Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood
An adept technician and genius at the craft of spinning a story, Atwood, who turns 86 in November, breathes tremendous vitality into Book of Lives.
Memoirs
You Will Not Kill Our Imagination by Saeed Teebi
You Will Not Kill Our Imagination is an impossibly patient telling of how the author sees us, seeing him.
Banging on the Walls of the Tank by Haidar Eid
Banging on the Walls of the Tank: Dispatches from Gaza collects the writings of Gaza-based professor of postcolonial and postmodern literature, Haidar Eid.
Worldly Girls by Tamara Jong
Worldly Girls by Tamara Jong is a skillfully written memoir about the foray she and her mother made into the Jehovah’s Witness religion, and her ultimate coming of age journey.
40 Days and 40 Hikes: Loving the Bruce Trail One Loop at a Time by Nicola Ross
This book gives hikers concise one-page summaries of each loop, including maps, technical information about trail requirements, entrances and exits, interesting plants and animals to look for along the way. The accompanying text offers a well-researched recounting of the history, present circumstances and possible futures of the snake spine of land that rises through South-Central Ontario and is the Niagara Escarpment and of the Bruce Trail that follows it.
She and Poetry is Queer by Kirby
In the world I inhabit much of what is commonly understood about mutual attraction continues to be based on cis-gendered heterosexual and patriarchal ideas of what “sex” is, of what we understand to be “male” or “female” to be. Anything else is queer, as in othered.
McDonald’s Memoir Reflects on the Power of Yes
Just Say Yes: A Memoir chronicles the highlights of McDonald’s life, from his youth in Orillia to his status as a high-profile science reporter and radio host. Along the way, McDonald discusses how being open to new opportunities was a key to his success.
Vantage Points: On Media as Trans Memoir by Chase Joynt
Chase Joynt is a non-fiction filmmaker and author whose work often focuses on trans themes.
I Don’t Do Disability And Other Lies I’ve Told Myself by Adelle Purdham
I admire Purdham’s willingness to give voice to the ugly thoughts a lot of us have had about disability or other perceived differences — because we do have them.
Relative to Wind: On Sailing, Craft, and Community by Phoebe Wang
This is a how-to-sail (if you do well in learning by reading, with no guiding pictures), a meditation on unexpected hobbies, and a toast to community. Wang’s love of sailing is infectious — truly, I’ve sailed maybe once in my life at this point, and I at least idly considered looking up yacht clubs near me to see if any of them worked in the same way Wang’s does.
Heart on My Sleeve: Stories from a Life Well Worn by Jeanne Beker
On a few Saturday early evenings in the late 80s and early 90s, I often looked forward to watching Jeanne Beker’s Fashion Television.
Always Pack a Pen: An Interview with Marion McKinnon Crook
“I will never stop writing,” says Marion McKinnon Crook after thirty books to her credit.
Indigiqueerness: A Conversation About Storytelling by Joshua Whitehead, in dialogue with Angie Abdou
Indigiqueerness is a lean, skinny book full of meat. At just under 100 pages, it is a comprehensive dive into who is Joshua Whitehead. And, through this vessel, what makes a storyteller?
Called by Mother Earth: A Review of a Father’s Memoir of His Missing Son
On October 10th, 2020, a receipt for a cup of coffee proved that Jordan Naterer arrived at Manning Provincial Park.
Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir by Danny Ramadan
Part memoir, part critique of the expectations of the genre, Danny Ramadan’s Crooked Teeth opens with a discussion of trust.
