7 books that YouTube star and Canada Reads panellist Alayna Fender loved reading
Alayna Fender is a cat-loving, Canadian, LGBTQ YouTube content creator who brings her frank and funny perspective to a wide range of topics, with wellness and sexuality being her specialties.
When she's not creating online content, Fender is teaching mindfulness, compassion and inclusion at workshops, conventions and schools across North America.
Fender is defending Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles on Canada Reads 2020.
Canada Reads 2020 will take place July 20-23.
Fender told CBC Books she loves both fiction and nonfiction but slightly leans more toward reading fiction that features "out-of-the-box narration, complex characters and something a little dark sprinkled in."
The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin
"This is the first book that I remember loving. My dad used to read it to me. The storyline of this book is that it's Grover, and he's trying everything in his power to stop you from getting to the end of the book. He's doing funny things like building brick walls and nailing the pages together.
This is the first book that I remember loving. My dad used to read it to me.- Alayna Fender
"Every time you turn the page, he's warning you. Then you get to the end of the book and you find out that the monster was Grover all along. My dad would do the voice. I just cackled. I thought it was so funny. It maybe sparked a bit of that dry humour that I use today."
The Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling
"I grew up with the Harry Potter books. That entire series really shaped my love of reading. I was one of the lucky ones in that I was the around the exact age group as the books came out. I remember when the final book came out, I would sneak to the bathroom at school to read a couple of pages. We didn't have Netflix.
I remember when the final book came out, I would sneak to the bathroom at school to read a couple of pages. We didn't have Netflix.- Alayna Fender
"My family would go to our friend's cabin in the summertime; there's a picture of me doing the dishes with one hand and reading a Harry Potter book with the other. My friends at the cabin would get upset because I wouldn't play with them. I just wanted to read all day. The Harry Potter books really sparked that joy in reading for me."
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
"The first book that had an impact on me, in terms of the style that I like reading today, was this book. It was the first book that revealed my love of out-of-the-box narration and poetic writing styles. That's a theme through so many of the books that I find myself loving. Just like with Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club, the narrative style in this book is not just the 'beginning, middle and end.'
I was in high school when I read this book, and it blew my mind. I never read anything like it.- Alayna Fender
"I was in high school when I read this book, and it blew my mind. I never read anything like it."
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
"This book not only started my obsession with Chuck Palahniuk as a writer, but it revealed an interest in stories with some sort of darkness to them. Whether that is nonfiction or fiction, I tend to be drawn to books that have elements of something heavy or dark.
If anyone's picking this one up, it's going to take you off the deep end.- Alayna Fender
"Rant is absolutely those things. It's a bit of a roller-coaster. If anyone's picking this one up, it's going to take you off the deep end. It's jarring and gross and funny."
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
"It's a unique narrative style where it bounces between past and present. And I've never before read a book where the book opens telling you everybody is going to die — and yet you go through the entire book, and you fall in love with every single character. It breaks your heart when they're gone.
This book questioned being a religious person in such an open, beautiful, nonjudgmental and non-dogmatic way.- Alayna Fender
"The whole book is a feat. The style of the writing was incredible to me. But then, also on a more personal note, it's an exploration of religion. I'm a member of the LGBTQ community, and I grew up in a very religious place. There was a point in my life where I had a lot of anger toward religion.
"This was a book that softened that anger because it explored spirituality and questions of morality. This book questioned being a religious person in such an open, beautiful, nonjudgmental and non-dogmatic way. That's one of the reasons this book has a really special place in my heart."
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
"This was the first and actually only time, to this day, that I ever read a bisexual character that was front and centre. So that was incredibly powerful for myself as a bisexual woman.
This was the first and actually only time, to this day, that I ever read a bisexual character that was front and centre.- Alayna Fender
The main character Evelyn is unapologetic. She's a powerhouse of a woman and yet, she's unable to live openly with the love of her life. It's hard to know that there are still so many people where that's their reality right today."
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
"This was the most accurate depiction of the complexity of female sexuality and desire that I've ever read. Three women, three true stories and three different aspects of what it's like to move through the world as a woman and as a sexual person. I don't think that story has been told before."
Alayna Fender's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
The Canada Reads 2020 contenders
- Alayna Fender defending Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles
- Akil Augustine defending Radicalized by Cory Doctorow
- Amanda Brugel defending We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib
- Kaniehtiio Horn defending Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
- George Canyon defending From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle
