This holiday season at Read Local BC, we’ve decided to bring you a list of holiday reading and gifting ideas from a BC bookstore. The staff at Massy Books in Vancouver have some great recommendations. Whether you’re looking to surprise the readers in your life, or simply want to round out the year by cozying up with an interesting read, this list has you covered.
Pop into Massy Books or order through them online to get through your holiday shopping list. Don’t forget to read local and buy local!
A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
“In this metafiction steeped in the tradition of autotheory, Belcourt voices the many lives and landscapes that inform the subjectivities of those under settler-colonial rule. A brilliant, poetic, and queer novel that cuts into existential, emotional, and political questions.” — Harri, Massy Books
Invisible Boy by Harrison Mooney
“An unforgettable telling of colonization and erasure of racial identity, religious fundamentalism and white supremacy, and the road to self-discovery. Harrison is heroic in telling his story. A truly gifted storyteller.” — Patricia Massy, Massy Books
We Spread by Ian Reid
“A sparse, surreal, poetic, haunted-house tale on aging, memory and death. Widowed octogenarian Penny arrives at Six Cedars, a quiet care facility enclosed by an impenetrable forest on the outside but full of disquieting and sinister happenings. Highly recommended!” — Birinder, Massy Books
Uncertain Kin by Janice Lynn Mather
“Mather’s stories unfold in the tensions between women, often of the intergenerational kind. Each protagonist, be she mother, daughter, old or young, mentor or mentee, is treated with the same kindness and depth. Worth the read for the complexity and breadth of emotion.” — Jana, Massy Books
Nomenclature: New and Collected Poems by Dionne Brand
“20 years ago, a dear friend handed me a book by Dionne Brand—and changed my life. This gathering of her work is nothing less than crucial.” — Hari, Massy Books
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
“A chilling tale of the not-too-distant future. Life in a quiet Northern Anishinaabe community is upended when communication with the rest of the world is cut off. An outsider arrives, dividing a community already struggling with the impact of this new isolation. With limited resources, will anyone survive the winter? And if they do, what comes next? What remains of the world outside this community?” — Erin, Massy Books
Everyone in this Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin
“This book was disconcertingly relatable, hilarious, and charmingly bleak. It is a book I recommend to every single one of my friends. Emily Austin gives us blunt reflections on anxiety, depression, dying, and the weird ways our minds bend and shape our realities through the eyes of a chronically anxious and death-fixated queer woman, dizzied by the hopelessness of existence. How quickly can we become lost in a fabricated version of ourselves? All too easily, it seems.” — Dani, Massy Books