Summer page-turners for your long weekend in Calgary
Shelf Life Books co-owner lists some reads you won't want to miss
Whether you're a year-long page-turner, or on a summer catch-up binge everyone likes to kick back in the warm months — preferably in a hammock — with a good read.
Will Lawrence, co-owner of Shelf Life Books in Calgary, dished out some delectable page-turners for your summer reading regimen.
Lawrence caught up with listeners on Alberta at Noon this week and shared his picks and listened to a number of hot summer takes from listeners.
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
This story centres around children whose parents abandon them in London after the Second World War to move to Singapore.
"The children are left in the care of some rather suspicious characters," said Lawrence. "There's a lot of atmospheric detail about London after the war. And a lot of these seemingly meaningless detail start to come together."
Lawrence said this is Ondaatje's first novel in seven years and described it as a "real adventure" to read.
Our Animal Hearts by Dania Tomlinson
The book is set in Kelowna, Okanagan Lake in the early 1900s. Lawrence said the story centres around a young girl being brought up by her Welsh mother who moves to Canada while her father is still running a coal mine in Wales.
"He's got this idea that his children would be best raised in the wilderness," Lawrence said. "The mother being Welsh, she winds up being aware of all the spirits and eventually the lake monsters that habituate Okanagan lake."
He said Tomilson is a Canadian writer from Kelowna.
Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance
As people try to decipher what's happening politically in the United States, but also around the world, Lawrence said there's a lot of interest in this book.
"It traces a family growing up in working-class America," Lawrence said. "A lot of it reflects on the poverty that they came from and the different types of abuses that people went through."
He said with the working class declining, the book helps readers see why people are getting discouraged with democracy.
Sodom Road Exit by Amber Dawn
In the summer, Lawrence said they do sell a lot of light reads but he's finding book buyers are shying away from mass market books.
This book is one of those lesser-known gems. Especially, he said, if you like something "a bit scary."
The book is about paranormal stuff and includes some ghosts in an abandoned amusement park.
It sounds like a campfire read.
Calgary's Best Walks by Lori Beattie
Reading might be more of a kickback activity for some, but Lawrence said he finds there's a good mix of summer readers just looking to get outside and explore.
He carries Beattie's book and others that could help you get off the couch and into the city, or wild, this summer.
Rocks Rivers and Ridges by Dale Leckie
This one could come handy on your next hike or mountain adventure.
This book, written by a retired geologist, helps explain some of the geology underlying those beautiful mountain lakes and other natural wonders you might stumble across on your next hike.
"He did a wonderful job explaining some geology," Lawrence said.
Frank by Ben Rankel
This is a graphic novel based on the story of the Frank Slide.
Although it's fictional, Lawrence said Rankel got much of his information on the book from the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre, so it's still got the history behind it.
One of the great things about the graphic novel is that it's an easy read for kids, so the book sells for 13-year-olds and up.
"I really enjoyed it," Lawrence said.
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With files from Alberta at Noon