Books by Canadian Award Winners and Books Set in Toronto: Staff Picks for the 2019 Reading Challenge
Are you taking our 2019 Reading Challenge? So are library staff all across the city. They shared their suggestions for completing the Books by Canadian Award Winners and Books Set in Toronto categories.
Marie's recommendations:
- Basic Black with Pearls by Helen Weinzweig
- The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky by Karen X. Tulchinsky
- Terminal Grill by Rosemary Aubert
Why did Marie pick them?
Winner of Toronto Book Award, 1981
"For me a personification of Diaspora. It's been "rediscovered" as a feminist work by current critics. Shirley describes the thrill of the chase "following her lover". Shirley is revealed to us in all her glory through her first person descriptions of the reactions of others to her. Vivid descriptions of Toronto landmarks in the '70s end with an unconventional resolution. Or is it?"
What categories can you use it for?
- A book from a Canadian award-winning Author
- A book set in Toronto
"Toronto has never been all that nice a city. Christie Pits riots appear in this novel about Moses and his diary. My mother, who was a child in Toronto during that time, loved this book. I don't argue with her recommendations."
What categories can you use it for?
- A book set in Toronto
- A book by an LGBTQ+ author
"A short work full of "no don't do that" moments for me about a Toronto (rainy and dreary) woman searching out love "in all the wrong places". Rosemary is a prolific local author who nails the feel of locations you thought you knew but really don't. Who knows about Ellis Portal?"
Rosemary Aubert is a Canadian award winner. Her novel The Feast of Stephen won the 1999 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel.
What categories can you use it for?
- A book by a Canadian award-winning author
- A book set in Toronto
Kathy's recommendations:
- Brother by David Chariandy
- Kay's Lucky Coin Variety by Ann Y.K. Choi
- Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
- Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Why did Kathy pick them?
Winner of the Toronto Book Award in 2018
"For the book set in Toronto category, I read Brother by David Chariandy, which is about a young boy coming of age in Scarborough, dealing with the aftermath of a tragic incident involving his brother. Very beautiful."
What categories can you use it for?
- A book by a Canadian award-winning author
- A book set in Toronto
- A book by an author in a visible minority
- A book by an eh List author (advanced challenge)
"I would also recommend Kay's Lucky Coin Variety, by Ann Y. K. Choi, which is about a Korean family who run a convenience store, and is set in the Korean community of 1980's Toronto."
What categories can you use it for?
- A book set in Toronto
- A book by an author in a visible minority
"My recommendation for a book by an author from a visible minority, Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin, works for the books set in Toronto category too!"
What categories can you use it for?
- A book set in Toronto
- A book by an author in a visible minority
- The List: Great Reads for Youth (advanced challenge)
Winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, 2018
"For the book by a Canadian Award Winner I read Washington Black by Esi Edugyan, which follows a slave from Barbados through an incredible life. Would highly recommend!"
What categories can you use it for?
- A book by a Canadian award-winning author
- A book by an author in a visible minority
Reagan recommends:
- That Time I Loved You by Carrianne Leung
- The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys
Why did Reagan pick them?
Winner of the Danuta Gleed Award, 2019
"I really enjoyed the fast pace and multiple narrators that were culturally diverse. It almost reads like a collection of short stories, though there are overlapping characters and plots. It's a bittersweet ode to a Scarborough suburb in the 1970s that focuses on adolescents and families. A little bit eerie at times, it's an intriguing look at neighbourhoods and the people that call them home. Elements of it really reminded of my childhood in the suburb of Markham in the 1990s."
What categories can you use it for?
- A book by a Canadian award-winning author
- A book set in Toronto
- A book by an author in a visible minority
- A book by an eh List author (advanced challenge)
"I read this nonfiction book years ago and still recommend it to people in Talk About Books, Book Clubs and during Readers Advisory interviews. Helen Humphreys is a true Canadian treasure, and a unique and quirky soul when you hear her talk in person. This book contains 40 vignettes based on actual events that took place each time the Thames froze solid. A mix of illustrations and text, these snapshots of what life was like for folks living by the river at the time it froze are varied and so so beautiful (really anything written by her will knock you down-my favourites in order are Nocturne, The River, The Evening Chorus, Nuns Looking Anxious - Listening to Radios, Ghost Orchard, Machine Without Horses, etc etc etc)"
Helen Humphreys won the Toronto Book Award in 1998 for Leaving Earth and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize in 2000 for Afterimage.
What categories can you use it for?
- A book by a Canadian award-winning author
- A book by an eh List author (advanced challenge)
Nalini's recommendations:
- Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez
- Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis
Why did Nalini pick them?
Winner of the Asian-Canadian Writers' Workshop Emerging Writers Award, 2015
"Through the perspective of children, their parents, and a community worker, I feel like this book perfectly illustrates what life is like for many families that call Scarborough home. I grew up in Scarborough. It is diverse with a large proportion of working class families. Some families have lived there for a few generations, many are new immigrants. The book focuses on the struggles some families go through to provide a better life for their kids."
What categories can you use it for?
- A book by a Canadian award-winning author
- A book set in Toronto
- A book by an author in a visible minority
- A book by an LGBTQ+ author
- A book by an eh List author (advanced challenge)
Winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize and Rogers Writers' Trust Prize for Fiction, 2015
"I loved the concept of this novel. Two Olympian Gods decide to make a wager. They give a group of dogs human intelligence. If any of the dogs are happier at the end of their life than if they had remained a dog, Hermes wins. If they are more miserable, Apollo wins. It is less than 200 pages, but is filled with philosophical musings that are both hilarious and thoughtful."
What categories can you use it for?
- A book by a Canadian award-winning author
- A book set in Toronto
- A book by an author in a visible minority
Eunice recommends:
- All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
Why did Eunice pick it?
Winner of the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and Canadian Authors' Association Award for Fiction, 2015
For part 2 of the Reading Challenge I would recommend All my Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews which deals with love, loss, struggles with mental illness and the unbreakable bond between sisters. This book will take you to darker places that are important to explore.
What categories can you use it for?
- A book by a Canadian award-winning author
- A book about mental health
More books set in Toronto recommended by Reading Challenge Facebook group participants:
- Adult Onset by Ann-Marie Macdonald
- The Amazing Absorbing Boy by Rabindranath Maharaj
- As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by C. Alan Bradley
- Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill
- The Booky Trilogy by Bernice Thurmond Hunter
- Both Sides of the Fence: Surviving the Trap by Michael A. Amos
- Cabbagetown by Hugh Garner
- Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
- The Chai Factor by Farah Heron
- The Clay Girl by Heather Tucker
- The Dove in Bathurst Station by Patricia Westerhof
- Girls Fall Down by Maggie Helwig
- The Grimoire of Kensington Market by Lauren B. Davis
- How We Changed Toronto: The Inside Story of Twelve Creative Tumultuous Years in Civic Life, 1969-1980 by John Sewell
- Immigrant City by David Bezmozgis
- In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje
- Old City Hall by Robert Rotenberg
- Rouge: Poems by Adrian De Leon
- Six Metres of Pavement by Farzana Doctor
- Snow by Benjamin Rivers
- Soucouyant by David Chariandy
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
- Toronto: Biography of a City by Allan Levine
- Toronto Tales Bundle: Cop Out, Cover Up, Cast Out by K.C. Burn [ebook only]
- The Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto's First Immigrant Community edited by John Lorinc, Michael McClelland, Ellen Scheinberg and Tatum Taylor
Comments