Canada Reads 2015 – What David Read

And The Birds Rained Down by Jocelyn Saucier

And The Birds Rained Down by Jocelyn Saucier.jpg A beautiful and moving story about ageing on your own terms. The novel is set in Northern Ontario where 3 elderly men can hide in the remoteness. But two women join the hideaway and life for all changes. The ending is wistful and transcendent. This was the second funner-up in Canada Reads 2015 (with Martha Wainwright as the proponent), a very well-deserved recognition of exceptional writing.

When Everything Feels Like The Movies – Raziel Reid

This book provides a demoralizing and disturbing view of young people in small-town Canada. Life is particularly dismal for Jude as a gay teenager who is bullied. This is an important book to read but it will be uncomfortable (but Ru still deserves to have won the Canada Reads competition).