Wednesday 14 October 2015

"The Deadbeat Club" by Dietrich Kalteis | Book Review

The Deadbeat Club by Dietrich Kalteis
Grey Stevens grows the best pot in Whistler. He just wants to take life easy but everyone, including two rival gangs, want the pot to themselves. One day, when he stops a gang member from beating up a mysterious girl, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a gang war. Grey must decide whether to run away with the girl, or stay and defend what's his.

I read this as part of The Word on the Street's Book Club, which I highly recommend you follow as you read through The Deadbeat Club, if and when you decide to do so. We read it over the course of four weeks, answering questions about the story and talking to other people who were reading the book as well. I really liked being able to talk to people while I was reading the story, because the book and corresponding questions made for some thought-provoking discussions!

From the beginning, this novel reminded me of HBO's The Wire, in that it's very gritty and real in terms of portraying the drug scene in a realistic way. A lot of shocking things happen in the story, but it's easy to accept the events as reality, and at the same time, also horrifying to think that such bad things happen to good people.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of - I was hoping that as I kept reading, I'd get a handle on who was who, and for the most part I did. There were some characters though, who didn't have big roles or were present for a couple of scenes, but were mentioned later on in the book - so I found myself having to go back to remind myself who they were.

On the back of the book, we're told that Grey Stevens is the main character, but he never really comes across as such. Personally, I think there are too many characters to peg someone as the main focus. It didn't bother me at all that there wasn't a main character, it just threw me off a little because that's how Grey was pitched. Having said that, I loved his scenes because he almost always provided comic relief in what was a dark, action-packed novel.

You can read about my experience meeting Dietrich Kalteis and attending The Word on the Street here.

The Deadbeat Club is now available at Indigo and on your Kobo.

*I received a copy of this book from The Word on the Street in exchange for participation in their Book Club.

The Word on the Street Toronto 2015 | Event Recap

This was my first year attending The Word on the Street, the festival whose tagline is "Celebrating reading. Advocating Literacy." This festival brings together thousands of people across Canada, all of whom share a love for reading.

If you live in Canada and have never been, I highly recommend you check out their website (which I've linked above), so you can find the one closest to you. It's a great place to meet awesome people and find interesting books - at great prices, I'd like to add!

Some of the things I got from the festival!

This year, the festival was held at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. It was such a beautiful day and I think the venue was perfect. There was plenty of space for the vendors, and there was a lovely breeze from the lake. It was a very short walk from the booths to the waterfront, if you wanted to have lunch by the water, or even just take a break from the crowds!

My signed copy!

I had the opportunity to participate in The Word on the Street Book Club, and I chose to read The Deadbeat Club by Dietrich Kalteis (You can check out my review here!). The club for this book was hosted by Christine over at Padfoot's Library, who came up with some great, thought-provoking questions for us. We got to meet Dietrich after an interesting panel on crime novels, and he was so nice! When Christine and I told him our names, he seemed excited and immediately thanked us for doing the Book Club. He even remembered that I stuck with the club til the end!

I'm so glad I went to The Word on the Street this year. It was a great day full of books, contests (I even won a 1-year subscription to Legion Magazine!), fun, and friends. I'm already looking forward to next year's event!

2015 Reading Challenge | Progress Post


A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet - Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

Review coming soon!

Photo Credit: I added text to the original "book sale loot" by Ginny via flickr in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.

September Book Haul!

I know, I know - this is so late. I'm sorry, guys! I've had a bunch of things converging on each other, and unfortunately, that means I haven't been able to post, or even read, as much as I want to. But without further ado, here are the books I got in September, many of which came from The Word on the Street, and lovely publishers and authors.

1. Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories edited by Audrey Niffenegger


2. Virtuous: A Quantum Novel by M.S. Force


3. Maid for Love by Marie Force


4. Lost Ocean preview by Johanna Basford




6. Taking Leaps and Finding Ghosts by Janet DeLee