11 Canadian books to get the music lover this holiday season
Books make great gifts for everyone! Here's a list of 11 Canadian titles that should hit the right notes with music fans.
Stories I Might Regret Telling You by Martha Wainwright
In her memoir, Martha Wainwright reflects on her tumultuous public life, her competitive relationship with her brother and the loss of her mother. She writes about finding her voice as an artist, becoming a mother herself and making peace with the past. Stories I Might Regret Telling You offers a thoughtful and personal look into the life of one of the most talented singer-songwriters in music today.
Wainwright is a Canadian musician and artist. She is the daughter of folk legends Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and sister of singer Rufus Wainwright. She lives in Montreal.
LISTEN | Why Martha Wainwright is sharing her story:
Who by Fire by Matti Friedman
Who by Fire recounts the time Leonard Cohen spent in Israel in October 1973 during the chaos and bloodshed of the Yom Kippur War. With access to material written by Cohen himself, along with dozens of interviews and rare photographs, Matti Friedman paints a portrait of an artist and the young people who heard him sing in the midst of combat.
Matti Friedman is a Canadian Israeli journalist and writer. His other books include Spies of No Country, which won the history category for the 2020 Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature, and Pumpkinflowers, which won the history category for the 2017 Vine Awards.
Modern Heartthrobs by Melody Lau
Music fans know Tegan and Sara as the wisecracking twin-sister duo with the catchy tunes who are committed to LGBTQ representation in the music industry and pop culture at large. Modern Heartthrobs delves deeper into the indie-pop pair's nearly 25-year career, interrogating the sometimes sexist and homophobic media coverage in their early days before their rise to becoming fan favourites who carved out a path to musical success purely on their own terms.
Melody Lau is a writer and producer with CBC Music. She has been covering Canadian music since 2009, first on her own music blog The Singing Lamb, and later as an online writer for MUCH and a contributor to Exclaim! Magazine. Her work has also been featured in Pitchfork, Billboard and Nylon Magazine.
LISTEN | Why Melody Lau wrote a book about Tegan and Sara:
My Country by George Canyon
George Canyon is one of Canada's biggest country music stars. In his memoir My Country, Canyon recounts his musical journey from small town Nova Scotia to the big city of Nashville and how his life came full circle when he returned to Canada — this time, to the wide plains of Alberta. He opens up about his childhood diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and the years of hard work and sacrifice — touring dive bars across the country and working multiple jobs — to carve out a career as a musician.
George Canyon is a Canadian country music star. He has won countless accolades and awards, including Juno Awards, CCMA Awards and ECMA Awards. His hit records include Just Like You, I Believe in Angels, Daughters of the Sun, I Want You To Live, Slow Dance and more.
LISTEN | Why George Canyon is sharing his story:
Hearts on Fire by Michael Barclay
Hearts On Fire documents the Canadian music scene during the pivotal years from 2000 to 2005. Through research and interviews, the nonfiction book explores the Canadian music industry and reveals how the national scene became prominent on the international stage.
Michael Barclay is a Canadian journalist, editor and music critic. He is also the author of The Never-Ending Present and co-author of Have Not Been the Same: The CanRock Renaissance 1985–95.
LISTEN | Michael Barclay reflects on the early 2000s Canadian music scene:
Black & Blue by Stanley Péan, translated by David Homel
In Black and Blue, author and radio personality Stanley Péan retells the history of jazz music. He explains the misunderstandings surrounding the genre, such as how Jean-Paul Sartre mixed up Black Canadian songwriter Shelton Brooks with Jewish American artist Sophie Tucker. Péan also educates readers on the intersection of hip-hop with jazz, the sad ends of various jazz greats and the inclusion of jazz in Hollywood and European cinema.
Péan is the author of eight novels and seven short story collections, including Le tumilte de mon sang, Zombi blues and Bizango. He's been the host of Quand le jazz est là on ICI Musique for the last 13 years.
David Homel is a writer and translator based in Montreal. He is the author of eight novels, including Electrical Storms, The Speaking Cure and The Teardown, one memoir, Lunging into the Underbrush and five novels for younger readers with co-writer Marie-Louise Gay. He has also directed documentary films, worked in TV and radio.
LISTEN | Stanley Péan discusses his book and the origins of jazz:
The Longest Suicide by Jason Schneider
The Longest Suicide is a tribute to Art Bergmann, an unheralded Canadian singer-songwriter, who has been dominating stages for half a century, From helping build Vancouver's punk scene with the K-Tels, to his solo work in the 1980s and 1990s, to being named to the Order of Canada, this book chronicles every twist and turn in Bergmann's life.
Jason Schneider is the author of Whispering Pines: the Northern Roots of American Music and the novel 3,000 Miles, and is the co-author of Have Not Been The Same: the CanRock Renaissance 1985-1995. He has written for Exclaim, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Paste and American Songwriter.
Still This Love Goes On by Buffy Sainte Marie, illustrated by Julie Flett
Still This Love Goes On is a picture book about the power of love and of Cree traditions. It is an artful look at how love will always live on, across time, geography and generations.
Still This Love Goes On is for ages 3 to 8.
Cree singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie's long career includes an expansive catalogue of music, art and work in activism. Hey Little Rockabye was her first children's picture book, published in 2020.
Julie Flett has illustrated several picture books including Richard Van Camp's Little You and We Sang You Home, Monique Gray Smith's My Heart Fills with Happiness and David A. Robertson's On the Trapline. She also is the creator behind the picture book Birdsong.
LISTEN | CBC has a new podcast all about Buffy Saint Marie:
A Ballet of Lepers by Leonard Cohen
A Ballet of Lepers was created by the late Leonard Cohen sometime between the mid-1950s to 1960s in Montreal and Greece. The titular novel, A Ballet of Lepers, is a look at fear and insecurity, while the accompanying 15 stories and play script probe the inner demons of his characters, many of whom could function as stand-ins for the author himself.
Leonard Cohen is a legendary figure in the world of music and literature. The late Montreal artist released 14 albums over the span of nearly 50 years, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. His books include the novel Beautiful Losers and Selected Poems 1956-1968, for which he won — and declined — a Governor General's Literary Award. Cohen died on Nov. 7, 2016 at the age of 82.
WATCH | Leonard Cohen in the CBC archives:
Occasionally Petty by Michelle Lietz
When Michelle Lietz heard that Tom Petty died, she felt a piece of her past break away. Using lyrics from Petty's songs, Lietz launches an exploration on nostalgia, adolescence and her mixed Yaqui, European and Middle Eastern identity in the collection Occasionally Petty.
Michelle Lietz is an Indigenous American author of mixed Yaqui, European and Middle Eastern descent. Her writing has been published in Prairie Fire's NDN City issue.
Radioland by Matt Cahill
Radioland is a thriller novel set in Toronto. A series of murders around the city's bustling music and nightclub scene has people on edge. A web of intrigue surrounds two characters, Kris and Jill, as they explore their past, their connection with music and ways to navigate their world.
Matt Cahill is a Toronto writer and psychotherapist. Cahill's debut novel, The Society of Experience, was published in 2015. His short stories have appeared with Found Press, The Quarantine Review and Fusion Fragment.
LISTEN | Matt Cahill discusses Radioland:
