Each week, Globe and Mail staffers and readers share what they’re reading now, whether it’s a hot new release or an old book they’re discovering for the first time. Tell me about a book you loved and we might publish your recommendation. Fill out this form, or send your book recommendation to Lara Pingue at [email protected]
Globe staffers share their favourite Canadian books
Globe 100: The best books of 2024
Spin Cycle, Alfred Botello
A novel that takes the messy, most uncomfortable facts of life – betrayal, honour, trust and of course the biggest one of them all, death – and toys with them in ways both nerve-wracking and heartbreaking, Spin Cycle will hang your soul out to dry. Following a high-school math teacher who is thrust into a caregiver role after his mother can no longer manage her own dementia, Alfredo Botello’s sophomore novel is a darkly funny, intimate yet epic journey that will have you racing to pick up the phone and dial up every family member who you’ve been avoiding for one reason or another. There is a brutal truth coursing through Spin Cycle – we can all save ourselves and each other, if we only put in the effort – that will flatten you.
-Globe and Mail film editor Barry Hertz
The Baseball Vault: Great Writing from the Pages of Sports Illustrated
The Baseball VaultSupplied
“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball,” Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby once famously said. “I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” It’s a great quote, but an awful waste of time. I tell you what I do when there’s no baseball: I read books such as The Baseball Vault, a collection of baseball writing from the pages of Sports Illustrated. The late Hornsby was a curmudgeon, by the way, and he might complain that only six of the 46 terrific stories here date before 1990. He has a point.
–Globe arts reporter Brad Wheeler
Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer
Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer, one of Hitler’s most influential ministers, was first published in 1969. I read it when I was 18 and again recently at 68. I wanted to fathom why political associates and constituents went along with a megalomaniacal leader. Written while Speer was in Spandau Prison for 20 years, he accepts responsibility for his own role in enabling a madman and offers a frightening glimpse of how people can be trained to concur with actions they know are wrong. The tome reveals the methods of a dangerous leader who was consumed with delusions of grandeur in an unscrupulous and deadly game of power. Fifty years after my first reading, this book is still as chilling – and timely – as it was when I was a teenager.
–Globe reader Thelma Fayle, Victoria
Waiting for Joe, Sandra Birdsell
Sandra Birdsell’s novel, Waiting for Joe, is a modern tale of human frailties, and all set in Manitoba and Saskatchewan; the descriptions of the Prairie cities are so vivid and refreshing to read. The novel tells the story of a couple trying to find their way through youth, marriage, employment failure and how they survive and move forward. Birdsell touches the soul with her deep understanding of human life. Not since Alice Munro have I read such strong depictions of daily life.
–Globe reader Joyce Mylymok, North Saanich, B.C.
The Berry Pickers, by Amanda PetersSupplied
The Berry Pickers, Amanda Peters
In her debut novel The Berry Pickers, Canadian author Amanda Peters tells the gripping stories of Ruthie, a four-year-old Indigenous girl who disappears from the blueberry fields in Maine, and her brother, who’s left to wrestle with the loss years later. The story takes readers across North America to places that may be familiar, from Ontario and Nova Scotia to Massachusetts. Some parts might feel a bit predictable, but Peters makes up for it with her deeply moving and nuanced writing. At its core, this book is about family, identity and the difficult but healing path to forgiveness.
–Globe reporter Meera Raman
At a Loss for WordsSupplied
At a Loss for Words: Conversation in an Age of Rage, Carol Off
Can the meaning of words change? In her new book, At a Loss for Words: Conversation in an Age of Rage, journalist Carol Off examines how the meanings of six simple words – freedom, democracy, truth, woke, choice and taxes – have shifted. The author contextualizes her work in the worldwide rise of the right, focusing on Canada. There has never been a more important time to learn about the scope of the influence of the wealthy far right, and to pay attention to language. This eye-opening book should be required reading for all Canadians.
-Globe reader Lindsay Bryan, Welland, Ont.
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of ExtremismSupplied
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, Tim Alberta
Tim Alberta’s 2023 book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism is both a fascinating and sobering look at the extremist element of the U.S. religious right. The author, a political journalist, grew up in an Evangelist household himself and he puts that experience to good use here. With access to leading figures and thoughtful analysis, Alberta paints a clear picture of the energy and fear that fuels the religious right. This book offers vibrant insight into the despair, anger and division in the U.S. today.
–Globe reader Margery Cartwright, Haliburton, Ont.
Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman
Life and Fate is often called the War and Peace of the 20th century. The novel was written by Soviet-era writer and journalist Vasily Grossman, who witnessed the battle of Stalingrad in 1942-43. The story centres on the Shaposhnikov family and explores their lives during the period when violence, ideology, suffering and sacrifice were all at extremes. It’s a realistic novel, and Grossman is able to capture the smell and sound of war through dozens of vignettes involving more than 150 fictional and historical characters. It’s an emotional read – and at 850 pages, it’s a book you should take your time with.
– Globe reader Michael Minnes, Ancaster, Ont.
The Magnolia Palace, Fiona Davis
The Magnolia PalaceSupplied
The Magnolia Palace takes place against the backdrop of New York City’s Frick mansion, the opulent house that contains the art collection of Henry Frick. Author Fiona Davis tells a story of two time periods: the 1920s, when the mansion is a family home, and the 1960s, when it’s a museum. In each period, we meet strong women who struggle to survive and overcome the restrictions of their time. Romances and betrayals abound. This is a story of family, its conflicts and how wealth doesn’t always bring happiness. The mansion itself becomes a character in the story – and like any interesting character, it has its secrets.
–Globe reader Maureen Murray, Burlington, Ont.
The Complete Poems: 1927-1979, Elizabeth Bishop
Recently, I’ve been rereading Elizabeth Bishop’s The Complete Poems: 1927-1979, a collection unlike so many modern poems because of their accessibility. While the best-known poem is One Art, a villanelle with the striking first line, “The art of losing isn’t hard to master,” it’s another poem called Poem that overwhelms me every time I read it. It’s about a family heirloom painting (not to be confused with her other poem about a family heirloom, Large Bad Painting). Poem startles you with one of those aha! moments that make a painting by a family member poignant, regardless of the painter’s talent. Perhaps the best student of the great American poet Robert Lowell, Bishop had a rough start in life. She was raised by her maternal grandparents in Nova Scotia, about which she wrote a number of wonderful poems, until her wealthy paternal grandparents brought her to live in Massachusetts. Without this move she might never have met Lowell, let alone become his equal as a poet. If a Globe reader were to pick only one book of modern poetry to read in their lifetime, this might well be it.
–Globe reader Ron Charach, Toronto
Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris
In his 2022 collection of essays, Happy-Go-Lucky, humorist David Sedaris offers his take on the fun global health crisis we found ourselves facing four years ago. The unnerving trip to the recent past gave me a new, often chuckle-inducing perspective of those dark, polarizing times. Sedaris doesn’t tiptoe around anyone’s feelings, taking on masks, lockdowns and the Black Lives Matter protests with his usual brand of political incorrectness. (For instance, he admits to feeling a bit ‘superior’ for donating to the BLM movement.) The essays also touch on a major personal event: the death of his father, Lou, the Sedaris clan’s decidedly problematic and unlikeable guardian who’s a frequent subject of the writer’s work. I recommend Happy-Go-Lucky if you want to relive some of your worst years with a smile – and sometimes a grimace.
-Globe programming editor Prajakta Dhopade
On Leadership, Tony Blair
Tony Blair’s On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century isn’t a memoir or a tell-all but rather a non-partisan instruction manual for political leaders, based on his own experiences as Britain’s former PM. Given today’s turbulent, populist political mood, it holds several important lessons. Some core take-aways: Stay focused. Do your homework. Be positive. Protect your time. Stay humble. Don’t expect accolades. Delivery is everything. When Canada and arguably the Western world are at a low ebb in political ability and dominated by smash-mouth politics, Blair proffers many useful lessons. Frankly, I think all political leaders and aspiring leaders should read it.
–Globe reader Mark Johnson, Toronto
Hungry Ghosts, Kevin Jared Hosein
Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein is a tale of betrayal, temptation and family values. Set in poverty-stricken Trinidad in the 1940s, we meet Krishna, who suspects his father of infidelity. Could this loving, steadfast and loyal family man really be tempted by a wealthy woman? The characters are driven by intense, unfulfilled emotional needs, or “hungry ghosts.” Will Krishna listen to the hungry ghosts after what he’s seen? Will his mother recover from typhus and win back her straying husband? This is a quiet but compelling novel.
–Globe reader Julie Kirsh, Toronto
The Editor, Sara B. Franklin
The Globe received more than one hearty endorsement of a work of non-fiction. The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America, by Sara B. Franklin, is “an alluring peek into the publishing world,” writes Globe reader Catherine Lash. “From pulling The Diary of a Young Girl out of the rejects pile to creating the cookbook market with Julia Child with the ultimate goal of making cooking not only enjoyable but doable, Judith Jones was a gift to the publishing world.” Globe reader Judith Green is also a fan of this book, which details Jones’s 50-plus years at Knopf, where she worked with Sylvia Plath, Anne Tyler and John Updike, among others.
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper, by Roland AllenSupplied
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper, Roland Allen
I read a rapturous review of The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen, and I had to pick it up. I’m a dedicated notebook user (in fact, I’m currently writing my own book about journaling) and I love learning the histories of everyday objects. Allen does not disappoint. The book tells the fascinating stories of notebooks, from the very first notebook (a wooden tablet) recovered from an eighth-century BCE ship, medieval account books, Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, scientific notebooks, to the contemporary Bullet Journal Method, which helps users track and organize tasks. Eye-opening.
– Globe reader Julie Rak, Edmonton
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AISupplied
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, Yuval Noah Harari
In Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, historian Yuval Noah Harari examines the doomsday scenarios projected by computer futurists. Will artificial intelligence erase millions of jobs? Yes. Should we be worried that industrial-scale electronic surveillance will continue to erode privacy? Yes again. Is any of this new or have we been heading this way since the pharaohs? Not new. With Nexus, Harari delivers a sociological polemic that’s peppered with humour, and he begs us – begs us! – not to make the same mistakes again.
-Globe reader Myles Kesten, Toronto
Safety in Bear CountrySupplied
Safety in Bear Country, Heather Paul
Safety in Bear Country by Heather Paul tells the fictional story of Serena Palmer, who works at an institution for individuals with severe developmental disabilities. When a patient under her watch dies tragically, she runs away to Australia. This is a story about the monsters of our own making that seek us out, prey upon us, or need our help. It is written in a mystical, almost poetic prose that weave together the quirky events in Serena’s disjointed life, like a fine jigsaw puzzle. While the main theme is a journey to the self, it’s also a New Age love story, a tribute to what the New Age defines as the mystical, emotional, romantic lure within our culture and our times that maybe we all secretly want. Just thinking about it makes me want to go back and read it again.
–Globe reader Graziano Galati, Collingwood, Ont.
Tell us about a book you love
What are you reading now? Is it a hot new release or an old classic you’re discovering for the first time?
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