Presszo Ottawa

This is the story of Chris Hoke -- a prison chaplain who makes no secret of the fact that he learns from the experiences of gang members, violent felons and the mentally ill... http://christopheradam.ca//book-review-wanted-by-chris-ho/

"...I can’t see the face of the man who’s been hired to perfect me, only a small piece of convex glass, in which I come face-to-face with my distorted reflection. I look kind of faint. Still, its contours soothes me like nothing elseThe photographer won’t stop perfecting me. He says ‘smile,’ I smile. He says Look sexy, I try. He just announced that I look too emotional. I think ‘How is that possible?.’ I say ‘I’m sorry.’ I close my eyes for a time, then shake my head viol...ently side to side. This succeeds in emptying out my expressionThe photographer puts down his camera, walks up to me, takes a hand mirror out of his pocket and makes up two lines of cocaine, which I snort, then smile into his lens again, my eyes ecstatic and glittery, like they’re reflecting a million children’s...." http://christopheradam.ca//book-review-closer-by-dennis-c/

Told in the first person through the eyes of Tony Joppa, this highly readable account of a young man’s struggle to overcome alcoholism is something of a glimpse into the world of Alcoholics Anonymous and the battle against addiction... http://christopheradam.ca//book-review-an-ocean-of-though/

If you're looking for some great late summer reading, I recommend The Wars of Heaven by Richard Currey. The most striking aspect of Richard Currey’s collection of stories, The Wars of Heaven, is how from the raw, coarse and tragic lives of working class people in West Virginia we get such richly atmospheric prose. There are two ways to escape the misery of the present: either find refuge in nostalgic images of the past or else in the dreams of an unlikely future. We meet an array of characters in Currey’s stories, each grappling with personal tragedy and loneliness. http://christopheradam.ca//book-review-the-wars-of-heaven/

If you're on holiday and looking for a read, you might give this a try...Patrick Canning’s thoroughly quirky novel about a depressed janitor from Idaho who finds himself in the midst of a bizarre and potentially fatal game feels like an adult psychedelic take on The Wizard of Oz, or else a literary escape room. It's among the most inventive, but also offbeat works I have read in a long time. Here's my review: http://christopheradam.ca//book-review-cryptofauna-by-pat/

Some recommended summer reading...British novelist Evelyn Waugh perhaps reveals more about himself through the fictional character of Gilbert Pinfold, a middle-aged novelist who suffers a mental breakdown brought on by the use of sedatives and pain medication, than through any of his other creations... http://christopheradam.ca//book-review-the-ordeal-of-gilb/

Christopher Adam’s book, I Have Demons, is a collection of three stories that are snapshots of the lives of three different people in and around the city of Ottawa, Canada. As the author describes in the preface, the main characters in these stories in some way live on the margins, both physically and socially... The thing that left the biggest impression on me while reading this book was Adam’s excellent use of descriptive writing throughout his stories. His ideas become real for his readers through the way in which he is able to describe things, not just by using many adjectives, but by using detailed imagery... http://christopheradam.ca//19/a-book-review-of-i-have-dem/