Books in the sunshine!
My annual summer reads segment for CBC Day 6 features suspense, nostalgia, growing pains, grief, the supernatural, family struggles, and, yes, also several beaches.
Here’s the audio >> listen
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One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Especially when it comes to celebrated biographer Alexander Masters’ relationship with “I,” the enigmatic author of 148 diaries found in an Oxford Dumpster. Fifteen years after the discovery of the diaries, Masters’ latest book, A Life Discarded: 148 Diaries Found in a Skip, is the result: a biography, mystery, love story and chronicle of social class in 20th century England.
It’s a delightful read.
I reviewed it for the National Post, here.
Mid-June = time for my annual list of beach reads for Day 6 on CBC Radio One.
Listen to the audio here.
This year’s selection includes three debut novels, and has history, mystery, spies, spooks, and … well also quite aa lot of sadness. Sorry about that.
The five novels (pictured above) are:
- Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- On the Shores of Darkness there Is Light by Cordelia Strube
- I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
- The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Don DeLillo has a new novel out. And after a few teeny tinies in recent years, this one is, say his publishers, his greatest work since 1997’s Underworld.
So … should you read it?
I reviewed it for CBC Day 6, here.
Don’t panic…but there are only five shopping days left until Christmas. Listen here for my annual Holiday Gift Guide for CBC’s Day 6, a selection of six great books for a variety of readers on your list (hint: said books are stacked in my arms right up there /\. Look how happy I am to be recommending them!). Remember, folks: books are easy to wrap. Happy Holidays!
More than half a century after modern classic To Kill a Mockingbird was published, a new manuscript by its reclusive and media-shy author came to light under mysterious circumstances. Mystery or not, the world went mad for it, and on July 14, 2015, it landed.
The new novel is called Go Set a Watchman. It has raised many, many questions, and spawned many, many reviews. It has an initial North American print run of 2 million copies.
I’ve been doing a segment called “Should I Read It?” on CBC Radio One’s Day 6 for the past five years. We review high-profile, much-talked-about books. We’ve never done one quite as talked about as this.
Go Set a Watchman: should you read it? Here’s my review.
Mark Z. Danielewski has both dazzled and confounded readers with his high-concept novels that utilize font, colour, footnotes within footnotes, and sometimes turning the book upside down every few pages to tell a story.
His latest book, The Familiar: One Rainy Day in May, is presented as Volume 1 of a projected 27 volume series, of which new volumes (or “episodes”) will be released every 6 months. It’s unlike any book you’ve picked up before. But should you read it?
My review on CBC Day 6 >> listen here.
For the last-minute Christmas shoppers among you, here’s my annual Holiday Gift Guide for CBC Day 6.
Here’s the audio >> listen.
For foodies:
- How to Cook Everything Fast by Mark Bittman
- The Cookbook Book from Phaidon
For fiction lovers:
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
- The Neapolitan Series by Elena Ferrante
For non-fiction nuts:
- Flashboys by Michael Lewis
Stocking stuffer:
- Remembrance by Alistair MacLeod
Conveniently timed to air on the longest day of the year (thank you, June 21, for falling on a Saturday), I’m pleased to present my annual summer reading list for Day 6 on CBC Radio One.
Here I am (up there, look!) balancing in my skinny arms my complete set of books to suit all summer reading tastes.
Moments after this photograph was taken I overheard a man sitting at the other end of the table (yes, I am on a patio drinking early summer beer) telling his friends that he likes reading crime fiction by British writers. I gave him my copy of The Farm, thus lighting my load by one book for the journey home.
>> Listen to my summer reads conversation with Day 6 host Brent Bambury here.
>> Read my suggestions for EVEN MORE reading at CBC.ca, here.
A writer publishes his debut novel. The writer has a toe hold in the literary establishment on both sides of the Canada/US border. The novel has a toe hold on both sides of the noir/sci-fi genre border. The setting of the novel is almost borderless; near-future New York functioning as everyplace and no place, a Gotham or Metropolis, a metaphor for where society has gone wrong. The protagonist is an assassin with a code: one foot on either side of the moral fence.
The review is not like the novel. The review has to pick a single side.
Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh. Should you read it?
Listen to the segment on CBC Day 6.