The CBC Books spring reading list: 12 books you should read this season
Spring 2018 is officially here! Check out these 12 must-read books and celebrate the official end of winter.
Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot
What it's about: Heart Berries is a memoir about a Terese Marie Mailhot's coming of age on Seabird Island in British Columbia, growing up with an activist mother and an abusive and alcoholic father and coming to terms with her own mental illness.
The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore by Kim Fu
What it's about: In The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, Kim Fu offers up this emotional look at a group of young girls who find themselves stranded at a remote camp.
Lands of Lost Borders by Kate Harris
What it's about: In Lands of Lost Borders, Kate Harris recounts her 10,000-kilometre cycling trip along the Silk Road, crossing into 10 countries — including Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Tibet — and exploring the political, cultural and environmental history of the places and people she encounters.
The Storm by Arif Anwar
What it's about: The Storm weaves together five interconnected stories and explores love and emotion across 50 years of Bangladeshi history.
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
What it's about: Akwaeke Emezi's debut novel is a story about a young Nigerian woman named Ada who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born "with one foot on the other side."
Liminal by Jordan Tannahill
What it's about: What thoughts cross one's mind when faced with not knowing if a loved one is alive or dead? Jordan Tannahill's Liminal functions as a love letter to a mother, and a meditation on love, living and dying.
Things Are Good Now by Djamila Ibrahim
What it's about: This debut collection of short stories looks at the migrant experience from various angles. Set in East Africa, the Middle East, Canada and the U.S., Things Are Good Now examines themes of displacement, hardship and disillusionment.
Hysteria by Elisabeth de Mariaffi
What it's about: Elisabeth de Mariaffi's Hysteria is a psychological thriller about a woman named Heike, her missing son and her increasingly distant husband.
Find You in the Dark by Nathan Ripley
What it's about: This thriller by Naben Ruthnum, under his pen name of Nathan Ripley, delivers this tale of a family man obsessed with digging up the undiscovered remains of a serial killer's victims, catching the attention of a murderer in the streets of Seattle.
Dear Current Occupant by Chelene Knight
What it's about: Through a series of letters, Chelene Knight recalls growing up as the only mixed East Indian/Black child in her family during the 1980s and 1990s in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Her family lived in 20 different residences and Knight revisits each one, trying to deconstruct and understand her past.
Wrestling with the Devil by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
What it's about: This prison memoir details Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's experience as a political prisoner in Kenya and developing a novel while under constant surveillance.
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
What it's about: Newlyweds Celestial and Roy represent the American Dream of happiness and material success. Things, however, take a turn for the worse when Roy is arrested and Celestial turns to her husband's best friend for comfort.