelandic tradition of giving books as gifts during the holidays

by Lindsay Shapka in , ,


I recently learned about a beautiful Icelandic gift-giving tradition that takes place every Christmas. During the holiday season, the country celebrates Jólabókaflóðið (meaning "the book flood of Christmas"), when publishers release new books. And, there are A LOT of them.

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Reads For The Road: "The Social Life of Ink" by Ted Bishop

by Lindsay Shapka in , , ,


I don't know about you, but I am one of those people who always has at least one pen rolling around in the bottom of my bag. Even though I rarely take notes during interviews anymore (thinks voice recorder), and use the note function on my phone when needing to jot things down quickly, I still hold out hope that I'm going to have time to actually sit down, pull out a notebook, and put pen to paper.

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Reads For The Road: "The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving A F#CK" by Sarah Knight

by Lindsay Shapka in , ,


If the title of this book — The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F#ck — sounds vaguely familiar, that's because it is a hilarious parody of the bestselling The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

The concept of this book is to teach you "how to stop spending time you don't have with people you don't like doing things you don't want to do" aka STOP PEOPLE PLEASING!!

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How Important Is The First Line of A Book?

by Lindsay Shapka in , ,


One thing I hear a lot in the publishing world is how important the first line is to a story.

Whether it is a short article or a 600-page novel, everything seems to rest on hooking the reader in that first sentence, that first thought, that should (in theory) set the tone for the rest of the piece.

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Interview With The Incomparable David Suzuki

by Lindsay Shapka in , ,


During my time as Editor of WHERE Edmonton Magazine, I was lucky enough to have a 30-minute interview with the incomparable David Suzuki. If you are not familiar with him, Suzuki is a Canadian environmentalist, activist, public speaker, writer (he has written more than 50 books!), and teacher.

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