Joan's Recommendations for Autumn Reading

Here are my picks for autumnal reading. The leaves are falling, the elections are dominating the media, and winter is in the air. I read close to a hundred books a year and here are a few recent goodies. I did include my favourite type of reading: short stories. I read some over and over. Good short stories never die but float around forever. I must have read The Dead by James Joyce two dozen times. Here are good short story writers I recommend: Lucia Berlin, Mavis Gallant, William Trevor, Edna O’Brian, Joan Clark, Mary Lavin, Stephen King, Ernest Hemmingway, Margaret Atwood, Amy Jones and of course the divine Alice.

Thunder Bay's Amy Jones author of "What Boys Like and Other Stories."

Less, by Andrew Sean Greer. This book, with its telling title was last year’s  Pulitzer Prize winner. It’s a masterpiece. Arthur Less is a medium-level writer who dreads turning fifty. His love marries another. Less seizes on a literary trip around the world to ease his mind but because he is the bumbling sort, unforeseen happenings gang up on him. A wonderful book with an upbeat ending.

I’m Right and You are An Idiot By Jim Hoggan. Hoggan looks at modes of communication particularly recent political conversation. The book presents ideas on how to have civil discourse in a time of division.

After the Fire by Hemming Mankell Fredrik Welin, a 70 years former doctor, barely escapes from his burning house. As the story goes on, we learn he is not really a nice person, but rather distant, a liar and a snooper. His daughter arrives and she is not much better. Eventually, through various events, including his daughter’s arrest for pickpocketing, our recluse opens himself to the world.

Dancer: The life of Nureyev by Colm McCann. Born in the Soviet Union, the boy grows up to become a dancer and then defects to the west. His parents and sister are then always under surveillance. The boy becomes an impulsive, and sometimes rude young man who is completely devoted to his art. The Soviet scenes that intersperse the book are grim, a contrast to the luxury and adulation that surrounds Nureyev. After I read the book, I watched him on YouTube dance with Margot Fonteyn. They have been called the greatest dance pair in history. See for yourself.

Grow Your Own Stone by Dr. Alexander Sumach T.H.C.  Still available on Amazon, this paranoia-filled 1970's book introduces the interested Canadian to growing their own marijuana. Important note: eventually we’ll all be able to grow four plants legally but not yet. A rather old fashioned book. Better to go on line and check the back issues of NOW, the Toronto alternative mag.

The Dry by Jane Harper. Australian mystery thriller. Very good book, well written and well plotted. A perfect mystery story. #1 book I have read this year.

Force of Nature by Jane Harper. Another fantastic mystery which takes place in the Australian bush. A group of women are lost on the trail. The author switches the point of view between the detective, Aaron Falk, and the lost women.

Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. An Y.A. adventure classic set in Roman times in Britain but good stuff for adults too. A former Roman soldier sets off with a buddy to find a lost eagle military standard. Good history and a great escapist read. Even though Sutcliff lards her prose with excess nature scenes and throws the adjectives around like confetti, the book stands up well to the test of time.

Canada: A Portrait in Letters  by Charlotte Grey. Wonderful letters from earliest days to present. A good Christmas gift for the history buff.

Kudos by Rachel Cusk. A masterpiece. As usual. A writer with an unusual style can take you anywhere she wants.