Challenge #11: Read a book about a natural disaster
Book: The Flood by Leah Simone Bowen
(Playwrights Canada Press)

About the book: The play focuses on a group of women trapped in a basement prison as the waters of lake Ontario rise around them. It was inspired by true accounts and the history of Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market, which I was surprised to learn used to house the city jail. Jail was considered a place for the criminal, the disabled, the mentally ill, and the marginalized, and women of the time were considered property and could be imprisoned for any reason. The Flood gives voice to the little-known stories of early female prisoners in Canada.

Tan's take: I found this play, and the little known history it covers, to be a fascinating read. Any one with an interest in Toronto's history, or the treatment of the marginalized in Victorian times, should pick up a copy. (Fans of  The Ward, this one's for you!) 
 

For more books about natural disasters, try...

River of Fire by Hap Wilson (Latitude 46 Publishing)

carried away on the crest of a wave by David Yee (Playwrights Canada Press)

Rough by Robin Van Eck (Stonehouse Publishing) 

To Love the Coming End by Leanne Dunic (Book*hug Press) 

Hurricanes by Rebecca Leaman (Goose Lane Editions) 

Freeze by Stephen Orlov (Guernica Editions) 

Challenge #12: Read a book about climate change
Book: Endlings by Joanna Lilley (Turnstone Press)

About the book: An endling is the last known individual of a species or subspecies. Once the endling dies, the species becomes extinct. In her collection, Endlings, Joanna Lilley inhabits those last moments and demands a witness to animal extinction. 

Tan's take: I heard Joanna read from this collection a few times this spring, and found them deeply affecting. Her voice is so lovely, but when you really think about these poems, the effect is quite chilling: they are the songs of the dying. 

Joanna reads from Endlings

For more books that explore climate change, try...

Diary in the Age of Water by Nina Munteanu (Inanna Publications) 

Swarm by Lauren Carter (Brindle & Glass) 

Surviving the Apocalypse by Thomas F. Pawlick (Guernica Editions) 

The Wintermen Trilogy by Brit Griffin (Latitude 46 Publishing) 

A Green Reef by Stephen Henighan (Linda Leith Publishing)

Climate Chaos by Ana Isla (Inanna Publications)

Moving to Climate Change Hours by Ross Belot (Wolsak & Wynn) 

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Want to join me?  Click here for a downloadable and editable PDF of the 2020 Read Harder Challenge tasks. Stay tuned next month for more Read Harder!

Discuss