ho ho holiday gift guide 2021

December 20, 2021 //

Books! They’re easy to wrap. Their batteries will never die on you. They provide many, many hours of entertainment for an exceedingly reasonable price. And they’ve become a go-to purchase throughout the pandemic.

Listen to my 2021 Holiday Gift Guide, as shared with CBC Day 6.

Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe

Klondikers: Dawson City’s Stanley Cup Challenge and How a Nation Fell in Love with Hockey by Tim Falconer

The Day the World Stops Shopping by J.B. MacKinnon

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

Time Is a Flower by Julie Morstad

Tags best, books, CBC Day 6, colson whitehead, holiday gift guide, j.b. mackinnon, julie morstad, klondikers, should i read it, vanderbilt

Categories Broadcast, Buzz Books, Reviews

winter books preview 2021

January 21, 2021 //

36 of the best new novels, novellas and nonfiction to carry you through until spring.

Read the full story here

Categories Globe Books, Reviews

books are easy to wrap

December 8, 2020 //

Books make great gifts. Beautiful to look at and to hold, hours of entertainment, and (bonus!) so easy to wrap!

My annual Holiday Gift Guide for Day 6 this year includes two Canadian novels with big heart and some much-needed-in-2020 chuckles, a hopeful big-idea nonfiction book that argues for our inherent human kindness, mouthwatering Northern Thai food for home cooks, and a brilliant story for littles about how the world keeps turning and each of us is important.

Here’s the audio >> listen

FICTION

Like Rum-Drunk Angels by Tyler Enfield (Goose Lane)

Indians on Vacation by Thomas King (HarperCollins)

NONFICTION

Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman (Little, Brown)

FOOD

Kiin by Nuit Regular (Penguin)

KIDS

You Matter by Christian Robinson (Atheneum)

Tags best, books, christian robinson, holiday gift guide, nuit regular, rutger bregman, should i read it, thomas king, tyler enfield

Categories Broadcast, Buzz Books, Reviews

shuggie bain

November 9, 2020 //

Scottish-American author Douglas Stuart published his debut novel, Shuggie Bain, in February 2020.

It’s now on the shortlists for both the Booker Prize – the UK’s most prestigious literary award – which will announce its winner on November 19, and the National book Award – one of the USA’s most prestigious literary awards – which will announce its winner on November 18.

Stuart’s publisher rushed out a paperback edition for the occasion (available now).

But should you read it?

Listen here to my review for CBC Day 6, in which I talk about the novel’s political context (1980s Glasgow), the beauty in the darkness of a relationship between young Shuggie Bain and his alcoholic mother, Agnes, and a novel that, with its Glaswegian dialect throughout, entices you to read with your ears as well as your eyes.