- Details
- Category: Ron
A remarkably calm and non-judgmental look by Anglican priest, author and activist Maggie Helwig, about the homeless encampment in her Toronto churchyard in 2022.
Helwig brings a massive amount of compassion to the subject, whether she’s talking about those camped in her yard or her neighbors in Kensington Market. A quietly devastating look at the lives of people society would rather not see.
Adult Non-Fiction pr7916230
The Wolf Wants Answers by Joshua Mohr
The second installment in Joshua Mohr’s “Viking Punk Saga” (following Saint the Terrifying).
While touring with his band All the Fuss, Saint encounters a past love interest and runs afoul of a drug cartel. Norse gods meet crime noir with a punk rock arc-angel who’s a cross between Henry Rollins and Ragnar Lothbrok.
Adult Fiction pr7937905
- Details
- Category: Ron
An accessible, heartfelt and personal account of a treatable disease that kills about 1.3 million people worldwide annually, which is more than malaria and HIV/AIDS combined. While the subject matter held appeal to me, the author didn’t, until I heard him in tears during a CBC interview.
Thanks to Laura at Mississauga PL for adding her own recommendation.
Adult Non-Fiction pr7924513
Set during NASA’s space shuttle program during the 1980s, Reid’s latest will please her legion of fans. With propulsive prose, authentic characters and a high stakes setting, this makes a great summer page turner and love story.
Adult Fiction pr7886196
- Details
- Category: Ron
The Last American Road Trip by Sarah Kendzior
Journalist Kendzior, freaked out by changes in American culture and politics, combined with climate change and Covid, starts taking her family around to as many states as time and her budget allows as a reminder and demonstration that there are good people everywhere.
This impassioned mix of travel literature, political analysis and history told mostly from two lane highways in flyover country hits hard - I don’t think I’d ever appreciated the impact of overturning Roe v Wade on an individual, fertile woman until I’d read this. As bad as things documented here are, and taking into account how they’ve only gotten worse since this was published in April, there is humor here nonetheless, reasons to hope and fight for change. And you’ll likely want to hit the road yourself.
Adult Non-Fiction pr7725302
The Doorman: A Novel by Chris Pavone
Chicky Diaz works as a doorman for a luxury Central Park West co-op in this Tom Wolfesque examination of Manhattan society in the immediate post-Covid era.
Intersecting story lines combine Chicky’s social strata with some of the building’s ultra-rich residents. This book was not at all what I was expecting, which was a read it and forget it airport bookstore thriller: it’s so much more, in the same way that Richard Price’s recent Lazarus Man goes far beyond genre conventions into social commentary. Negative reviews on Goodreads from readers that want Pavone to stay in his lane didn’t surprise me, but I’d rather read something with this heft, and applaud the author’s courage in this change of direction. Note that this is still a thriller – but pulp, it’s most definitely not.
Adult Fiction pr7725302