16 books you heard about on CBC Radio recently
Check out some of the books discussed on national CBC Radio programs between Dec. 2-9, 2024.
All You Can Kill by Pasha Malla
Heard on: Bookends with Mattea Roach
Pasha Malla's latest novel, All You Can Kill, is an absurdist story set at a wellness resort that specializes in solving couples' marital issues with erotic therapy.
But the main characters of the novel — an unnamed narrator and a woman named K. Sohail — are not a couple — which incites humorous, yet uncomfortable moments. As horror and surrealism seeps into the narrative, Malla creates a world and a story that reminds us how strange people can be.
Malla is the author of several books including the short story collection The Withdrawal Method, which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and the novels People Park and Kill the Mall.
Something, Not Nothing by Sarah Leavitt
Heard on: Bookends with Mattea Roach
Vancouver comics creator Sarah Leavitt is no stranger to exploring personal stories through her art. Something, Not Nothing, her latest work, also highlights Leavitt's talent for capturing powerful and raw experiences and describes the grief of losing her partner of 22 years and the sparkling love they shared.
Following the medically assisted death of her partner of twenty-two years, Leavitt began small sketches that quickly became something new and unexpected to her. The abstract images mixed with poetic text, layers of watercolour, ink and coloured pencil combine to tell a story of love, grief, peace and new beginnings.
Sarah Leavitt is a Vancouver comics creator and writing teacher. Her debut book was Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer's, My Mother, and Me.
Home and Away by Mats Sundin, with Amy Stuart
Heard on: The Next Chapter
Home and Away tracks a path that began with his parents and two brothers outside Stockholm and eventually led to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
He dives into the pressures and anxieties of being the first European selected No. 1 overall at the NHL draft, getting traded by the Quebec Nordiques to Toronto for franchise icon Wendel Clark, and the turbulent end to his time with the Leafs.
Mats Sundin is the former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs and also a Hall of Fame hockey player.
Amy Stuart is a bestselling novelist and short story writer and the author of the thrillers Still Here, Still Mine, Still Water and A Death at the Party.
Dreamer by Nazem Kadri, with Dan Robson
Heard on: The Next Chapter
From his NHL start with the Toronto Maple Leafs, to his championship run with the Colorado Avalanche, to now playing centre for the Calgary Flame — Nazem Kadri's identity, staunch confidence and scuffles have defined the hockey player on the ice for years. In his memoir Dreamer: My Life On the Edge, Kadri recounts his journey growing up as a hockey-loving kid in London, Ont., becoming the first Muslim player to win the Stanley Cup, and the challenges, controversies and racism he's faced along the way.
Nazem Kadri is a Canadian hockey player for the Calgary Flames. In 2022 he became the first Muslim player to win a Stanley Cup.
Fate Is the Hunter by Ernest K. Gann
Heard on: Ideas
Ernest Gann earned his pilot's license in 1935 at the age of 25. He recounts his flying career including several near-fatal experiences in his 1961 memoir, Fate Is the Hunter. The memoir recounts his life as a pilot and is cherished by aviators and endures to this day.
Ernest Gann was a renowned aviator and writer of bestselling fiction and screenplays. He is known for flying everywhere and everything. Passengers. Air mail. War supplies to combat zones and wounded soldiers back home.
Midnight and Blue by Ian Rankin
Heard on: The Next Chapter
Midnight and Blue: An Inspector Rebus Novel is the 25th instalment in the detective series following Scotland's John Rebus. In this latest adventure, the detective finds himself convicted of homicide and holed up in prison across from another convict, who is then murdered. Isolated from the police he once called friends and stripped of his title, Rebus is lost. And yet, he still feels compelled to find the murderer in a prison full of criminals.
Ian Rankin is a Scottish crime writer most renowned for his mystery series following Inspector Rebus. He won the Edgar Award in 2004 for his novel Resurrection Men.
Catfish Rolling by Clara Kumagai
Heard on: The Next Chapter
Catfish Rolling is a debut coming-of-age YA novel by Clara Kumagai with magical realism elements. There is a catfish that lives under Japan, and when it rolls the land rises and falls. Sora is 17 years old and living with her father after losing her mother to a powerful earthquake, which she blames on the catfish. The catfish doesn't just affect the land — it also affects time, leaving Japan divided into zones, with some moving fast and some moving slow. When Sora's father disappears, Sora must head into the abandoned time zones to find him.
Clara Kumagai is from Vancouver and has lived in Japan and Ireland. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Kyoto Journal, Cicada, Room and The Irish Times. Catfish Rolling is her debut novel.
Invisible Helix by Keigo Higashino
Heard on: The Next Chapter
Invisible Helix follows Detective Galileo, a physicist and consultant of the police department known for chasing tangled threads. After a young man's body is found shot in Tokyo Bay, the Homicide Squad suspects his girlfriend, Sonoka Shimauchi, who's now gone missing. Is her alibi really airtight? Can Detective Galileo unravel the histories of the victim, the suspect and himself?
Keigo Higashino is a Japanese mystery writer of over 20 novels. His other books include The Devotion of Suspect X, Malice and Newcomer.
Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson
Heard on: The Next Chapter
Jackson Brodie is a middle-aged ex-detective who now finds himself in Yorkshire to investigate a stolen painting in Death at the Sign of the Rook. While the crime seems tame, Brodie uncovers it may be related to a wealth of art thievery tied to a grand estate that hosts socialites for Murder Mystery weekends in this witty cozy mystery novel.
Kate Atkinson is an English writer of several novels including the Jackson Brodie mysteries which were adapted into the BBC series, Case Histories.
The Dave Brandstetter Mystery Series by Joseph Hansen
Heard on: The Next Chapter
Originally published between 1965 and the mid-90s, the Dave Brandstetter Mystery Series is a collection of 12 novels about a gay private investigator in California. The classic crime series was re-issued for its 50 year anniversary by Soho Syndicate.
Joseph Hansen was an American crime writer best known for his Dave Vrandstetter novels. He died in California in 2004 at the age of 81.
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Heard on: The Next Chapter
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is a funny mystery novel about a tea shop owner in San Francisco's Chinatown. When Vera finds a dead man in her tea shop with a flash drive in his hand, she alerts the police but decides she's better qualified to crack the case. Staked out in her tea shop, she carefully watches all her customers for who the murderous culprit may be.
Jesse Q. Sutanto is a Chinese-Indonesian writer currently based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She writes mystery, romance and books for kids. Her other titles include Dial A for Aunties and The New Girl.
Lightning Strikes the Silence by Iona Whishaw
Heard on: The Next Chapter
In this Lane Winslow mystery, an explosion shakes King's Cove. Lane goes to check out what's going on and finds a young girl injured and mute, but alive. At the same time, Inspector Darling hears about a nighttime break at a local jeweller and finds the jeweller dead. Lightning Strikes the Silence follows Lane as she tries to find the girl's family and Inspector Darling as he tries to find the murderer.
Whishaw is a Vancouver-based author and teacher. She has published works of short fiction, poetry and the children's book Henry and the Cow Problem. Whishaw has published 11 novels in the Lane Winslow Mystery series.
Misery Hates Company by Elizabeth Hobbs
Heard on: The Next Chapter
A murder mystery in a grand estate, Misery Hates Company is a historical novel set in eerie New England. When Miss Marigold Manners goes to meet her old-money relatives in Boston the last thing she expects is to be entangled in the case of a dead body found in the garden. In this whodunit, Manners must gather the help of her quirky new family and may uncover shocking truths about herself and her lineage.
Elizabeth Hobbs is a New England-born writer and former archaeologist. She currently lives in Texas and Misery Hates Company is her first novel.
The Philosophy of Translation by Damion Searls
Heard on: The Sunday Magazine
Damion Searls says that the work of translating is more complicated than simply converting words from one language to another. The noted author and translator's latest book The Philosophy of Translation, the nuance needed to make a faithful translation and what gets lost when authors outsource that work to technology.
Damion Searls is an American translator and writer. He translates literary works from Dutch, French, Norwegian and German.
Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys
Heard on: The Next Chapter
Set in the 1930s, Good Morning, Midnight follows a young woman who, reeling from personal tragedy, escapes to Paris to find independence.
Jean Rhys was a British novelist best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea.
Nowhere, Exactly by M.G. Vassanji
Heard on: Ideas
Nowhere, Exactly examines the challenges around the idea of home, belonging and identity from an immigrant perspective when home is not always one specific place — not the country of origin nor the place of resettlement. M.G. Vassanji reflects on feelings of guilt, loss and gain that come with emigration and the ways that communities and their histories shape individuals.
M.G. Vassanji is a Toronto-based author of Indian descent born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania. His original works include Everything There Is, A Delhi Obsession and The Book of Secrets. He was the recipient of the 1994 and 2003 Giller Prize for best work of fiction for his books The Books of Secrets and The In-Between World of Vikram Lall.
