Fiction or non-fiction, contemporary or classic...a fondly remembered children’s book or a memoir that moved you to tears...if you have a book to recommend, please contact Paula Halpin at paulahalpin3@gmail.com.
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READERS' BLOG
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MASS DISRUPTION: THIRTY YEARS ON THE FRONT LINES OF A MEDIA REVOLUTION,
JOHN STACKHOUSE Although I love getting lost in novels, I seem to gravitate more regularly towards non-fiction reads. I'm one of those types who doesn't finish every book I start. Most recently, however, I did read cover-to-cover Mass Disruption by former editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail, John Stackhouse. Fabulous insights into the decline of the national print media. Limited insights into the blossoming of hyper local rural papers like The Low Down.” Will Amos THE MILL ON THE FLOSS, GEORGE ELIOT
“As a child I discovered a battered copy of The Mill on the Floss in the cabin at our cottage in the Gatineau Hills. I read it the summer of 1958 and fell into a reverie of such identification and awe that a writer from long ago could so completely understand my small world even as she created a wholly other world that spoke to her own. It seemed like magic to me. I knew then that I wanted to become a writer—to do for others what she had done for me in exploring the deep mysteries of the human heart.” Catherine Joyce LEAVES OF GRASS, WALT WHITMAN
“My ‘desert island book’ choice came quickly to mind. It has circled the world with me for over 40 years as friend, teacher and travelling companion. At times, dog eared and with pages loose from their binding, it has consoled me, perplexed me, encouraged me, challenged me and provoked me into further reading. It is a summit, sometimes difficult to climb, but the view from the top is grand and the climb, like all climbs, is good for the heart. Written by Walt Whitman, the first edition was published in 1855 and is called Leaves of Grass. Keep a copy on your bedside table - wrapped in silk." Al Skaw THE CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON,
IMMANUEL KANT “The Critique of Pure Reason changed my life because I couldn’t understand it, nearly failed the course, and therefore abandoned philosophy in favour of dead English poets.” Seymour Hamilton JE SUIS FORMIDABLE MAIS CELA NE DURE JAMAIS TRÈS LONGTEMPS, SYLVIE LALIBERTÉ
« Je cherche de midi à quatorze heures. Après j’arrête. » Dans son sens officiel, cette expression nous rappelle que ce n’est pas utile de compliquer les choses simples. Mais pour moi, ces mots veulent aussi dire : calme tout ce bruit dans ta tête, toutes ces pensées et préoccupations qui t’habitent. Et je trouve le jeu de mots charmant. Louise Poliquin THE NEOPOLITAN QUARTET, ELENA FERRANTE
“The Neopolitan Quartet comprises four novels: My Brilliant Friend; The Story of a New Name; Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay; and The Story of the Lost Child. From the very first pages I was gripped by the story of a complicated friendship of two girls growing up in a poor neighbourhood of 1950s and 1960s Naples. The friendship—messy, pathological, intense, forever transforming—is detailed throughout their lives as we see Italy itself labour through painful transformation and constant corruption. Although you often detest the two main characters, these books are impossible to stop reading.” Laurie Gough LIVES OF GIRLS AND WOMEN, ALICE MUNRO
“I was not a big reader as a child or a teen but in my early 20s my brother gave me a signed copy of Lives of Girls and Women (Munro’s only novel). Here it was: characters, attitudes and situations I was so familiar with. These stories of ordinary people in small town Ontario told with humour and honesty inspired me to make reading a very enjoyable part of my life.” Marg Legault OUTLANDER, DIANA GABALDON
“The first book in a series, I was immediately absorbed into 18th century Scotland. I have read the full series and plan to go back and read it again in preparation for the release of her 9th book. She is such an amazing storyteller that you feel like you are living in their world.” Jodi Hamilton SHORT STORIES OF SAKI, HECTOR HUGO MUNRO
“When you want to rebel against the hypocrisy, pomposity and self-righteousness of the world, read Sredni Vashtar or The Storyteller (two of the stories in this collection). You will feel refreshed and deliciously wicked.” Annick Hardie THE WOMEN'S ROOM, MARILYN FRENCH
The Women’s Room is an iconic feminist novel from the 1970s. “I read it when I was married, raising three children and working for the Elizabeth Fry Society and was ready to evolve into an activist.” Carol Faulkner, Wakefield LA BOHÉMIENNE, ANDRÉ MATHIEU
"Je ne m'en lasserai jamais. C'est tellement bien écrit! C'est macabre et violent, mais si bien réfléchi!" Sandra Bergeron TOUGH ON CRIME, DAVID HOLDSWORTH
“A must-read for anyone living in Ottawa or near Gatineau Park. This is a very funny book by a local author about a sleazy government that proposes to build a prison in the park and a local community's call to arms in opposing it. It is very easy to identify the key characters and the government’s ‘tough on crime’ policy, which it tried to push down the throats of Canadians. Good character development and a real page turner to see how it all ends.” David Spring WHERE IS THE VOICE COMING FROM?,
EUDORA WELTY “This short story was penned upon hearing of the murder of black activist Medgar Evers on June 3, 1963, and published in The New Yorker three days later. I love this book because Welty said ‘whoever the murderer is, I know him. I ought to have learned by now what such a man, intent on such a deed, had going on in his mind.’ Reading it I felt horror and anger, but, most profoundly, a sadness—with such a man there isn’t really very much to know.” Peter Gillies FINGERSMITH, SARAH WATERS
“A wowing Gothic novel, totally engrossing, about two young women whose identities were switched at birth but who don't find out until almost the excruciating end of the book. This story is about a family of petty thieves in London in 1862, run by Mrs. Suckuby. She adopts and sells abandoned children but loves one special child, Susan, who is given the job of infiltrating the mansion of an old rich man and his niece in order to rob them...but things get very complicated. The Guardian's Julie Myerson calls it ‘long, dark, twisted, and satisfying…a fabulous piece of writing...an unforgettable experience’.” Sylvia Spring THE WAYFINDERS, WADE DAVIS
“In this book anthropologist Wade Davis illustrates the beauty of humanity's potential through captivating descriptions of the traditional knowledge held by several ancient societies. While Davis ends on a note of optimism for humanity's future, for me The Wayfinders is a haunting reminder of what we've lost.” Heidi Honegger LE POUVOIR DU MOMENT PRÊSENT,
ECKHART TOLLE “Ces enseignements pour vivre sans souffrance, sans anxiété et sans névrose ont été pour moi une ouverture vers la vie spirituelle et vers la compréhension que nous sommes les créateurs de notre souffrance, avec l’aide de notre mental. Un guide rassurant, rédigé dans un langage simple, vers le lâcher-prise, le pardon, le non-manifeste et l’abandon de l’égo pour nous ouvrir au pouvoir transformateur de l’instant présent. « Retrouver la conscience de l’être et se maintenir dans cet état de réalisation, c’est cela l’illumination. » À lire et à relire!” Christiane Ryan JOY FOR BEGINNERS, ERICA BAUERMEISTER
“I so enjoyed the celebration of friendship in this book. ‘If I had a wish, it would be to inspire light in those who walk alongside me rather than be the light itself,’ the author writes. It's a story that begins with a group of friends gathering to celebrate a friend who has overcome cancer and how they challenge one another to truly live fulfilled lives.” Felicity van den Bos TATTOOS ON THE HEART, GREGORY BOYLE
WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR, PAUL KALANITHI “The books that have affected me most are those about people who have faced and dealt with challenges, sometime physical, sometime spiritual or psychological. Two books I am sure will remain with me a long while are Tattoos on the Heart and When Breath Becomes Air. Both describe men of incredible courage in the face of overwhelming situations. The former is a Jesuit working with street gangs in Los Angeles, and the latter is a young neurosurgeon facing death from cancer who documents how it feels to be dealing with this fact.” Corinne Sutherland SAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND, YUVAL NOAH HARARI
“In this far reaching and brilliant analysis of how Homo Sapiens became the dominant species on the planet and the dominant member of the genus homo through a cognitive revolution which occurred sometime between 70,000 and 30,000 years ago, the author postulates that this revolution gave Homo Sapiens not only the ability to communicate facts and information but to use imagination to construct its creation myths and develop its religions, commerce and empires. Harari writes: ‘the truly unique feature of our language is not its ability to transmit information, rather it is the ability to transmit information about things that do not exist at all’.” Carolyn McAskie L’AUTRE FEMME, MARIE-THÉRÈSE BÉLAND
« C’était un de ces matins parfaits où la lumière jette un manteau de beauté sur tout ce qui vit. » Ces mots sont porteurs de tant d’images réelles pour moi, de tant de levers du jour devant ‘ma’ forêt, ‘ma’ vallée. Je sais de quoi parle l’auteure; j’ai vu ces couleurs du matin déferler tant de fois sur la nature qui s’étire. Quel privilège. Louise Poliquin COMMONWEALTH, ANN PATCHETT
“Patchett’s story of two dysfunctional American families and six stepsiblings whose lives intersect and separate over five decades never reaches the same heights of drama as her earlier book, Bel Canto—a fictionalized account of a hostage-taking in Peru—but it is laced throughout with the same crackling tension and sense of impending disaster. It's a great read with a shocking climax…Patchett leaves it to the reader to determine how much of the book is true (some of the characters and events are reminiscent of her own life), and whether the telling of such stories is exploitative or an act of re-creation.” Barbara Levine |
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FUGITIVE PIECES, ANNE MICHAELS
“I have finally gotten around to reading Fugitive Pieces. Anne Michaels' use of language is gorgeous, and I love how she expresses the power of books and stories. By reading and learning, she says, you can inhabit another realm, one as ‘big as the globe and expansive as time’. This is what I love about reading, and it's what I love about her book. As she says, ‘I spent hours in other worlds then surfaced, dripping, as from the sea’." Allegra McKenzie LE CYCLE DE L’INVISIBLE,
ÉRIC-EMMANUEL SCHMITT “Cette série compte six courts récits à la fois drôles et émouvants (Milarepa, Monsieur Ibrahim et les Fleurs du Coran, Oscar et la Dame rose, L’Enfant de Noé, Le Sumo qui ne pouvait pas grossir et Les Dix Enfants que madame Ming n’a jamais eus) mettant en scène des enfants aux prises avec de dures épreuves (guerre, abandon, maladie, trahison, solitude) que des adultes originaux et forts les aident à traverser. Ces petites plaquettes admirablement bien écrites posent un regard frais sur les grandes religions et la spiritualité. De belles lectures pour l’âme!” Christiane Ryan THE BREAK, KATHERENA VERMETTE
This is a powerful first novel by an award-winning writer of Métis heritage who has written both children’s stories and poetry. The title refers primarily to a part of Winnipeg's north end where many First Nations and Métis families live, but it also refers to the breaking of relationships and cultural connections. Told from the perspective of female members of an extended family, the novel is about coping with the aftermath of a profoundly disturbing event. It is a story of victimization, survival, cultural strengths, and the enduring need for close personal relationships. It provides us with a valuable universal insight into the lives of girls and women. Eileen Davelaar POLES APART, TERRY FALLIS
“The old cliché in the early days of second-wave feminism was that feminists were a very serious, humourless group of social activists. Poles Apart is just the opposite. It is the story of a young blogger who gets in deep trouble for making fun of a strip club owner who is trying to clean up the exploitation biz through trickery. But this young feminist blows his cover and writes tough but witty feminist stories about all levels of gender inequality, but does so anonymously. This complicated story about a male feminist who is afraid to come out for fear of not being taken seriously is full of great lines, plots and issues, and is a must read.” Sylvia Spring DIFFICULT WOMEN, ROXANE gay
Roxane Gay has made quite a splash in both Canada and the U.S. lately. This unconventional short story collection is widely admired for Gay's continuing examination of race and sexuality in her fiction. She knows her own mind and has no hesitation in pushing her agenda. Truly a collection celebrating women. Glennis Cohen LA VIE DEVANT SOI, ÉMILE AJAR
“Ce roman écrit sous un pseudonyme a valu un deuxième Prix Goncourt à Romain Gary. Momo, un garçon arabe, raconte sa vie chez madame Rosa, une vieille femme juive qui tient une pension clandestine pour les enfants de prostituées. Il parle de son amour pour la seule « mère » qui lui reste, cette ancienne prostituée proche de la mort, courageuse et orgueilleuse, qu’il accompagnera jusqu’à la fin de sa vie. Ce récit très touchant et naturel, écrit avec les mots d’un enfant de la rue, m’a émue aux larmes.” Christiane Ryan MONSIGNOR QUIXOTE, GRAHAM GREENE
“Morality, politics, innocence, wonderful dialogue and a beat-up old car called Rocinante—what’s not to like?” JP Campbell THE ANATOMY LESSON, NINA SIEGAL
“This novel imagines one day in 1632 when a young Rembrandt was commissioned to paint the dissection of a newly hanged thief. The story is told from many points of view: the Body - the thief; the Heart - his pregnant lover; the Mouth - the surgeon who performs the dissection; the Mind - René Descartes; the Eyes - the body provider; and the Heart - Rembrandt. I never thought I would like the kind of novel that mixes fact, fiction and imaginings. But it worked, with a surprise ending of how this famous painting, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, was constructed. Bravo!” Sylvia Spring STOLEN CONTINENTS, RONALD WRIGHT
Stolen Continents tells the story of the conquest and survival of the Aztec, Maya, Inca, Cherokee, and Iroquois. “If you feel the least bit concerned about the plight of Indigenous peoples, both in North and South America, this book is an eye opener.” Gerry Legault, Chelsea LITTLE WOMEN, LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
“Like many of the millions of girls worldwide who loved Little Women, I identified in particular with one of the eponymous characters. Not for me the dutiful Meg, the delicate Beth or the vain and pretty Amy. I wanted to be Jo, the tomboy who scribbled away in the attic writing her plays, and heroically sold her prized long hair to help pay for their mother’s visit during the American Civil War to where the girls’ beloved father lay wounded. Sentimental and romantic by today’s standards perhaps, but still a delightful read.” Paula Halpin RU, KIM THUY
« Mes parents nous rappellent souvent, à mes frères et à moi, qu'ils n'auront pas d'argent à nous laisser en héritage, mais je crois qu'ils nous ont déjà légué la richesse de leur mémoire, qui nous permet de saisir la beauté d'une grappe de glycine, la fragilité d'un mot, la force de l'émerveillement. Plus encore, ils nous ont offert des pieds pour marcher jusqu'à nos rêves, jusqu'à l'infini. » Ce texte est évocateur à de nombreux égards. J’y lis toute la gratitude que nous pouvons avoir comme enfants d’avoir reçu tant de choses qui ne sont pas monnayables; en parallèle, je pense à la grande responsabilité que j’ai de faire de ma vie un don qui compte, puisque j’ai eu tant de chance. Et au-delà de cela, je lis et relis les mots si remplis d’images : « saisir la beauté d’une grappe de glycine »--qui requiert un instant de grande présence; « la fragilité d’un mot »--je n’avais jamais pensé qu’un mot était fragile auparavant; et les « pieds pour marcher jusqu’à nos rêves »--la grande promesse, le grand possible. Louise Poliquin CHAMPLAIN’S DREAM, DAVID HACKETT FISCHER
This “stand-out book is essential reading for all Canadians as Champlain livid in dangerous times (religious wars in 15th and 16th century France) and yet became a visionary explorer of North America, a Governor of Quebec, and played a seminal role in forging alliances with most aboriginal leaders…Travelling by canoe and snowshoe into the interior of the continent, he laid the foundations for law and order for a future Canada…it is worth considering whether his dream of peaceful co-existence is adequately reflected in what we see today.” Neil Faulkner THE WATER KNIFE, PAOLO BACIGALUpi
“This is an exciting dystopian novel about the coming pure water shortage in the western U.S. I think Bacigalupi is a brilliant writer; he's won both Hugo and Nebula awards for his work. Not everyone will welcome his bleak vision of the near future, but his concern with climate change and exploitation of resources is timely. His female characters are particularly strong. He's also written a superb young adult novel, Ship Breaker, which is equally dark, but prophetic.” Glennis Cohen OCEAN COUNTRY, LIZ CUNNINGHAM
“This is the story of one reporter's water adventure, journaling the fierce threats faced by our life support system—the ocean. Her trip turns into a shamanic journey of hope, healing and inspiration. She leaves us with one question that has become my personal call to action: ‘What if I really lived as if my voice mattered?’ If you are losing faith in the goodness of humanity, or think your actions couldn't possibly make a difference, this book will change you forever.” Laurie Wilson CHAKAURA – AWAKENING THE MUSE,
MICHÈLE ST-AMOUR “I had a difficult time putting this book down. Imagine yourself in a world where magic and mysticism are part of everyday life, a little bit like Harry Potter’s, but (one) that allows you to be transported into other dimensions of reality beyond the physical. This is what Chakaura is all about. It’s the story of Angelina’s journey of self-discovery and the amazing process of mystical awakening that occurs in her life. As she awakens, powerful gifts are bestowed onto her and life takes many interesting turns to bring her into higher states of self-actualization. I truly enjoyed the tale.” Suzette Schmiedel L’APPRENTI SAGE, GILLES VIGNEAULT
« La montagne est un chemin très pertinent pour aller un jour au sommet de soi-même. » Outre le fait qu’à peu près tout de Vigneault m’inspire, cette phrase me relie à l’appel de la montagne en moi. Je suis une randonneuse à qui la montagne a toujours beaucoup offert; et je suis en quête constante de devenir pleinement qui je suis, ce qui inclut bien des pentes à gravir. Louise Poliquin JOURNEY OF SOULS, MICHAEL NEWTON
“During my journey into metaphysical writings, I came across Journey of Souls by master hypnotherapist Michael Newton. These case studies of people in a superconscious state document what happens to us when we die and the purpose of each of our lives on earth. This book changed my beliefs about death and the afterlife, and I no longer fear death but welcome it when my time comes.” Chris Corcoran MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS,
GERALD DURRELL “My favourite of all time, this book makes you smile, laugh and cry. It chronicles the experiences of a very English family who move to Corfu in 1939. The family dynamic and the interaction with the inhabitants of the island provide a plethora of hilarious and insightful scenarios. Gerald, the author, is a conservationist who makes the island his own private experiment. The interaction with the people, flora and fauna makes for a captivating story.” Paulette Saltman THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS,
KENNETH GRAHAME "This book captured me at first reading when I was 10. I have shared it with children, and now grandchildren. Its themes are universal—friendship, food, home, danger, fear, foolish ambition—and are so vividly expressed that they have followed me throughout my life and coloured my experience." John Hardie THE BIRTH OF VENUS, SARAH DUNANT
“With The Birth of Venus I became a dedicated Dunant fan. Her remarkable writing puts historical fiction set in Renaissance Italy on a new level. Art, intrigue, the brutality of fundamentalism, the sometime violent reign of the Medicis—all contribute to a page-turner that I just didn’t want to end. Luckily, some of her characters appear in later novels, bringing even more depth to the read.” Chris Corcoran THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM, CIXIN LUI
“A truly amazing sci-fi novel, this book was written years before it was translated into English. It deals with the long-range interplanetary communication problems defined by Carl Sagan, the difficulties of alien communication, as depicted in the movie Arrival, and the security restraints imposed on scientific activity by governments. Lui has written two more novels in this trilogy, and they have been described as masterpieces. The character development is a bit of a problem, but for readers who thrive on hard-science speculation, this is a wonderful introduction to the series.” Glennis Cohen |
