March is flying by in a flash after what has seemed an eternity of winter. The crocuses and daffodils are up, the robins have returned to our yards, and the sun is feeling just a little bit warmer every day. While the spring season is ramping up, so are 2021’s early releases! Whether you’re in the mood for a gripping short story collection, a spot of soulful poetry, or a thrilling true-crime history, take one of these books with you on your first foray into spring.
Sunday Drive to Gun Club Road by Marion Quednau (Nightwood Editions)
This collection of short stories offers a look at the extraordinary elements of ordinary life. Events that seem perfectly unremarkable spiral into episodes of interpersonal drama. Author Marion Quednau unfolds unseen actions, moments that almost were, and distills them down into the singularity of what actually happened.
Bramah and the Beggar Boy by Renée Sarojini Saklikar (Nightwood Editions)
Who says fairytales are only for children? Author Renée Sarojini Saklikar crafts a beautifully moving story deeply steeped in traditional fairytale style while also heavily informed by the contemporary calamities of the current day. With vivid settings, compelling characters, and more than a little folklore and magic, Bramah and the Beggar Boy kicks off a multi-part series by a beloved award-winning poet.
Pinkerton’s and the Hunt for Simon Gunanoot: Double Murder, Secret Agents and an Elusive Outlaw by Geoff Mynett (Caitlin Press)
The year is 1906. In BC’s northern wilderness, Gitxsan trapper and storekeeper Simon Gunanoot flees into the wilderness with his family following a grisly local double murder. Without any proof of Gunanoot’s involvement in the murders, the police tracked him relentlessly for three years in a highly publicized manhunt. Now, author Geoff Mynett revisits this legendary story with new perspectives compiled from never-before published first hand accounts, giving readers fresh insights into this fascinating story of early police work and backwoods survival.
Take Me Outside: Running Across the Canadian Landscape That Shapes Us
by Colin Harris (Rocky Mountain Books)
We have all spent our fair share of time indoors this past year—something that author Colin Harris had been actively encouraging Canadian youth to do less of before the pandemic. Take Me Outside recounts Harris’s inspiring cross-country run from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, BC—a truly incredible feat undertaken to raise awareness of the benefits and joy of being outside experiencing the natural beauty of this nation. Timely and humorous, this book explores the stunning Canadian landscapes all around us and invites readers to re-engage with the outdoors in healthy, active ways.
Park Bagger: Adventures in the Canadian National Parks by Marlis Butcher (Rocky Mountain Books)
Speaking of the outdoors, Canada is home to a stunning number and variety of national parks, some well-known and others practically inaccessible by conventional means. Author Marlis Butcher has explored them all. Truly the definition of a modern-day adventurer. Butcher has climbed, kayaked, snow-shoed, and snorkled her way to every national park Canada has to offer, surviving falls from mountains and brutal storms while encountering every kind of bear imaginable along the way. Part adventure journal and part conservation effort, Butcher brings the magic of Canada’s natural parks to readers who might otherwise have no other way to experience them.
Bull by T K Torme (Silver Bow Publishing)
In this deeply personal collection of prose poetry, author T K Torme explores life with Asperger’s Syndrome and the quest for connection and acceptance. Each touching poem highlights how disability is created through environments rather than biology, and underscores the rich avenues of creativity and communication that open up when neurodiverse individuals are accepted for who they are. Sampling themes of stigma and exclusion, Torme narrates the journey from childhood through to adulthood in this touching volume.
man @ the_airport: How Social Media Saved My Life – One Syrian’s Story by Hassan Al Kontar (Tidewater Press)
For most of us, a long layover or a cancelled flight is as close as we’ll get to being truly trapped in an airport. The experience for author Hassan Al Kontar was very different. Fleeing compulsory military service in Syria, Al Kontar found himself trapped in Kuala Lumpur Airport, exiled by war and trapped by geopolitics. Only through social media was he able to broadcast his story to the world and advocate for his own freedom.
Outside: A Novel by Sean McCammon (New Star Books)
David Woods has an unconventional teaching style: he believes the best learning is done outdoors, in nature, living real experiences. And his students agree. When tragedy strikes during one such excursion, David packs up his life and heads east to teach in Japan, though he soon learns that he can never escape the actions of his past. Warm and moving author Sean McCammon narrates the experience of living as an expat teaching in Japan with deep personal insight, in a novel pulsing with emotion, mystery, and heartbreak.