It’s not quite spring, but it seems wrong to call it winter, but the first half of 2013 has a lot of great Canadian reading to catch your attention. Here’s a few.
Every Little Thing (M) by Chad Pelley (March 28): East Coast represent: Newfoundland author Pelley is back with is second novel this spring. “Every Little Thing explores how lives are shaped by the butterfly effect of decisions that go desperately wrong. After a shocking family tragedy, Cohen Davies feels isolated, guilty, and numb to everything except the allure of his new neighbour, Allie Crosbie. She’s a free spirit, and he sees in her the perfect place to bury his troubles. But when Allie’s father asks an unfathomable favour, Cohen’s decision to help him sets off a chain reaction of irrevocable events that leave one man dead, one man assaulted, and Cohen incarcerated. In the aftermath, Allie will reveal a shocking secret of her own. “
And while we’re doing shout-outs, if you’re looking for more blogs about reading, Pelley maintains one with an East Coast focus: Salty Ink.
Roost (M) by Ali Bryan (April 1) “Claudia, single mom of two, pines for her past independent life. Her ex, after all, has moved on to a new wardrobe, new hobbies and—worst of all—new adult friends. But in Claudia’s house she’s still finding bananas in the sock drawer, cigarettes taped to wrestling figures, and colourful doodles on her MasterCard bills. Then Claudia receives the unexpected news that her mother has died. Shared through the hilarious, honest, and often poignant perspective of a single mother, Roost is the story of a woman learning about motherhood while grieving the loss of her own mother. And as she begins to mend, she’s also learning that she might be able to accept her home—even as it is.”
Hungry Ghosts (M) by Shyam Selvadurai (April 2). CanLit fans may remember Shyam Selvadurai’s earlier titles Funny Boy and Cinnamon Gardens, but it’s been a few years since we’ve heard from this talented author. “In Buddhist myth, the dead may be reborn as “hungry ghosts”—spirits with stomach so large they can never be full—if they have desired too much during their lives. It is the duty of the living relatives to free those doomed to this fate by doing kind deeds and creating good karma. In Shyam Selvadurai’s sweeping new novel, his first in more than a decade, he creates an unforgettable ghost, a powerful Sri Lankan matriarch whose wily ways, insatiable longing for land, houses, money and control, and tragic blindness to the human needs of those around her parallels the volatile political situation of her war-torn country.”
The Unfinished Child (M) by Theresa Shea (April 2). First novelist Shea takes on a modern and very personal topic in this new book: “When Marie MacPherson, a mother of two, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant at thirty-nine, she feels guilty. Her best friend, Elizabeth, has never been able to conceive, despite years of fertility treatments. Marie’s dilemma is further complicated when she becomes convinced something is wrong with her baby. She then enters the world of genetic testing and is entirely unprepared for the decision that lies ahead.”
While I was writing this CanLit post, I was listening to this new Canadian CD from the library’s music collection: Animator (M) by The Luyas.
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