Books Like Us

Our tenth reader and I sat down on a park bench in the shadow of a private all-boys school to discuss Pamela Zoline’s subversive sci-fi story “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967). It’s an amazing work of short fiction that deftly portrays a housewife’s nervous breakdown alongside a discussion of physics and cosmology. We... Read More

I met our ninth reader on a gloomy October evening for a delicious bowl of ramen and a conversation about the short story collection Oddly Enough (1994). Bruce Coville’s fantastical and often spooky narratives enthralled our reader at a young age and strengthened her interest in fiction. We talked about the humour found in the […]

Our eighth reader selected the 1952 sci-fi novel City by Clifford D. Simak. The novel’s unusual narrative is guided by philosophizing dogs from the distant future who are in the process of reciting the oral history of humankind. The novel suggests the inherent violence of human nature and challenges the endurance of our species. After […]

It’s easy to become nostalgic about the years before the Harry Potter series was adapted to film, before the theme parks were created, or before the associated merchandise generated more excitement than pages of text. In my memory the books were always enough. Each novel provided access to a magical world within our own where […]

I met up with our sixth reader after her return home from work as a community librarian in the Markham Public Library system. (A truly dedicated book lover never shies away from a conversation about literature even if they spend each day embedded in stacks of books.) After an introduction to her cat and a […]

Our fifth reader is my grandfather. He has been an avid science fiction reader since high school and has held a subscription to Analog: Science Fiction and Fact since 1970. Countless copies of the magazine reside upon bowed shelves in his basement, and I am regularly asked if I have any leads on a loving adoptive […]

I met with our fourth reader in a crowded cafe (pardon the occasional hiss of the espresso machine) to discuss the novel Veronika Decides to Die (1998) by Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho. Our reader, a recent recipient of a Master’s in Social Work, discovered the novel during a self-guided study of fiction featuring narratives of […]

Our third reader selected Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved (1987). She studied Morrison’s account of slavery, profound loss, and a haunting as a high school student, an undergraduate, and as a postgraduate. Each re-reading uncovered new meaning and fresh details in familiar sentences. Morrison’s poetic style and skilled presentation of alternative narratives define Beloved as […]

Our second reader selected the novel A Complicated Kindness (2004) by celebrated Canadian author Miriam Toews. We spoke about teenage reading, the author’s deft treatment of emotional trauma, and the profound empathy found in reading the right book at the right time. Our reader (a very talented writer) also emphasized the importance of reading in […]

Ah, the profound satisfaction of picking up the right book at the right time. The subject of this first post is the novel A Bird in the House (1970) by beloved Canadian author Margaret Laurence. This series of short stories chronicles a writer’s recollection of her childhood in the small fictional town of Manawaka, Manitoba. […]