Reading List
When you can put some time aside for yourself, why not crack open a new book and get immersed in the world of story telling.
We've put together a small list of amazing books as suggestions. How many can you get through?
The tale of Kvothe, from his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic.
Secreted away in a garden, a lonely girl spins stories to warm a curious prince: peculiar feats and unspeakable fates that loop through each other and back again to meet in the tapestry of her voice. Inked on her eyelids, each twisting, tattooed tale is a piece in the puzzle of the girl's own hidden history.
Vivid and compelling in its portrait of one woman’s struggle for fulfillment in a society pivoting between the traditional and the modern, The Henna Artist opens a door into a world that is at once lush and fascinating, stark and cruel.
Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.
Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy, standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-men-who-want-to-talk-about-Jesus-crazy. She is also Elsa's best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother's stories, in the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.
The bride ‧ The plus one ‧ The best man ‧ The wedding planner ‧ The bridesmaid ‧ The body
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
It all started with just one little lie. But we all know that it never ends there. Because, of course, one lie leads to another…
Growing up, Jane and Marnie shared everything. They knew the other’s deep-est secrets. They wouldn’t have had it any other way. But when Marnie falls in love, things begin to change.
This fictional story of residential school survivors could easily have been a non-fiction book, but the author instead chose five characters to portray the significant and long-lasting impacts of the schools. The story is told with compassion and without judgement. Even though the trauma is ever-present there is humour and hope in their community of friendship. This is an important book and highly recommended.
Winner of the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction and the 2021 Amazon Canada First Novel Award. Longlisted for the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize and winner of Canada Reads 2022; One Book to Connect Us.
This is a page turner!
In December 1926 Agatha Christie’s husband tells her that he is leaving her for another woman. Agatha disappears for 11 days. The Christie Affair is the fictional account of these 11 days and is told, interestingly, from the point of view of Nan O’Dea, “the other woman.” The story is fascinating, compelling and full of mystery. It’s layered, and the characters are well developed and complex. It’s on Reese’s Book Club list for good reason.
Harold takes a 600+ mile journey across England holding faith that as long as he walks his friend, Queenie will live. Along the way Harold revisits his life’s losses and regrets and finds courage, human kindness, friendship and forgiveness. This is an unforgettable, captivating and compelling story.
A long list finalist for the 2012 Man Booker Prize.