Check out some of the books discussed on national CBC Radio programs between June 24 - July 2.
Check out some of the books discussed on national CBC Radio programs between June 24 - July 2.
Heard on: Commotion
Vacationing one summer on Prince Edward Island, Lucy meets Felix in an electric, chemistry-filled night. Only one problem: Felix is her best friend Bridget's younger brother. On her annual return trips to P.E.I., Lucy vows to avoid Felix and his bed, that This Summer Will Be Different -- easier said than done.
When Bridget rushes home to P.E.I. in crisis a week before her wedding, Lucy can only follow and remind herself to protect her heart, but finally wonders if she really wants to do that after all.
In her new book Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell, veteran music journalist Ann Powers takes a deep look at the career of the iconic Canadian singer-songwriter.
Powers looks at things like how Mitchell broke through as a woman in the sexist boys' club that was L.A.'s Laurel Canyon music scene, and how -- later in her career -- she came to be seen as a role model and inspiration for subsequent generations of women artists.
But she also spends a fair bit of time looking at another, less talked about part of Mitchell's career that's much weirder and much uglier: her repeated use of blackface in the late 1970s and early '80s.
Ann K. Powers is an American writer and NPR Music critic and correspondent.
Heard on: The Next Chapter
In her latest novel The Damages, Genevieve Scott uses the late-90s grunge and girl power movements as the backdrop for a story about consent, trauma and the cost of lies.
Protagonist Ros is excited to go to university in Ontario and totally reinvent herself -- but when she meets her roommate Megan, Ros knows she is a social liability. During an intense ice storm, the students throw a reckless days-long dorm party; Megan goes missing and Ros ends up being blamed and shunned by her newfound friends.
Two decades later, Lukas -- Ros's ex and the father of her young son -- is accused of sexual assault and Ros is forced to face her mistakes from the past and reflect on the era she grew up in through a post-#MeToo lens.
Genevieve Scott is a Toronto-born writer and filmmaker based in California. She is also the author of Catch My Drift and a story editor for the 2020 feature film Jump, Darling.
Heard on: The Next Chapter
For her master's thesis at UBC, Jasmine Sealy wrote a short story reimagining the mythical figure of Calypso. In myth, Calypso is a seductive sea goddess. In Sealy's version, she's a willful, beautiful teenager.
Sealy transformed that short story into her award-winning debut novel, The Island of Forgetting. It's set in Barbados and follows a family over four generations as they run a beachfront hotel. There are secrets, sacrifices and loyalties that are tested against a backdrop of ever-changing tourism.
The Island of Forgetting won the 2023 Amazon First Novel Award.
Sealy's short fiction has been shortlisted for several awards and longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize. She has also been published in various publications, including The New Quarterly, Room Magazine, Prairie Fire and Best Canadian Stories 2021.
Heard on: The Next Chapter
In I Am Big, a young Black hockey player learns to embrace his size and find joy in his talent on the ice. Illustrated by Toronto artist Marley Berot, this story shows the support of the young boy's family and a team that celebrates him.
Sadu is an award-winning Toronto-based children's author. She is the co-owner of Toronto bookstore A Different Booklist, which specializes in African and Caribbean Canadian literature. She is also the managing director of the Blackhurst Cultural Centre and a founding member of the annual Toronto Emancipation Day Underground Freedom Train Ride.
Heard on: Q with Tom Power
When a wildfire ripped through Lytton, B.C., in June of 2021, the town burnt almost entirely to the ground. Meghan Fandrich lost her small business -- the Klowa Art Café -- to the fire, and turned to writing poetry for the first time in her life to help her cope with the loss. The result is her first collection of poetry, Burning Sage: Poems from the Lytton Fire.
Meghan Fandrich is a poet and previously ran the Klowa Art Café, which was unfortunately lost to the Lytton wildfire in 2021. She continues to live on the edge of Lytton, B.C., with her family. Burning Sage is her debut poetry collection.
Heard on: The Sunday Magazine
Michaeleen Doucleff knew there had to be a better way of parenting her toddler; she just didn't expect to find it while reporting a story in a Mayan village. The NPR science journalist soon learned that traditional cultures around the world, from Tanzania to Nunavut, have a lot to teach us about raising children. She shares her insights in her book Hunt, Gather, Parent.
Doucleff is an American author and global health correspondent for NPR's Science Desk.
Heard on: The Sunday Magazine
Rex Chapman was one of the NBA's brightest stars when he was drafted in 1988. But by 2014, he was sleeping in his car, addicted to OxyContin, and gambling and shoplifting to fund his addiction. After rehab eventually gave way to recovery, he emerged as a social media star during the pandemic for sharing funny and inspirational videos, and incisive social commentary. His memoir It's Hard for Me to Live with Me details the high and lows of his NBA career and his life afterward.
Rex Chapman is a retired NBA player, podcaster and social media influencer.
Heard on: Ideas
In the modern era, books are so ubiquitous as to seem mundane. But for philologist and historian Irene Vallejo, who has traced written texts back to their earliest origins, the simple fact of their existence is extraordinary. In Papyrus, Vallejo suggests that books are among the most influential inventions of all time.
Irene Vallejo is the author of several novels, essays and short fiction. Her work appears regularly in El País and Heraldo de Aragón.
Heard on: The Current
Ruth Whippman says young boys today are told to be strong -- but also told that masculinity itself is toxic. In her new book BoyMom, the mother of three sons argues we're failing young boys and need to change how we nurture them into better men.
Ruth Whippman is a British writer, journalist and documentary maker.
Heard on: The Current
In Cue the Sun! TV writer Emily Nussbaum explores the history and influence of reality TV, from bug eating in the jungle to getting Donald Trump elected president.
Emily Nussbaum is an American television critic and author.
