In this month’s Bookswap, Lori Savory and I discuss two recent novels that are both, in their way, “pandemic novels,” though only one is explicitly set during the Covid19 era. One is Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult; the other is Small Game by Blair Braverman. Both deal with isolation, finding your path in life, breaking up with the perfect or imperfect boyfriend … and somehow, the whole discussion ends with us talking about our dogs. You can listen to the episode on SoundCloud or almost anywhere you get podcasts.
Lori recommended, in addition to this book, everything else by Jodi Picoult, but especially:
I referenced a few other books, including:
- Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube and Dogs on the Trail, Blair Braverman’s non-fiction books
- Improbably Yours, by Kerry Anne King, another (very different, but also very good) book about a woman rethinking her life and her relationship, and ending up on a remote island.
We also discussed some other media, including:
- The play “Supper Club” by Willow Kean (we forgot to mention the name of it, but this is the play we referenced both seeing together, and you should see it if you’re in Newfoundland, as it’s being remounted and touring the province in Fall 2023)
- The Australian cooking show Lori likes: My Kitchen Rules.
- The Newfoundland-based reality show I watched years ago and still remember (also forgot the title of this one): Quest for the Sea. Sadly, I can’t find a place where anyone’s posted this whole series to watch for free online (it aired in 2004) but you can watch the trailer here, and if it catches your fancy, you can stream all four episodes for a modest fee on Vimeo.
- Blair Braverman’s twitter feed, which is where I first learned about her and her sled dogs — from there you can find links to lots of other things related to Bravermountain Mushing, which is basically Blair, her husband Quince, and their dogs.
And, of course, once we got started talking about Blair and the sled dogs, we inevitably began talking about our favourite animal shelter, the Happy Valley Goose Bay SPCA, from which Lori and I both adopted dogs – their husky-mix rescue pups are simply the most beautiful dogs anywhere. For evidence, see pics below of my Gal and Lori’s Asha and Aspen:
Shelf Esteem 