Mandy’s Pick
One Soft Infested Summer by Matthew Heiti (Latitude 46 Publishing)
I’ve been a fan of Matthew Heiti’s work since I read his play Black Dog: 4 vs. the wrld from Playwrights Canada Press. I like the way Heiti uses unusual premises to explore very human experiences. His newest book, One Soft Infested Summer, immediately caught my attention for its blend of childhood adventure and psychological suspense. Brothers Milo and Woe, gifted with psychic abilities, are drawn into the mystery of disappearing children in their neighbourhood, while decades later, a struggling writer chases a mysterious child through the streets and subway tunnels of Toronto. A Goonies-style adventure with darker undercurrents, sign me up!
Find One Soft Infested Summer here or at your favourite independent bookstore.
Colleen’s Pick
How to Nourish a Cannibal by Jess Housty (Nightwood Editions)
This year I promised myself I’d read more poetry collections, and fall feels like a fitting time to finally start with Jess Housty’s How to Nourish a Cannibal. Drawing on supernatural beings and cannibal imagery, the collection explores kinship, ancestral knowledge, and the dualities of danger and spiritual gifts. In a world where our desires for connection can often feel insatiable, I’m looking forward to a read that emphasizes grounding in community.
Find Nourish a Cannibal here or at your favourite independent bookstore.
Tan’s Pick
Aether & Ego by Joanne Merriam (Inanna Publications)
I love a good retelling for it’s mix of the familiar and the twist. This fall I am excited for the release of Aether & Ego, a steampunk reimagining that takes the Bennetts into the depths of space and promises puppies and comeuppance—all the right ingredients for a stellar remix (em dash and pun intentional).
Find Aether & Ego here or at your favourite independent bookstore.
Lauren’s Pick
Sailors Can’t Swim by Dominique Scali, translated by Jessica Moore (Talonbooks)
I’m writing this during Women in Translation Month, and it’s fitting: Dominique Scali is an incredible writer who I’ve been lucky to read through Talonbooks’s translation of her earlier novel In Search of New Babylon, a neo-Western that turned the genre on its head. Sailors Can’t Swim also promises to challenge genre, this time historical fiction and fantasy. Set on the mythical island of Ys on the eve of the French Revolution, a shore-dwelling orphan seeks life and status within its walled city, and finds the journey there as perilous and tricky as one at sea. I can’t wait to read Scali again this fall.
Find Sailors Can’t Swim here or at your favourite independent bookstore.
Barb’s Pick
Driving into the Sun by Becca Babcock (NeWest Press)
I’m a sucker for a good road trip novel, so I am really looking forward to getting my hands on Driving into the Sun by Becca Babcock. It’s been a bit of a crazy summer, with a lot of family chaos for me, so a great fall read about someone else’s madcap family travails sounds like a balm. I am also a really big fan of the cover—it makes me smile whenever I look at it.
Find Driving into the Sun here or at your favourite independent bookstore.
Georgia’s Pick
The Comedian’s Book of the Dead by Gary Barwin (Book*hug Press)
This fall, I’m looking forward to Gary Barwin’s The Comedian’s Book of the Dead. In this page-turner, Death, a comedian and father, goes into the Beneath to bring back his son after he dies by suicide. I am eager to see how Barwin strikes a balance between humour and heartbreak in this book. Nothing tugs at my heartstrings quite like a complicated parent-child dynamic, so I’m expecting tears, but I also know that the dark humour and pockets of joy will help me get through.
Find The Comedian’s Book of the Dead here or at your favourite independent bookstore.
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Did you see a fall book you’re anxious to get on your TBR pile? Let us know on social media by tagging us @alllitupcanada.
