awards

Announcing the 2018 Shortlist for “The Very Best!” Book Awards!

September is almost here and it is time to announce the shortlist for “The Very Best!” Book Awards. This year, to simplify things, I have narrowed down the categories to three:

  • Fiction (Novel or Short Fiction)
  • Non-Fiction
  • First Book (Fiction and Non-Fiction)

clean suds logoAlso, this year, for the first time, I have a small, but unique, award to give each winner: a “soap book” which is a bar of handmade soap encased in a specially designed book cover!… Continue reading

2018 IPPY Awards for Canadian Titles

IPPY Awards, or the Independent Publisher Book Awards are presented to the year’s best titles published in these important and growing divisions of independent publishing (including self-publishing). It was reaffirming to see a few of the titles I had reviewed awarded. It means that the books that I liked or resonated with me are something experienced by others as well. I enjoy promoting independent publishers and the authors whose books they undertake to bring to a wider audience.… Continue reading

Reviews from the 2017 New Brunswick Book Awards Short List

books from the 2017 New Brunswick Book Awards have been reviewed here at The Miramichi Reader: Wayne Curtis’ Homecoming and Jan Wong’s Apron Strings. Both are worthy contenders in their respective categories. I have also reviewed Rachel Bryant’s The Homing Place which is a very insightful book of early Indigenous and Settler literature. Links to the above reviews can be found below.

Saint John (NB) March 23, 2018 – The Fiddlehead and the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick have announced the shortlisted titles for the third annual New Brunswick Book Awards.… Continue reading

Reviews of Books on the 2018 Atlantic Book Awards Shortlist

The shortlists for the Atlantic Book Awards have been announced, and since The Miramichi Reader has reviews of seven of them (plus one children’s book), I thought it might be helpful to provide links to the reviews for the various nominees. The books that have been reviewed here will have links embedded in them and will open in a new window. Some of the links will redirect you to the Consumed by Ink website, should they happen to have a review there.… Continue reading

The “Very Best!” 2017 Book Award Winners

The end of another reading “season” has come to an end (September 1st to the following August 31st) here at the Miramichi Reader and it’s time to announce the winners from the 2017 Longlist that I’ve been adding to throughout the year. As usual, there have been many, many excellent books to choose from and all the books on the longlist should be considered recommended reads (all reviews here at the Miramichi Reader are 3 – 5 stars).… Continue reading

The Miramichi Reader “The Very Best” Awards for 2015

We have a saying up here in the Miramichi: “the very best” (but you have to run all three words together to say it correctly). Typically, it comes in response to “how are you?” or “how’s the family?” and so on. I thought it would make a great award title for the best books that the Miramichi Reader has reviewed here over the past year (and since it is solely based on my opinion, it is trustworthy).… Continue reading