Travel the world one page at a time! Next stop: Canada!
Planes, trains, and automobiles all have one thing in common – they force us right out of our cozy, comfy homes. But books? Books allow us to travel from the comfort of our favorite reading spot. Pick up these titles to be transported to the land of the evening star – Canada!
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Environmental disasters and declining birthrates have led to a Second American Civil War in Margaret Atwood’s dystopian future. The result? The rise of the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian regime that enforces rigid social roles and enslaves the few remaining fertile women.
Offred, a Handmaid bound to produce children for one of Gilead’s commanders, is deprived of her husband, her child, her freedom, and even her own name, clinging only to her memory and her will to live.
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Over fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but all signs lead to it’s downfall.
Two women who have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order and Aunt Lydia’s past and uncertain future unfold and each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Only one lifeboat remains bobbing on the Pacific Ocean after a cargo ship sinks. The only survivors? A sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan, and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. Pi and the tiger coexist for a whole 227 days while lost at sea. Then when they finally reach the coast of Mexico, the tiger flees to the jungle never to be seen again.
Japanese authorities interrogate Pi, but refuse to believe his story, pressuring him to tell “the truth.” Hours later, Pi tells a significantly less fantastical yet more conventional story. Life of Pi is not just a tale of survival, but one that explores the power of storytelling.
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
A story of love and confusion set at the end of the Second World War that follows a small group of shell-shocked characters. Nurse Hana, exhausted by death, tends to her last patient. Caravaggio, the thief, tries to reimagine who he is now that his hands have been maimed.
Kip, the Indian sapper, searches for hidden bombs in a landscape where nothing is safe but himself. And at the center of it all lies the English patient, nameless and burned.
Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis
A bet between Hermes and Apollo leads them to grant human consciousness and language to a group of dogs currently staying overnight at a Toronto veterinary clinic.
The pack is torn between those who resist the new ways of thinking, preferring the old ‘dog’ ways, and those who embrace the change. The gods watch in amusement from above in this strange, charming tale.
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
In this young adult dystopian novel, author Cherie Dimaline depicts a future in Canada ravaged by global warming and widespread madness. Indigenous people who can still dream are being hunted for their bone marrow which is used to create a serum to treat dreamlessness.
The Marrow Thieves follows Frenchie, a 16-year-old indigenous orphan and his friends as they flee after his brother is captured.
Obasan by Joy Kogawa
Based on author Joy Kogawa’s own experiences, this novel was the first to tell the story of the evacuation, relocation, and dispersal of Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry during the Second World War.
The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson
A tango, like a marriage, is something you have to dance to the end. The Beauty of the Husband is an essay on Keat’s idea that beauty is truth and is also the story of marriage.
Clear-eyed, brutal, moving, and darkly funny this book tells a single story in 29 tangos that take readers through vivid, painful, and heartbreaking scenes from a long-time marriage that falls apart.
The Boat People by Sharon Bala
A rusty cargo ship carrying Mahindan and five hundred refugees from Sri Lanka’s civil war reaches Vancouver’s shores. But instead of starting a new life, the young father and his six-year-old son get thrown into a detention processing center.
The interrogation begins and Mahindan begins to fear that a desperate act taken in Sri Lanka to fund their escape may now jeopardize his and his sons chance for asylum.
The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy
The Tin Flute, Gabrielle Roy’s first novel, is a classic of Canadian fiction focusing on a family in the Saint-Henri slums of Montreal, its struggles to overcome both poverty and ignorance and its search for love. This touching story is one of familial tenderness, sacrifice, and survival during the Second World War.
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Victoria Lewis
Victoria is a freelance writer, dog lover, and coffee enthusiast living with her husband and dog in a small town in Kansas. Surrounded by an expansive to-be-read pile, she spends her time either deeply engrossed in a book or listening to one. As a fervent supporter of both bookstores and public libraries, Victoria enjoys sharing her latest reads on social media, connecting with fellow bibliophiles, and diligently updating her Goodreads profile.
