Westminster Bookmark 2023 Gift Guide

Exceptional Holiday Gifts . . . from GOOSE LANE EDITIONS Mary Pratt

Anne Koval The first full-length biography of Mary Pratt’s life and work. A candid and revealing account of Canada’s most-loved and most-fascinating painter. $45

Taking a Chance

John & Peggy Fisher and Roger Pickavance Filled with stunning photographs of the Inn and its lovingly prepared signature dishes, Taking a Chance captures the unique atmosphere of Port Rexton’s beloved Fishers’ Loft Inn. $59.95 | Fishers’ Loft Inn

Wabanaki Modern | Wabanaki Kiskukewey | Wabanaki Moderne

The Deepest Map

This Other Eden

Rafael Has Pretty Eyes

Emma Hassencahl-Perley & John Leroux A beautiful book on the “Micmac Indian Craftsmen” of Elsipogtog, a groundbreaking co-operative among the first modern Indigenous artists in Atlantic Canada. $45 | with Beaverbrook Art Gallery

Paul Harding The must-read book of 2023 from Pulitzer Prizewinning author Paul Harding.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and National Book Award for Fiction. $25

Generations

Sarah Milroy The ultimate gift for any art lover. Over 200 full-colour images of Canadian 20th-century art, beautifully bound as one stunning collection. $55 | with McMichael Canadian Art Collection

Laura Trethewey What compels us to explore the ocean?

Journalist Laura Trethewey dives headfirst into the thrills — and dangers — of charting the world’s oceans. $24.95

Elaine McCluskey Winner of the Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction.

McCluskey’s stories will draw you into a world that you won’t want to leave. $22.95

Gerard Collins

Robert Barriault & Mary Blatherwick The first book to encompass Gerard Collins’s entire 50-year career, featuring over 75 reproductions. $40

In Perpetuity

James Rowinski Preserving the memory of Fredericton’s war dead, In Perpetuity brings together the biographies of 110 soldiers who died from service during the First World War. $24.95 | with the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society

Atlantic Salmon Treasury

Charles Gaines Celebrating 75 years of conser vation, the Atlantic Salmon Treasury brings together images and essays by North America’s greatest writers on the wild Atlantic salmon. $45 | with the Atlantic Salmon Federation

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

No Ordinary Magic

Carol Bruneau & Laurie Swim Discover the monumental yet astonishingly intimate masterworks of Nova Scotian textile artist Laurie Swim. $40

gooselane.com

Bookseller Picks 3

Trina's Picks Oh for a book and a shady nook, Either indoors or out, with the green leaves whispering overhead, or the street cries all about. Where I may read at all my ease both of the new and old, For a jolly good book whereon to look is better to me than gold.

JOHN WILSON

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop A Novel

BEST OF 2023

SATOSHI YAGISAWA | ERIC OZAWA

With Our Blessing

An Inspector Tom Reynolds Mystery Book 1 An aunt put my sister and I onto the Jo Spain mysteries, a contemporary series set in Ireland.

This is the first in the Inspector Tom Reynolds series (I like to begin at the beginning!) and I’ve already recommended it to several friends.

It’s a quick read but covers a range of events in recent Irish history. If you want a quick trip to Ireland, this one’s for you.

Bloomsbury Girls A Novel

NATALIE JENNER

Natalie Jenner is back with a paperback edition of this readable title set in a new and rare bookshop in postwar London.

Three women enter into this decidedly male bastion and the book details their attempts to change their world in light of the rapidly changing society which followed World War II.

Moon of the Turning Leaves WAUBGESHIG RICE

I have been eagerly awaiting this sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow. A work of speculative fiction which takes place primarily in a Northern Ontario Indigenous community, the sequel picks up 12 years after the events of the first book. If you were ever curious about life after a cataclysm this one has a unique perspective, along with some engrossing storytelling and a fine cast of characters.

Teilhard de Chardin A Book of Hours

KATHLEEN DEIGNAN | LIBBY OSGOOD

I love the look of books, the feel of them. I am attracted to book covers. The heft, the haptic nature, the hues, the typeface and the paper. All of these caught my attention in this recent volume of daily prayers or meditations

by Christian philosopher and palaeontologist Teilhard de Chardin. The editors, one of whom is a Professor at UPEI, have been commended in many reviews for opening up Teilhard’s spiritual writings to a new audience. I appreciate the daily format and the division of meditations by time of day.

Coronation Year

Butt or Face

The Witching Tide MARGARET MEYER

Hagitude

SHARON BLACKIE

The Librarianist

A Novel PATRICK DEWITT

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

Foster

CLAIRE KEEGAN

A Novel JENNIFER ROBSON

KARI LAVELLE

Weyward EMILIA HART

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

A Novel ALAN BRADLEY

Maud & Grand-Maud SARA O'LEARY

PAST FAVOURITES

JO SPAIN

Chronicles the story of Takako who finds shelter, employment and new horizons in her uncle’s second hand bookshop in Jimbocho, the book selling district of Tokyo. A non-reader, Takako gradually begins to read Japanese classics at the urging of her uncle. She also learns about her new neighbourhood, and in the process, herself, as both her reading and her friendships within the district expand.

SANGU MANDANNA

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

4 Bookseller Picks

Neil's Picks The truth is that every book we read, like every person we meet, has the capacity to change our lives. And though we can be sure our children will meet people, we must, must create, these days, their chance to meet books.

SUSAN COOPER

BEST OF 2023

The Hidden World of Gnomes LAUREN SOLOY

A Year of Birdsong

DOMINIC COUZENS

The King of the Copper Mountains

From the legendarily melodious tones of the nightingale to the brain fever-inducing common hawk-cuckoo, A Year of Birdsong features a different birdsong from around the world for every week of the year. Readers can listen to each bird's song via QR codes. Couzens' casual and often humourous approach makes for a very entertaining and informative read for serious and amateur birders.

PAUL BIEGEL

Jam-packed with fascinating facts about my favourite hidden folk and interspersed with tiny moments of joy, The Hidden World of Gnomes is tremendous fun to read. Readers young and old come away with a sense of wonder and curiosity about the natural world and the magic that is sometimes just out of sight.

A Practical Guide to Levitation Stories

JOSE EDUARDO AGUALUSA

A delightfully original collection of stories that are always witty and often surreal.

Overflowing with fascinating figures and wry humour, these stories are an absolute joy to read.

Weird Walk

A timeless children's story that is endlessly entertaining and wise. Also worth checking out are Biegel's The Little Captain and The Gardens of Dorr, spellbinding fantasy classics that are sure to enchant even the fussiest of readers.

Wanderings and Wonderings Through the British Ritual Year

STEWARD LEE

With the winter solstice upon us, what better time to explore the enchanted places and seasonal rituals of the British Isles. This beautifully designed guide is a must for anyone fascinated by Britain's ancient paths and old ways.

PAST FAVOURITES

The Watkins Book of English Folktales

The Evenings GERARD REVE

Damnable Tales RICHARD WELLS

NEIL PHILIP

Treacle Walker

ALAN GARNER

The Dark is Rising SUSAN COOPER

Haunters at the Hearth

Grey Bees

ANDREY KURKOV

Eerie Tales for Christmas Nights TANYA KIRK

Starve Acre

ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY

The Christmas Collection CAROL ANN DUFFY

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Winter Tales

DAWN CASEY ZANNA GOLDHAWK

Bookseller Picks 5

Todd's Picks I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.

GROUCHO MARX

Scattershot

BEST OF 2023

Life, Music, Elton, and Me

BERNIE TAUPIN

Down and Back

On Alcohol, Family, and a Life in Hockey Very emotional and articulate description of the ins and outs of a life spent in hockey—the rollercoaster ride of hard work, challenges and frustrations trying to fulfill a lifelong dream of making it to the NHL. Unique perspective of a minor leaguer with some NHL experience. Brutally honest about addictions, relationships with coaches and family members. One of my favourite hockey books in years.

On Browsing JASON GURIEL

What's not to like? An immensely enjoyable long form essay about the merits and joys of physical media. It's time well spent with the author talking about hunting down elusive books, CDs, etc. from youth to the present day. Sentimental about past eras, but grateful for current opportunities for modern treasure hunting.

One of the "field notes" book series, with many other intriguing non-fiction subjects offered.

Kick Out the Jams

Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, and Rallying Cries from 35 Years of Music Writing

DAVE MARSH Veteran rock music journalist offers a selection of columns across decades of writing about music. Always prickly and cranky but invariably heartfelt and inspired. Great way to refresh your memory about the many music happenings from the mid 1980s to the 2010s. Fabulous argument starter for music obsessives everywhere, and we love to argue!

The Fourth Turning Is Here

What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End

NEIL HOWE

A wildly ambitious romp through U.S. and global history and the theory of the cyclical patterns of distinct eras.

A continuation of the 1990s book The Fourth Turning.

A tremendous amount of information and material to digest, but fascinating reading—and probably rereading, in my case—to process all the author serves up here!

East Coast Music Book of Fame

The Secret History

Dead Wake

ERIK LARSON

NICK HORNBY

Martin Luther ERIC METAXAS

The Diary of a Bookseller SHAUN BYTHELL

ALAN JACOBS

DONNA TARTT

BOB MERSEREAU

High Fidelity

How to Think

The Revenge of Analog DAVID SAX

Will Starling

IAN WEIR

PAST FAVOURITES

JUSTIN BOURNE

Elton John's wordsmith brings a unique bystander's viewpoint of the music business from the late 1960s and onwards. The roller coaster thrill ride of fame and fortune and the trappings thereof are well represented.

Lots of jumping around (hence the title) but a blast of delectable language (have a thesaurus handy) and sometimes surreal exchanges with the rich and famous—Salvador Dali in particular! The latter half of the book is more conventional autobiography, but the first half is an explosively fun read.

Leonardo da Vinci WALTER ISAACSON

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

6 Bookseller Picks

Heather's Picks A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.

NEIL GAIMAN

BEST OF 2023

Surrender BONO

Snow Road Station ELIZABETH HAY

After blanking on stage, Lulu heads to her hometown for a weekend celebration. As she faces the realities of her failing career and the choices she has made, she tries to find her footing while reconnecting with estranged friends and family.

You can’t help but root for her as she tries to find a more successful second act.

In this remarkable book, Bono meditates on faith, friendship, fame and what it means to be of use. Each chapter, which is named after a song, is filled with stories and insights from his life as a rock star, activist, father and husband.

Victory City SALMAN RUSHDIE

I love Rushdie’s use of language, wit and the worlds he creates in his books. A new novel is a reason for celebration, particularly after last year’s brutal attack. In Victory City, Rushdie celebrates the power of stories with a tale filled with goddesses, magic, court politics, battles and adventure.

Son of Elsewhere ELAMIN ABEDELMAHMOUD

The essays in this memoir in pieces delve into what it’s like to leave a life you loved behind, the struggle to find a place for yourself in a new country, and how wrestling, heavy metal, and early internet culture can be the key to connection. If you enjoy Abedelmahmoud’s radio programs, you will love this book.

A World of Curiosities LOUISE PENNY

With each new Louise Penny mystery, I can’t wait to sit in Olivier’s Bistro and catch up with the residents of Three Pines. In this outing, Penny delves into the origin of Gamanche and Beauvoir’s relationship as they solve a complicated mystery rooted in their past.

PAST FAVOURITES

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

Ancillary Justice

Fifteen Dogs

ANN LECKIE

ANDRE ALEXIS

GEORGE SAUNDERS

Five Little Indians

MICHELLE GOOD

Instructions for the Drowning STEVEN HEIGHTON

Hamnet and Judith

Hench

NATALIE ZINA WALSCHOTS

MAGGIE O'FARRELL

The Left Hand of Darkness URSULA K LE GUIN

Lucy by the Sea ELIZABETH STROUT

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Sea of Tranquility EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL

Bookseller Picks 7

Emma A's Picks

I find it important to take a book with me, even if I don’t read it, wherever I’m going.

You don’t wanna be out there looking like a bozo.

JEREMY ALLEN WHITE

The Light of Eternal Spring

BEST OF 2023

ANGEL DI ZHANG

Brutes A Novel

This debut novel is a truly perfect encapsulation of the brutality of girlhood in North America. The book is centred around a group of lower class preteens, growing up in the shadow of Orlando’s theme parks, who act as a single entity throughout the story until an act of violence breaks them apart. If you liked The Virgin Suicides—either the Jeffrey Eugenides book or the Sofia Coppola film—you will love this book.

How to Restore a Timeline: On Violence and Memory PETER COUNTER

The Gospel of Orla EOGHAN WALLS

One of the most original books I’ve read in years, The Gospel of Orla is the story of a young girl going on a bike trip across England to try to resurrect her dead mother in Ireland. Her companion is a transient migrant who claims to be Jesus Christ and has the power to bring dead animals back to life. It’s a weird, beautiful, very funny and often heartbreaking novel that I loved from start to finish.

The Nineties

CHUCK KLOSTERMAN

Earthlings

TAMARA SHOPSIN

A Novel

JESSICA JOHNS

If, like me, you love scary movies but have trouble reading horror, Bad Cree is an excellent go-between: a very spooky book that nevertheless won’t make you lose any sleep. Under its creepy vibe lies a beautiful story about the destructive isolation of grief and the restorative yet complicated power of going home. It’s also perfect for anyone who loves stories about women taking care of one another.

Run Towards the Danger

REBECCA SOLNIT

Mr. Fox

HELEN OYEYEMI

Acting Class NICK DRNASO

SARAH POLLEY

A Field Guide to Getting Lost

SAYAKA MURATA , GINNY TAPLEY TAKEMORI

LaserWriter II

Bad Cree

If you read Peter Counter’s debut essay collection, Be Scared of Everything, you may think of him as a horror genre specialist, but his follow-up goes far beyond the scope of his first book. How to Restore a Timeline digs deeper into Counter’s personal history while deconstructing an impressively wide variety of film, television, books, music, and video games to underline its central ideas about living with PTSD. It’s a fantastic read for anyone who sees themselves in the media they consume.

Young Mungo DOUGLAS STUART

The Fell

SARAH MOSS

PAST FAVOURITES

DIZZ TATE

I love books about going home just as much as I love magical realism, and both of these elements are provided in spades with this book. The Light of Eternal Spring follows Wu Aimee, a Manchu woman working as a photographer in New York, who goes back to China in a time of crisis to reconnect with her family. It’s an impressionistic—yet never too abstract—story about ancestry and tradition that I found deeply moving.

Leaving Richard's Valley MICHAEL DEFORGE

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

8 Bookseller Picks

Nick's Picks

He loved a book because it was a book; he loved its odour, its form, its title.

GUSTAVE FLAUBERT

My Baba's Garden

BEST OF 2023

JORDAN SCOTT SYDNEY SMITH

The Private Lives of Trees A Novel

I don’t often cry openly in the bookstore.

When I do, it’s because I’ve just read this soulful depiction of grandparenting, childhood grief, and the ways that life goes on.

ALEJANDRO ZAMBRA MEGAN MCDOWELL

Veronica is late and Julián, caring for his stepdaughter at home, is worried.

A gorgeous, often humorous novella about the ways that love, fear, and art can get entangled in a moment of time and “indefinitely [lengthen] the present.”

House Within a House NICHOLAS DAWSON D M BRADFORD

Winner of the 2021 Grand Prix du livre de Montréal, this multi-genre memoir is a malleable and exacting tour of a condition as mysterious as it is common.

First Love

GWENDOLINE RILEY

Fans of Elena Ferrante and Rachel Cusk are going to love the kinetic, incisive, and elegant prose of this English novelist, who, with this book and the simultaneous North American release of another novel, My Phantoms, appears to be a master at depicting the anatomies of toxic relationships.

Cocktail LISA ALWARD

For fans of well-crafted, slow-burn, characterdriven realism. Each story has some kind of subtle or surprising moment when the veil of civilization is lifted, briefly, and we get a glimpse of the animals we are.

PAST FAVOURITES

The Children's Bach

The Last Days of Terranova

HELEN GARNER RUMAAN ALAM

SOUVANKHAM THAMMAVONGSA

Almost Beauty SUE SINCLAIR

MANUEL RIVAS JACOB ROGERS

A knife so sharp its edge cannot be seen

Small Arguments

Half-Bads in White Regalia CODY CAETANO

Affinities

BRIAN DILLON

ERIN NOTEBOOM

Cold Enough for Snow JESSICA AU

Mouth to Mouth

ANTOINE WILSON

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Ring

ANDRE ALEXIS

Bookseller Picks 9

Kristen's Picks

In my life I have found two things of priceless worth – learning and loving. Nothing else ... can possibly have the same lasting value. For when your life is over, if you can say ‘I have learned’ and ‘I have loved,’ you will also be able to say ‘I have been happy.’

ARTHUR C. CLARK

BEST OF 2023

The Mountain in the Sea A Novel

RAY NAYLER

A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth

4.6 Billion Years in 12 Pithy Chapters

We think the first sentient life we encounter will be from another planet, but what if it has been on Earth all along? I loved the themes running through this novel—AI, consciousness, conservation, and questionable technology. Perfect for fans of contemporary science fiction.

HENRY GEE

Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies

Four and a half billion years in twelve chapters? Henry Gee covers the history of life on earth with wit and concision.

The word “pithy” in the title sold it for me, and it doesn’t disappoint.

How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature

ELIZABETH WINKLER

The Shakespeare authorship question in full detail!

It’s part journalistic sleuthing, part close reading and really just a ton of fun. Winkler travels to Shakespearean sites around the world and asks the leading scholars the most taboo question in all of literature.

Why Humans Build Up

The Rise of Towers, Temples and Skyscrapers

GREGOR CRAIGIE KATHLEEN FU

Reproduction A Novel

What an amazing intro to architecture for kids! Why do humans build tall structures, and how do they do it? How high is too high and is it sustainable?

Find the answers to these questions and more in this beautifully illustrated book, great for kids ages 10+.

LOUISA HALL

This genre-defying book is about pregnancy, motherhood, what it is like to have a body – or grow a body in the Anthropocene. It is simultaneously about an author attempting to write a book about Mary Shelly writing Frankenstein.

This is a book you can read in a sitting, but think about for weeks.

The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN KIDS

KELLI ANDERSON

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

A History of Canada in Ten Maps

ADAM SHOALTS

HARUKI MURAKAMI

Fabric

VICTORIA FINLAY

A High Wind in Jamaica RICHARD HUGHES

The Lathe Of Heaven

The Marriage Portrait MAGGIE O'FARRELL

URSULA K LE GUIN

Sea People

CHRISTINA THOMPSON

PAST FAVOURITES

This Book Is a Planetarium

Dinosaurs LYDIA MILLET

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

10 Bookseller Picks

Journey's Picks

I always read. You know how sharks have to keep swimming or they die?

I’m like that. If I stop reading, I die.

PATRICK ROTHFUSS

BEST OF 2023 The Hexologists JOSIAH BANCROFT

This book is just plain fun.

Within the first few pages I already loved the witty cast and that was before I even got to meet the dragon obsessed with home cooked meals, the ominous hive-minded flock of birds, and the drunken imps.

It's page after page of kooky characters, carefully drawn magic and brilliant humour. This book is just an absolute delight from start to finish.

A Day of Fallen Night A Roots of Chaos Novel

SAMANTHA SHANNON

A mammoth of a book but one I was absolutely hooked on until I finished it. Samantha Shannon's way with words is frankly beautiful and all of the queer rep packed into these 800 pages made me so happy, even as mysterious evils were building in the background. Technically a standalone prequel, so you can read this before or after Priory of the Orange Tree, but trust me once you've read one of them you'll have to dive into the other.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi A Novel

SHANNON CHAKRABORTY

Who wouldn't love a story about a retired mother and captain being pulled back in for one last swashbuckling adventure, and a crew full of misfits who'd do anything for each other? Outside of the beautifully written cast is the stunning 12th century backdrop this tale takes place in. I'll be impatiently waiting for the second book to arrive.

Curious Tides PASCALE LACELLE

Curious Tides was described as Ninth House meets A Deadly Education and I can absolutely see why. So much is packed into these pages: a truly wonderful selection of characters, dark secret societies, a gorgeous magic system based on lunar phases and tides, and the dead coming back to make magical matters more complicated. It's easy to lose track of time when reading this one.

The Art Thief MICHAEL FINKEL

Nonfiction isn't where I typically go for my books, but I'll admit that my interest was piqued when I heard it was about the most prolific art thief in history. Hundreds of pieces of art were lost to this man and yet his method was often so simple: just a little patience, a swiss army knife, and on occasion a purse. Finkel brilliantly brings you into each heist and hooks you so that you can't help coming back to watch as Breitwieser's crimes catch up with him.

Endgame

The Kraken Wakes

PAST FAVOURITES

JAMES FREY, NILS JOHNSON-SHELTON

Mordew

Bloodborne Vol. 1 ALES KOT PIOTR KOWALSKI

ORSON SCOTT CARD

How to Train Your Dragon CRESSIDA COWELL

STANISLAW LEM

JOHN WYNDHAM ALEXANDRA KLEEMAN

Ender's Game

ALEX PHEBY

Solaris

A Darker Shade of Magic V E SCHWAB

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Her Body and Other Parties

CARMEN MARIA MACHADO

Foundation ISAAC ASIMOV

Bookseller Picks 11

Norine's Picks Reading is the gateway skill that makes all other learning possible.

BARACK OBAMA

The In-Between

BEST OF 2023

Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments

HADLEY VLAHOS

Recipe for a Good Life LESLEY CREWE

I would read anything that Lesley Crewe writes at this point. Her latest does not disappoint, it’s about a successful writer in Montreal in the 1950s suffering from writer’s block, and her publisher sends her to rural Cape Breton on a retreat to re-group.

Crewe weaves a fantastic story of grief, loneliness, family, and community, infused with humour.

Curl up on the couch in front of a wood fire and dive in!

The In-Between is a very personal memoir by a compassionate young hospice nurse who initially wanted to be a writer before life happened, and she was drawn into palliative and hospice care. Hadley Vlahos replays heartwrenching experiences of people she’s worked with in life’s final moments. Make sure the Kleenex box is near.

Accountable

The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed

DASHKA SLATER

This is a true story, about mostly Black girls from a small town American high school about an event that devastated the community and everyone involved. It is about social media, racism and white supremacy, and justice while showing how everyone from both sides were harmed without it being heavy handed. Interestingly told using interviews, court documents, and social media. A very timely true story.

Meet Me at the Lake CARLEY FORTUNE

An achingly romantic novel by Canadian Carley Fortune, it’s set in cottage country and is about a young couple in their early 20s who spend only 24 amazing hours together, but agree to meet one year laterone of them shows up, and the other doesn’t. A wonderful read.

We Are Going to Be Pals!

MARK TEAGUE

A humourous (and educational) story about a friendship between an egret and a rhinoceros. The enthusiastic (and dramatic) egret rambles on about the benefits of friendship and the things the pair can do for each other. Awesome!

Does Earth Feel?

KARI ANNE HOLT KENARD PAK

Firekeeper's Daughter

This Golden State MARIT WEISENBERG

MARC MAJEWSKI

Nosy Parker

LESLEY CREWE

ANGELINE BOULLEY

The Silence That Binds Us JOANNA HO

I Must Betray You

We Begin at the End CHRIS WHITAKER

RUTA SEPETYS

Take My Hand

DOLEN PERKINS-VALDEZ

PAST FAVOURITES

I Wonder

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow ZOULFA KATOUH

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

12 Bookseller Picks

Erin's Picks Reading is one form of escape.

Running for your life is another.

LEMONY SNICKET

BEST OF 2023

Baking Yesteryear

The Best Recipes from the 1900s to the 1980s

B DYLAN HOLLIS

A Grandmother Begins the Story A Novel

MICHELLE PORTER

I love a cookbook that's more than just recipes. B. Dylan Hollis is as wonderful, funny, and charming on the page as he is on TikTok and YouTube. Dive into old recipes with this book.

Michelle is a dear friend, so I'm showing some bias here. She weaves the voices of several fascinating narrators (including buffalo!) into one magical story.

Birds of Eastern Canada 3rd Edition

EDITED BY DAVID M. BIRD

There are so many great bird guides out there, from books to apps, but this is our family's favourite. It's always close at hand in case a cute bird happens by our window.

Cabbage

My PEI Cabbage Cookbook

ANN THURLOW

At First, Lonely

Ann Thurlow is a national treasure. This is more than a cookbook. This book simulates the experience of sitting across the kitchen table from the best kind of eccentric and generous friend. Cabbage RULES!

TANYA DAVIS

Tanya Davis' poetic voice is authentic and so grounded in the real. Reading or listening to her both deeply roots my feet and fills me with inspiration.

13 Words

The Thursday Murder Club

PAST FAVOURITES

LEMONY SNICKET, MAIRA KALMAN

SHELBY VAN PELT

Marcovaldo ITALO CALVINO

ANN PATCHETT

RICHARD OSMAN

Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Bel Canto

Thanks a Lot, Universe CHAD LUCAS

RICK RIORDAN JOHN ROCCO

How Tom Beat Captain Najork RUSSELL HOBAN QUENTIN BLAKE

The Seven Silly Eaters

MARY ANN HOBERMAN MARLA FRAZEE

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Loveless

ALICE OSEMAN

Bookseller Picks 13

Aaron's Picks There is something incomparably thrilling in first opening a brand new book.

EVELYN WAUGH

Four Thousand Weeks

BEST OF 2023

Time Management for Mortals

OLIVER BURKEMAN

The Observer A Novel

MARINA ENDICOTT

This story about a young couple’s first RCMP posting on the prairies is a trip into rural Canada. Hardy is the police officer and Julia gets a job at the local paper. Between the two they see some of the best, but mostly the worst of what goes on in the fictional town of Medway.

Gripping and disturbing, call this the anti-Corner Gas.

I’m aware of the way time is slipping away.

Oliver Burkeman is too and this book— entertaining and well researched—examines things like indecision and procrastination and their root causes. What makes 4000 Weeks stand out is how it passes on the motivational rhetoric that can be overbearing in similar but lesser works.

The Wager

A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

DAVID GRANN

More great historic non-fiction from the writer behind the hit Scorsese film Killers of the Flower Moon. This is the story of a shipwreck and how the surviving crew descends into anarchy. On its own that's enough of a story, but against all odds the warring factions end up back in England. The crew is put on trial for what transpired out of pure desperation thousands of miles away.

Almost Brown A Mixed-Race Family Memoir

CHARLOTTE GILL

In this coming-of-age memoir, Gill sketches out life with her Indian father, who was demanding of his children but otherwise aloof, and her English mother left to do the hard work of raising the kids. The tension builds until the marriage implodes. But it’s not all anguish, the descriptions of adolescence in the 1980s—bad microwave foods, bad television and unwanted body hair—add comic relief throughout.

The Skull

A Tyrolean Folktale

JON KLASSEN

Klassen's take on this European folk tale is done in his trademark style—funny, simple sentences and understated depth. It's a great stepping stone for kids moving from shorter picture books to something a little bit longer. And like the best Pixar movies there is something here for most everyone.

Childhood, Youth, Dependency

The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup

Inside Story

Little Labors RIVKA GALCHEN

SUSAN ORLEAN

An Immense World

MARTIN AMIS

ED YONG

We Don't Know Ourselves FINTAN O'TOOLE

MARK HARRIS

Hello Lighthouse SOPHIE BLACKALL

The Loneliest Americans

JAY CASPIAN KANG

Dirty Birds

PAST FAVOURITES

TOVE DITLEVSEN

Mike Nichols

MORGAN MURRAY

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

14 Bookseller Picks

Brittney's Picks That’s the thing about books, hey let you travel without moving your feet.

LEMONY SNICKET

BEST OF 2023

Mommy Don't

From Mother to Murderer — The True Story of Penny and Karissa Boudreau

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

SHERRI AIKENHEAD

A heartbreaking story that hits close to home.

Well written and attention grabbing; you won’t be able to put it down. A great pick for those interested in true crime.

A Memoir

MATTHEW PERRY

Written as if Chandler was talking to you, this autobiography keeps the reader laughing even through the toughest parts.

Molly's Tuxedo VICKI JOHNSON GILLIAN REID

A beautifully written and illustrated storybook, this is the perfect book for the kid in your life that might not always feel like they fit in.

Mom, Can I Do My Laundry at Your House?

Poems from Your Adult Child

Muster Points

OLIVIA ROBERTS

LUCAS CRAWFORD

A poetry book that many of us can relate to every line.

Funny throughout while really capturing the epitome of a mother-daughter relationship.

One of my favourite poets and even local! In this collection he has put thoughts on paper that many of us have had run through our minds and does it so beautifully.

The Emotion Code

Paper Towns

PAST FAVOURITES

JOHN GREEN

Bad Feminist

ROXANE GAY

Belated Bris of the Brainsick LUCAS CRAWFORD

The Program SUZANNE YOUNG

DR BRADLEY NELSON TONY ROBBINS

The Librarian of Auschwitz

I Have the Right To

ANTONIO ITURBE LILIT THWAITES

CHESSY PROUT JENN ABELSON

Roger and Matthew MICHEL THÉRIAULT MAGALI BEN | PAMELA DOLL

The Proudest Blue IBTIHAJ MUHAMMAD HATEM ALY | S K ALI

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

How to Be Perfect MICHAEL SCHUR

Bookseller Picks 15

Lori's Picks Reality doesn’t always give us the life that we desire, but we can always find what we desire between the pages of books.

ADELISE M. CULLENS

The Circle

BEST OF 2023

KATHERENA VERMETTE

Tom Lake A Novel

ANN PATCHETT

The Queen of Dirt Island A Novel

DONAL RYAN

Has there been a Bookmark Christmas catalogue since I first read The Spinning Heart where I haven’t praised Donal Ryan and/or his novels? This is the story of four generations of women and the fierce love and loyalty they have for each other.

ELAINE FEENEY

I was following all the advanced praise for this title when it was released in Ireland earlier this year and wasn’t disappointed when I finally was able to read it myself. On the surface, it’s the story of a young boy who has a few challenges. Once you start reading, you realize it’s a story of love, loss and how one small boy can transform those around him.

Old God's Time A Novel

SEBASTIAN BARRY

A recently retired policeman is visited by two Gardai and the one case he’s never been able to get out of his mind.

Kala

Simon Sort of Says

COLIN WALSH

Song of the Sparrow

From the Ashes JESSE THISTLE

JOSEPH O'CONNOR

All the Broken Places JOHN BOYNE

KARL GEARY

ERIN BOW

My Father's House

TARA MACLEAN

Juno Loves Legs

The Close JANE CASEY

We Spread IAIN REID

The Blackwater Lightship

PAST FAVOURITES

How to Build a Boat

I’ve loved every Ann Patchett book I’ve read and this one is no exception. This is a story set during the pandemic, but not focused on the pandemic. Daughters return to their family’s home during lockdown and, while helping run the family’s cherry farm, listen to stories from their mother and father which helped to shape the people they became. Being a parent myself, I love a story where parents go from being Mom and Dad to actual people with interesting lives!

Vermette has written this trilogy, all centered around a horrible event, and made me feel empathy and understanding for all involved.

This final novel of the trilogy is written as if you are at a Restorative Justice Circle- listening to both victims and perpetrator. Each chapter is written from the perspective of a different voice but all working together as one story. I can’t think of any book I’ve read recently that has stayed in my mind as long as this.

COLM TOIBIN

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

16 Gifts for Bibliophiles The Dictionary People

The Manuscripts Club

The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary

The People Behind a Thousand Years of Medieval Manuscripts

SARAH OGILVIE

CHRISTOPHER DE HAMEL

A thrilling literary detective story that, for the first time, unravels the mystery of the endlessly fascinating contributors the world over who, for over seventy years, helped to codify the way we read and write and speak.

The acclaimed author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts introduces us to the extraordinary keepers and companions of medieval manuscripts over a thousand years of history. $66.00 HC Penguin

How to Protect Bookstores and Why The Present and Future of Bookselling

$39.99 HC Knopf

A Date with Language DAVID CRYSTAL

A captivating read for any lover of books, patron of bookstores, or champion of the survival of these vital institutions, How to Protect Bookstores and Why makes the strongest possible argument for the importance of a resilient, inclusive, and progressive bookstore landscape.

In this ingenious and diverse collection of 366 stories, events, and facts about language, David Crystal presents a selection of insights from literary and linguistic writers, poets, and global institutions, together with the weird and wonderful creations of language enthusiasts to enliven each day of the year.

$21.50 PB Microcosm

$56.99 HC Bodleian Library

DANNY CAINE

Grandiloquent Words

In Praise of Good Bookstores

A Pictoric Lexicon of Ostrobogulous Locutions

JEFF DEUTSCH

JASON TRAVIS OTT

In the age of one-click shopping, this is no ordinary defense of bookstores, but rather an urgent account of why they are essential places of discovery, refuge, and fulfillment that enrich the communities that are lucky enough to have them.

Words confirm and deny, guarantee and deceive, elucidate and obfuscate.

Featuring a short, insightful introduction, Grandiloquent Words offers more than 250 preternatural terminologies for you to ingurgitate and brandish with aplomb for countless occasions. $34.00 HC WW Norton

$24.99 HC Princeton University Press

Recharge Book Light MIGHTY BRIGHT

No need for batteries means you save money and put less hazardous waste into landfills. We believe this is the best book light on the market today! 20" micro USB charging cable included (USB charging block not included).

2-10 LUMENS | 3000K | 10" x 1" x 1" Available in 5 colours $39.99, ea.

Toddler Socks OUT OF PRINT

Read to Me; Sesame Street: The Monster at the End of This Book; Star Wars: Grogu. 4-pack of baby/toddler socks, each pair is a different design, 75% cotton, 20% polyester, 5% spandex, non-skid soles. 4-Pack $16.99 pack

Mushroom Bookend Planters STREAMLINE IMAGINED

Just think, now you will have SO mushroom for your books and your plants—by combining the two in one lovely set! This boldly painted set of 'shrooms also double as planters for an UNEMPLOYED PHILOSOPHERS GUILD added level of whimsical charm. $54.99 SET OF TWO Jane Austen Sticky Notes: Just the thing for those of us who also "cannot be forced into genius and eloquence." $10.99 ea.

Jane Austen Regency Finery OUT OF PRINT Heat-Changing Mug: When the mug is cool, it is Pete the Cat: Books Are Groovy ringed with five becoming young ladies, each in her Socks - Small walking attire and bonnet. When the mug is warm, Richard Scarry: On My Way to the young ladies change into the Bookstore Socks - Small lovely evening attire.

Unisex, 75% cotton, 20% Holds 12 oz. $19.99 ea. polyester, 5% spandex Jane Austen's Finest Small - Shoe Sizes: 5.5-9/ Lip Balm: Apply and return to a Sock: 9-11 disposition in which happiness Large - Shoe Sizes: 8.5-12/ overflows in mirth. 15 oz (4.25 g) Sock: 10-13 [peppermint] $5.99 ea. $16.99 pair

For Jane Austen fans!

Adult Socks

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Gifts for Bibliophiles 17 The Book at War

Everyday Shakespeare

ANDREW PETTEGREE

BEN CRYSTAL DAVID CRYSTAL

$45.00 HC Basic Books

$26.99 HC Mobius

Lines for Life

How Reading Shaped Conflict and Conflict Shaped Reading A top literary historian illuminates how books were used in war across the twentieth century—both as weapons and as agents for peace. As solace or instruction manual, as critique or propaganda, books have shaped modern military history—for both good and ill will.

100 Novels That Changed the World

While you may not be familiar with these 400-year-old phrases, you will be surprised by the immediate, easy resonance they have with modern day-today life and, hopefully, inspired to learn a few quotes, say them out loud, and drop them into conversation.

The Book by Design

The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention

P J M MARKS STEPHEN PARKIN

COLIN SALTER

A richly illustrated look at some of the British Library’s most beautiful books from around the world. For centuries across the world, books have been created as objects of beauty, with bookmakers lavishing great care on their paper, binding materials, illustrations, and lettering.

The inspiring novels that have left a significant mark on the world of literature and popular culture. $40.00 HC Harper Collins Publishers

$63.99 HC University of Chicago

The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews

Eliot’s Book of Bookish Lists

Shakespeare and Company, Paris, is one of the world's most iconic and beautiful bookshops. Packed with warmth, sensitivity and humour, this book is a celebration of the greatest writers of our age and an insight into the lives and thoughts behind some of today's most talked-about books.

HENRY ELIOT

ADAM BILES SYLVIA WHITMAN

$39.95 HC Canongate Books

A Sparkling Miscellany of Literary Lists From the sublime to the ridiculous— and everything in between—Eliot's lists, recommendations and nuggets of trivia will delight, inspire and surprise anyone who loves reading. $27.99 HC Penguin UK

Assorted Literary Puzzles PROFESSOR PUZZLE

These 252-piece double-sided puzzles feature a beautiful illustration from an iconic scene on one side, with an extract from the book on the other, making it the perfect gift for both book lovers and puzzlers. Choose from Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland or Romeo and Juliet. $17.99 ea.

Literary Tote Bags OUT OF PRINT

Emily Henry: Happy Place Tote Bag Sesame Street: The Monster at the End of This Book Tote Bag 100% cotton canvas, Inner pocket, Flat tote, 14" w x 15.25" h, 9" strap $28.00 ea.

Cain’s Jawbone Deluxe Box Set

ERNEST POWYS MATHERS

"If James Joyce and Agatha Christie had a literary love child, this would be it" Daily Telegraph "A unique hybrid of word puzzle and whodunnit" Literary Review. Six murders. One hundred pages. Millions of possible combinations… but only one is correct. Can you solve Torquemada’s murder mystery? $44.95 Game Unbound

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

18 Kids Board Books Copy That, Copy Cat!

I’m Sticking With You

SMRITI PRASADAM-HALLS STEVE SMALL

Inventions Inspired by Animals

KATRINA TANGEN GIULIA ORECCHIA

Bear and Squirrel are best friends.

Wherever Squirrel goes, Bear follows. Bear vows to stick with Squirrel whether he’s grumpy, or silly, or mad—which is put to the test when Bear sinks Squirrel’s canoe. And catapults him from the seesaw. And breaks his favourite mug.

This lift-the-flap board book of riddles introduces children to biomimicry in a thoroughly fun format. From sonar to snowshoes, discover concrete examples of human inventions that copy things found in nature. Page turns reveal surprise answers that show how inventions mimic biology.

$11.99 BB Henry Holt and Co

$24.99 BB Barefoot Books

Wonderful Seasons

A is for Anne

EMILY WINFIELD MARTIN

MO DUFFY COBB ELLIE ARSCOTT

From springtime fun to cosy winter, this book captures the adorableness of a diverse cast of babies in the beauty of all four seasons. With simple text and irresistible art, this lighthearted book will bring a smile to parents and the youngest readers alike.

All ages will love this modern tribute to the Canadian classic, Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. A is for Anne introduces young readers to the world of Anne of Green Gables, complete with its hopes, dreams, themes, and friendships.

$11.99 BB Random House Children’s Books

$16.95 BB Pownal Street Press

Stay My Baby

I Love You Through and Through

In sweet, rhyming verse, Stay My Baby expresses the feelings of wonder and love for a new baby, with a promise that, no matter how big they get, they will always have a special place in their family's hearts.

A toddler and his teddy bear illustrate a young child's happy side, sad side, silly side, mad side, and more! Babies and toddlers will feel loved all over when they hear this declaration of adoration and affection. A perfect first book for toddlers.

LANA BUTTON

BERNADETTE ROSSETTI-SHUSTAK CAROLINE JAYNE CHURCH

$11.99 BB Scholastic Inc

$10.95 BB Orca Books

Whose Prints KARI ALLEN KIM SMITH

Who tiptoed across the snow? Who scurried and skittered? Who slink-slink-slinked along?

Little readers will love looking at different tracks in the snow and figuring out which animal made each one. $11.99 BB Little Simon

Bundle Up, Little Pup

DORI ELYS ELENA COMTE

Is there anything better than waking up next to your furry best friend? Together, child and puppy pals put on their winter gear: jackets to keep warm, boots to protect their feet, and scarves to snuggle into. Then, they’re ready to explore the snowy world outside! $10.99 BB Little Simon

H is for Hockey

A Canadian Sports Book

SCHOLASTIC CANADA

From hockey and ringette to basketball and soccer, learning first words has never been this fun! With bright, cheerful art, this padded board book will thoroughly engage and teach young readers as they discover all things sporty. $11.99 BB Scholastic Canada

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Snow, Snow, Snow A Christmastime Song

SANDRA BOYNTON

When a group of winter animals see the falling snow, they know it’s a sign that Christmastime is just around the corner. And they’ve got a song to sing!

Join in this cheerful, holiday classic with a link to a festive video that will have your entire family singing along as they decorate the tree. $10.99 BB Boynton Boardworks

Kids Non-fiction 19 Flitt’s Call

Joy to the World!

KARA GRIFFIN K SHAWN LARSON

Christmas Around the Globe

KATE DEPALMA ILLUSTRATED BY SOPHIE FATUS

Flitt is a little bank swallow who returns to his beloved Prince Edward Island every spring to nest in the same seaside cliffs. Flitt's Call is a bank swallow's prayer and plea for the earth. It will open people's hearts, move others to protect the land, and remind everyone of our shared connection to this fragile, beautiful home called Earth.

Explore Christmas traditions from 13 different countries! Rhyming text and detailed illustrations make the book accessible to younger readers, while educational endnotes about the celebrations add interest for older children. Gold ink and festive illustrations capture the joy of the season. $22.99 HC Illustrations Barefoot Books

$12.95 PB Acorn Press

Can You Uncover the Oak Island Money Pit?

A Tulip in Winter A Story About Folk Artist Maud Lewis

An Interactive Treasure Adventure

KATHY STINSON

Known for her vibrant and cheerful paintings of landscapes, plants, and animals, Maud Lewis' iconic folk art is celebrated around the world. In this stunning picture book, author Kathy Stinson and illustrator Lauren Soloy bring Maud's world to life.

MATTHEW K MANNING

In 1795, a mysterious human-made pit was discovered on Oak Island. Is the island secretly hiding pirate treasure, valuable artifacts from the Knights Templar, or even lost manuscripts by famous British author William Shakespeare? It’s up to you to find out! $10.99 PB Capstone

$22.95 HC Greystone Books

Our Underwater World

The Ultimate Hockey Activity Book

A First Dive into Oceans, Lakes, and Rivers

COLLINS

SUE LOWELL GALLION LISK FENG

The Ultimate Hockey Activity Book includes word searches, crosswords and search-and-finds, hockey quizzes, jokes and hockey-themed games you can play off the ice, trivia, fun facts, and much, much more!

This sturdy and gorgeous book, which, like others in the same series (Our World and Our Seasons), opens out into a 3D freestanding globe, is the perfect gift for young readers, encouraging them to explore our globe's vital water ecosystems through its artful and engaging pages.

$19.99 PB Harper Collins

$24.95 BB Phaidon Press

An Anthology of Our Extraordinary Earth

Every Child Matters PHYLLIS WEBSTAD KARLENE HARVEY MARIE-CHRISTINE PAYETTE

CALLY OLDERSHAW

With foil on the cover, gilded edges, and a ribbon for keeping your place, this Earth book makes an attractive gift for any child who is fascinated by our planet. With engaging information and absorbing images, this anthology is great for children to explore by themselves or for bedtime stories.

Orange Shirt Day founder Phyllis Webstad offers insights into this heartfelt movement. Every Child Matters honours the history and resiliency of Indigenous Peoples on Turtle Island and moves us all forward on a path toward Truth and Reconciliation.

$29.99 HC DK

$24.99 HC Medicine Wheel Publishing

Eyewitness Encyclopedia of Everything

The Ultimate Guide to the World Around You

DK

Become an eyewitness to the world’s most incredible nature, science, and historical events, all in one tremendous picture-led reference guide that will take you on a visual tour of everything. $39.99 HC DK

The Wheel of the Year An Illustrated Guide to Nature’s Rhythms

FIONA COOK JESSICA ROUX

A beautifully illustrated, interactive guide to ancient, nature-based holidays and customs. Through themed meditations, crafts, and rituals, young readers can learn about old and new ways of honouring the seasons—and create their own! $26.99 HC Andrews and McMeel

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

20 Kids Picture Books Pockets Full of Sea Glass

Do You Remember?

SYDNEY SMITH

Tucked in bed at a new apartment, a boy and his mother trade memories. Some are idyllic, like a picnic with Dad, but others are more surprising: a fall from a bike into soft piled hay, the smell of an old oil lamp. Now it's just the two of them, and the house where all those memories happened is far away. But maybe someday, this will be a favourite memory, too: happy and sad, an end and a beginning intertwined.

ALMA FULLERTON

This sweet picture book follows the day in the life child whose anxiety seems to fill their days.

Letting go is so hard to do and worry weighs down every step.

Even walking on the beach is difficult until finding a glimmer of hope among the rocks helps to make the day brighter. $14.95 PB Acorn Press

$19.99 HC Groundwood

Stranded!

I See Colour

A Mostly True Story from Iceland

BARINE NGBOR

ÆVAR ÞÓR BENEDIKTSSON ILLUSTRATED BY ANNE WILSON

This educational book tells the story of Bolu Davis, an eightyear-old Nigerian-Canadian girl with an inquisitive personality.

Readers get to hear Bolu’s perspective on what it’s like to come from two worlds and meet her diverse group of friends!

Based on a true story, the author recounts the time his grandfather got stranded with a friend on a brand-new volcanic island in Iceland. The adventurers face challenges like molten lava, melted eyeglasses and scant supplies before finally getting rescued. Endnotes include information about volcanoes, Icelandic culture and Norse mythology.

$24.95 HC $14.95 PB Monster House Publishing

$12.99 PB Barefoot Books

Zilot

If I Was a Horse

& Other Important Rhymes

SOPHIE BLACKALL

BOB ODENKIRK

In her funniest book yet, two-time Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall captures the astonishing spectacle of a child imagining life as a horse. And with a book jacket adorned with glitter, this romp really sparkles!

Emmy Award-winning and New York Times bestselling writer, comedian, and actor Bob Odenkirk and his daughter, illustrator Erin Odenkirk, present poetic nonsense for all ages perfect for fans of Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky!

$23.99 HC Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

$24.99 HC Little Brown Books

The Most Magnificent Maker’s A to Z ASHLEY SPIRES

In this delightful twist on a vocabulary book, the beloved characters from The Most Magnificent Thing walk with readers from A to Z, defining all the words they need to know about making. $21.99 HC Kids Can Press

While You Were Sleeping BRIANA CORR SCOTT

Featuring vibrant oil illustrations in Corr Scott's uniquely warm and whimsical style and showcasing a range of family makeups, from single-parent to multigenerational, and including caregivers of various ages and gender expressions, this gentle, lyrical book offers a fresh, modern perspective on how both children and their parents grow up, together. $22.95 HC Nimbus

The Tragically Hip ABC

The Morning We Met

A love letter to The Tragically Hip, one of Canada's most beloved bands, this ABC picture book features illustrations from four renowned Canadian illustrators.

Full of wonder, The Morning We Met acknowledges the patience of parents everywhere, the ways our babies travel to us, and the absolute magic of holding them in our arms for the very first time.

DREW MAKLIN CLAYTON HANMER

$24.99 HC Tundra Books

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

EMILY HOWARD

$24.95 HC Pownal Street Press

Kids Chapter Books 21 You Owe Me One, Universe

The Wild Robot Protects

CHAD LUCAS

This thrilling third installment of the Wild Robot series takes readers on a new adventure through the ocean and to the frigid northern waters where Roz may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

PETER BROWN

Thanks a Lot, Universe #2 Earnest, heartfelt, and full of humor, Chad Lucas’s You Owe Me One, Universe explores the nuances and complications of middle school relationships—and shows how sometimes the smallest acts of caring can be the ones that matter most.

$22.99 HC Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

$22.99 HC Amulet Books

The Vanderbeekers on the Road

The Puppets of Spelhorst

In this fresh adventure in the New York Times bestselling series about the beloved Vanderbeeker family, a surprise road trip turns rocky when the younger siblings try to keep their family from ever facing change.

From master storyteller Kate DiCamillo comes an original fairy tale—with enchanting illustrations by Julie Morstad—in which five puppets confront circumstances beyond their control with patience, cunning, and high spirits.

KARINA YAN GLASER

KATE DICAMILLO JULIE MORSTAD

$12.50 PB Harper Collins

$23.99 HC Candlewick Press

Aggie Morton Mystery Queen

The Skull

MARTHE JOCELYN ISABELLE FOLLATH

Jon Klassen's signature wry humor takes a turn for the ghostly in this thrilling retelling of a traditional Tyrolean folktale. Steeped in shadows and threaded with subtle wit—with rich, monochromatic artwork and an illuminating author’s note—The Skull is as empowering as it is mysterious and foreboding.

A Tyrolean Folktale

JON KLASSEN

The Seaside Corpse

For young detective Aggie Morton and her friend Hector, an opportunity to dig up fossils becomes even more thrilling when a corpse washes ashore in this fourth book in the Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen series, inspired by the life of Agatha Christie as a child and her most popular creation, Hercule Poirot.

$21.99 HC Candlewick Press

$12.99 PB Tundra Books

The Lost Library

Nish

REBECCA STEAD WENDY MASS

North and South

ISABELLE PICARD KATERI AUBIN DUBOIS

When a mysterious little free library (guarded by a large orange cat) appears overnight in the small town of Martinville, eleven-year-old Evan plucks two weathered books from its shelves, never suspecting that his life is about to change.

In this acclaimed book, readers meet thirteenyear-old twins Leon and Eloise who live in Matimekush, an Innu community in northern Quebec.

$23.99 HC Feiwel & Friends

$14.99 PB Scholastic

Top Story

Front Desk #5

KELLY YANG

Mia Tang is at the top of her game!

She’s spending winter break with Mom, Lupe, Jason, and Hank in San Francisco’s Chinatown! Rich with history and hilarious aunties and uncles, it’s the place to find a great story—one she hopes to publish while attending journalism camp at The Tribune. $24.99 HC Scholastic Inc

Adventures of an Island Cat Named Brupp DEIRDRE KESSLER

Brupp is the Prince Edward Island cat who sets out to see the whole wide world. This volume includes the separately published Brupp stories and a new, never-before-published concluding story about Brupp, Brupp and the Milk River Orphans. $19.95 PB Indigo Press

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

22 Kids Graphic Novels Diary of a Wimpy Kid—Book 18

Cat on the Run in Cat of Death!

No Brainer JEFF KINNEY

Middle school hasn’t exactly been a joyride for Greg Heffley. So, when the town threatens to close the crumbling building, he’s not too broken up about it. When Greg realizes this means he’s going to be sent to a different school than his best friend, Rowley Jefferson, he changes his tune. Can Greg and his classmates save their school before it’s shuttered for good or is this the start of a whole new chapter for Greg?

Cat on the Run #1

AARON BLABEY

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Bad Guys comes another hilarious illustrated series starring a pampered cat who is way tougher than anyone realizes. $9.99 PB Scholastic Inc

$17.99 HC Amulet Books

Silverwing

The Secret of the Ravens

The Graphic Novel

KENNETH OPPEL CHRISTOPHER STEININGER

JOANNA CACAO

Shade is a young Silverwing bat, the runt of his colony. But he’s determined to prove himself on the long, dangerous winter migration to Hibernaculum, millions of wingbeats to the south.

When he becomes separated from the other bats during a fierce storm, he must undertake the most incredible journey of his young life. $21.99 PB Harper Collins

In this charming middle grade graphic novel, orphan twins Elliot and Liza find themselves taking on a series of mysterious raven quests in order to make money and survive—only for Liza to be mortally injured during one of their adventures. Now, Elliot must team up with a mysterious dark mage in order to save her. $19.99 PB Harper Collins

The Last Kids on Earth

Narwhalicorn and Jelly

MAX BRALLIER DOUGLAS HOLGATE

BEN CLANTON

and the Monster Dimension

A Narwhal and Jelly Book #7

In the hilarious seventh book of this blockbuster graphic novel series, Narwhal wishes to see a unicorn— and actually becomes one! Now in paperback, with a brand-new Super Waffle and Strawberry Sidekick comic!

The highly-anticipated ninth book in the #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling series, with over ten million copies in print! $19.99 HC Penguin Young Readers

$10.99 PB Tundra

Scaredy Squirrel Gets Festive MELANIE WATT

In his third nutty adventure, Scaredy is getting ready for Christmas ahead of time... WAY ahead of time (June). Prepare to get festive this Christmas with Scaredy and friends! $16.99 HC Tundra

Paws

Priya Puts Herself First

MICHELE ASSARASAKORN NATHAN FAIRBAIRN The best dog-walkers in town are back in the third book of this heartwarming graphic novel series that is the BabySitters Club for pets! Perfect for fans of Real Friends and Allergic! $17.99 PB Razorbill

InvestiGators All Tide Up

JOHN PATRICK GREEN

Unsinkable detectives Mango and Brash are back in InvestiGators: All Tide Up, a high seas adventure that takes the hit series by John Patrick Green to uncharted waters! $16.99 HC First Second

Winter Turning Wings of Fire Graphic Novel #7

TUI T SUTHERLAND MIKE HOLMES

The #1 New York Times bestselling Wings of Fire series soars to new heights in the seventh graphic novel adaptation, with art by Mike Holmes. $16.99 PB Scholastic Inc

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Games Night 23 How to Win at Chess

Playing Place

Board Games, Popular Culture, Space

The Ultimate Guide for Beginners and Beyond

CHAD RANDL D MEDINA LASANSKY

LEVY ROZMAN

An essay collection exploring the board game’s relationship to the built environment, revealing the unexpected ways that play reflects perceptions of space.

Learn chess from International Master and YouTube’s top chess teacher Levy Rozman (aka GothamChess) in this refreshing and fun guide for beginner and intermediate players.

$53.95 HC MIT Press

$33.99 HC Clarkson Potter

Poetry for Neanderthals EXPLODING KITTENS

A competitive word-guessing game where u must speak good or get hit with stick. $34.99 ea.

EXIT

The Game

A series of escape room games for the home. Players must solve riddles and puzzles and crack codes to escape from an imaginary room or environment. But the clock is ticking! Can you escape?

From $21.99 ea.

Honeycombs AUTRUCHE

Winner of the Parents' Choice Silver Award, Oppenheim Best Toy Platinum award and recommended by Mensa Mind Games.

The object is to connect your tiles together by matching their symbols.

The more matches you make the more points you will earn. The honeybee is wild and can be matched with any symbol. Honeycombs™ has three unique ways to play, each varying in speed and competitiveness. Choose the one that’s right for you!

7+ years, 1 to 8 players. $29.99 ea.

Really Loud Librarians

EXPLODING KITTENS A merciless wordshouting board game. $39.99 ea.

Jenga

Wordle

HASBRO GAMES

The Party Game

It's the classic Jenga® block-stacking, stack-crashing game! How will you stack up against the law of gravity? Stack the wooden blocks in a sturdy tower, then take turns pulling out blocks one by one until the whole stack crashes down. Is your hand steady enough to pull out the last block before the tower collapses? If it is, you'll win playing the Jenga® game! $32.99 ea.

HASBRO GAMES

Codenames

CZECH GAMES EDITION

In Codenames, two teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. Their teammates try to guess words of the right color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. And everyone wants to avoid the assassin! 14+ $34.99 ea.

Gather friends and family together to enjoy the favorite word-guessing game in real life with Wordle: The Party Game!

Inspired by the digital version of the Wordle game, this analog game for 2-4 players delivers the classic Wordle gameplay as an exciting party game. $48.99 ea.

Hive Board Game SMARTZONE GAMES

Hive is a board-less, strategic game for 2 players ages 8 and up. Hive is a fun game to play because of its simple rules, yet challenging for its depth. Hive enhances each player's skills of strategic planning, tactical thinking and spatial vision. A nice decorative storage bag makes it easy to carry, store and play anywhere. 8+ $59.99 ea.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

24 Author Profile

A message from

Wendy McLeod MacKnight

The holiday season evokes many memories, but in my house, then and now, those memories revolve around books. Is there anything more wonderful than curling up with a book (or two or three!) when the weather outside is frightful? Of course I thought new toys were fine, but books? They were for forever, each a talisman to get me through a particular time in my life. There was the year I wanted the Anne of Green Gables books or the year I requested every Jane Austen book, and finished them all

by New Year’s. Then, as now, I was guided by my indie bookstore, who made it their business to know what I might enjoy, or better still, need.

To this day, my holiday season begins in early autumn with a reconnaissance mission to my independent bookstore. The staff, who know their stock inside out, make suggestions, all of them good. Each section is curated into a perfectly designed exhibit for bibliophiles who know there is nothing more delightful than the look on a loved one’s face when you give them either the book they’ve asked for, or better yet, the book they needed but didn’t know existed.

I consider a book a kind of magical alchemy between writer and reader, but that alchemy cannot happen without a guide, a bookseller who helps the buyer translate a longing or hope into something concrete. Best of all, they champion local authors and publishers, ensuring their work gets into the hands of readers who might otherwise never know they exist.

And so it is that blessed time once more: the arrival of the indie bookstore’s holiday catalogue. As always, I will snatch it up and read it greedily, confident in the knowledge that I am about to discover new treasures I didn’t know I needed and now cannot live without. Get to know your independent bookstore and let them guide you, too!

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Wendy recommends..............

These are some of Wendy’s recent favourite books.

Tough Like Mum LANA BUTTON

Beyond That, the Sea

One of my favourite picture books ever, filled with truth and warmth.

LAURA SPENCE-ASH

A delightful story of love, loss, and hope set against the Second World War and its aftermath.

Case Histories KATE ATKINSON

I’m late to the party here, but this is an amazing detective novel.

I Got You Babe PAUL COCCIA

A Work in Progress

Laugh-out-loud funny and heartwarming.

JARRETT LERNER

Amazing book about the impact of shame. Kids are going to see themselves in this character.

Books by Wendy..............

The Frame-Up

WENDY MCLEOD MACKNIGHT IAN SCHOENHERR

When Sargent Singer discovers that the paintings in his father’s gallery are alive, he’s pulled into a captivating world behind the frame he never knew existed. Filled with devious plots, shady characters, and a grand art heist, this inventive mystery-adventure celebrates art and artists and is perfect for fans of Night at the Museum and Blue Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer.

HarperCollins $9.99

The Copycat

WENDY MCLEOD MACKNIGHT

Ali has always acted like a copycat to make friends, but when she unexpectedly inherits the ability to change her appearance at will, fitting in seems impossible! Luckily, with the help of her family, new friends, and a touch of magic, Ali might just survive middle school after all.

HarperCollins $9.99

It's a Mystery, Pig Face!

WENDY MCLEOD MACKNIGHT

McLeod MacKnight’s debut middle grade novel is a funny, charming window into small-town life, with a focus on the importance of friendship and family and the struggle to figure out where you fit in, perfect for fans of Polly Horvath and Sarah Weeks.

Sky Pony $11.99

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

26 Fiction Flynn’s War

Mudflowers

After returning from active service in the Second World War, Jimmy Flynn is living alone with his nightmares—until a suspicious death and unexpected inheritance draw him back to his childhood neighbourhood.

Flynn must battle long-buried secrets and emerging turf wars if he is going to come out alive. But will mental scars of a foreign war prevent Flynn from surviving the one in his hometown?

For readers of Salley Rooney, glass artist Sophie navigates a complicated love triangle, with dynamics unfolding in surprising ways, leading Sophie back to her home in Newfoundland to reconcile her past and her future.

ALEY WATERMAN

FINLEY MARTIN

$24.99 PB Dundurn Press

$22.95 PB Acorn Press

The Untimely Resurrection of John Alexander MacNeil LESLEY CHOYCE

In his 103rd book, the acclaimed author of The Unlikely Redemption of John Alexander MacNeil takes the reader through another beautiful adventure about time and love. Lesley Choyce tackles topics like dementia, elder sexuality and assisted dying with humour and grace.

Coq

ALI BRYAN

In this follow-up to her awardwinning novel Roost, Ali Bryan explores thorny family dynamics with her trademark offbeat humour and insight. Coq is a comedic family drama that explores grief, identity, and second chances in the oneand-only City of Love. $23.95 PB Freehand Books

$24.00 PB Roseway Publishing

Jumbo

STEPHENS GERARD MALONE

Recipe for a Good Life

$21.95 PB Nimbus Publishing

From Globe and Mail bestselling author Lesley Crewe comes a story of loneliness and belonging, and a love letter to the women who have always kept the kettles warm, and the neighbours fed in rural Cape Breton.

A work of historical fiction following the prized African elephant who stole the show of the Barnum & Bailey Circus — and the hearts of people around the world — exploring exploitation, unrequited love, and the unbreakable bond between living things, from the author of The History of Rain.

LESLEY CREWE

$24.95 PB Vagrant Press

Lost & Found in Lunenburg

Bournville JONATHAN COE

A tender and wickedly funny portrait of England told through four generations of one family.

Bournville is a rich and poignant new novel from the bestselling, Costa award-winning author of Middle England. It is the story of a woman, of a nation's love affair with chocolate, of Britain itself.

JANE DOUCET

A quirky, tender work of contemporary fiction about grief, love, and starting again at middleage set in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, from the author of The Pregnant Pause and Fishnets & Fantasies. $22.95 PB Vagrant Press

$41.95 HC Europa Editions

Study for Obedience

SARAH BERNSTEIN

With a sharp, lyrical voice, Sarah Bernstein powerfully explores questions of complicity and power, displacement and inheritance.

Study for Obedience is a finely tuned, unsettling novel that confirms Bernstein as one of the most exciting voices of her generation. $29.95 HC Knopf Canada

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Held

ANNE MICHAELS

Held is a deeply affecting and intensely beautiful novel, full of unforgettable characters and imagery, wisdom, and compassion. From the WW1 battlefield where the novel begins, and its opening lines, Held is alive with seeking: "We know life is finite. Why should we believe death lasts forever?” $32.00 HC McClelland and Stewart

Fiction 27 The Wren, The Wren

A New Season TERRY FALLIS

From beloved and bestselling author Terry Fallis comes a novel unlike any of his others. A thoughtful exploration of aging, loss, family, friendship, and love, all with his trademark humour and heart.

ANNE ENRIGHT

From Booker-prize winning author Anne Enright, an astonishing novel about the love between mother and daughter—sometimes fierce, often painful, but always transcendent.

$24.95 PB McClelland and Stewart

$34.95 HC McClelland and Stewart

The Fraud

Rage the Night

From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who gets to tell their story—and about who deserves to be believed.

At once the intimate tale of one man's quest to discover the truth of his birth and a riveting account of a real-life Newfoundland tragedy from 1914, brilliantly and sensitively imagined by one of Canada's most beloved and bestselling authors.

ZADIE SMITH

DONNA MORRISSEY

$36.00 HC Hamish Hamilton

$24.95 PB Penguin Canada

The Circle

And Then She Fell

KATHERENA VERMETTE

Fierce, heartbreaking, and profound, Vermette’s The Circle is the third and final companion novel to her bestsellers The Break and The Strangers. Told from various perspectives, with an unforgettable voice for each chapter, the novel is masterfully structured as a Restorative Justice Circle where all gather—both the victimized and the accused—to take account of a crime that has altered the course of their lives.

A Novel

ALICIA ELLIOTT

A mind-bending, gripping novel about Native life, motherhood and mental health that follows a young Mohawk woman who discovers that the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences. $34.00 HC Doubleday Canada

$32.00 HC Hamish Hamilton

A Novel

The Island Gospel According to Samson Grief

From the award-winning, bestselling author of The Innocents, a dark, enthralling novel about love and its limitations, the corruption of power and the power of corruption.

It is Michael Crummey’s finest novel to date.

Samson Grief, a reclusive painter in PEI struggling with a creative block, is confronted by three redhaired figments of his imagination They claim to be messengers of "The Supreme One” who has decreed PEI to be the new Promised Land and wants Samson to build the Island's first synagogue. Scared, confused, and seriously doubting his sanity, Samson eventually, though grudgingly, accepts the challenge amidst increasingly bizarre obstacles.

The Adversary MICHAEL CRUMMEY

STEVEN MAYOFF

$35.00 HC Knopf Canada

$25.00 PB Radiant Press

Let Us Descend

Daughter

From one of the most singularly brilliant and beloved writers of her generation, this miracle of a novel inscribes Black American grief and joy into the very land—the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the American South. Let Us Descend is Jesmyn Ward’s most magnificent novel yet, a masterwork for the ages.

Claudia Dey chronicles our most intimate lives with penetrating insight and devilish humour. A novel as volatile and far-reaching as its title, Daughter is an obsessive, blazing examination of the forces that drive us to become, to create and to break free.

JESMYN WARD

$32.00 HC Scribner

CLAUDIA DEY

$33.00 HC Doubleday

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

28 Fiction Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue

Tom Lake

CHRISTINE HIGDON

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart.

A Novel

ANN PATCHETT

A Novel

Four working-class Vancouver sisters, still reeling from the impact of World War I and the pandemic that stole their only brother, are scraping by but attempting to make the most of the exciting 1920s. Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue is a love story — but like all love stories, it’s complicated...

$25.99 PB Harper Collins

$24.95 PB ECW PRESS

Learned By Heart

Wild Hope

EMMA DONOGHUE

JOAN THOMAS

A Novel

A Novel

A heartbreakingly gorgeous novel based on the true story of two girls who fall secretly, deeply and dangerously in love at boarding school in nineteenth century York, from the bestselling author of Room and The Wonder.

Seamlessly weaving together observations on the entitlements of the wealthy, the monetization of water and the politics of art, Joan Thomas has created a layered, page-turning read about how far we will go to hold on to power and what we will do to avenge old wounds.

$32.99 HC Harper Collins

$25.99 PB Harper Collins

Yara

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library

A Novel

TAMARA FAITH BERGER

MICHIKO AOYAMA

For fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, a charming, internationally bestselling Japanese novel about how the perfect book recommendation can change a readers’ life. This inspirational tale shows how, by listening to our hearts, seizing opportunity, and reaching out, we too can fulfill our lifelong dreams. Which book will you recommend?

From the author of Maidenhead, a reverse cautionary tale about a young woman exploring the boundaries of sex and belonging in the early 2000s. $23.95 PB Coach House Books

$26.99 HC Hanover Square Press

Baumgartner

The Observer

Paul Auster’s brilliant eighteenth novel opens with a scorched pot of water, which Sy Baumgartner— phenomenologist, noted author, and soon-to-be retired philosophy professor—has just forgotten on the stove.

Grounded in Marina Endicott’s own experience in Mayerthorpe, Alberta, The Observer is an essential story from one of our most beloved storytellers. Endicott writes with the sure pacing and insight of a master novelist, piecing haunting details into a quietly devastating revelation of the fragility of life and law in a tightknit community.

PAUL AUSTER

MARINA ENDICOTT

$40.95 HC Grove Atlantic

$35.00 HC Knopf Canada

The Witching Tide A Novel

MARGARET MEYER

For readers of Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel, an immersive literary debut inspired by historical events—a deadly witch hunt in 17th-century England—that claimed many innocent lives. $37.00 HC Scribner

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

The Clarion NINA DUNIC

Following the literary realist traditions of Mavis Gallant and Alice Munro, Dunic’s debut novel captures the vague if hopeful melancholy of any generation that believes it was never “called” to something great. $22.95 PB Invisible Publishing

Books in Translation 29 The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers’ Guild

A Leopard-Skin Hat ANNE SERRE TRANSLATED BY MARK HUTCHINSON Written in the aftermath of the death of the author’s little sister, A Leopard-Skin Hat is both the celebration of a tragically foreshortened life and a valedictory farewell, written in Anne Serre’s signature style.

MATHIAS ENARD TRANSLATED BY FRANK WYNNE

$22.95 PB New Directions

$28.95 PB New Directions Publishing

Brimming with Mathias Enard’s characteristic wit and encyclopedic brilliance, The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers’ Guild is a riotous novel where the edges between past and present are constantly dissolving against a Rabelaisian backdrop of excess.

The City of the Living

The House on Via Gemito

From Nicola Lagioia, winner of the Strega Prize for Fiction, a spellbinding literary thriller based on the true story of one of the most vicious crimes in recent Italian history. An intoxicating novel that takes readers on a surprising journey into the darkest corners of contemporary Rome and of the human soul.

This extraordinary Strega Prize-winning novel confirms Domenico Starnone’s reputation as one of Italy’s greatest living writers. Told against the backdrop of Naples in the 1960s, a city that itself becomes a vivid character in this lush, atmospheric novel, The House on Via Gemito is a masterpiece of Italian fiction, one that is steeped in Neapolitan lore.

NICOLA LAGIOIA TRANSLATED BY ANN GOLDSTEIN

DOMENICO STARNONE TRANSLATED BY OONAGH STRANSKY

$41.95 HC EUROPA EDITIONS

$40.95 HC Europa Editions

Confession

Chevengur

Brutal and overwhelming, Confession wrestles with the legacy of Argentina’s past and the passions of one young girl.

Comic, ironic, grotesque, disturbingly poetic in its use of language, and profoundly sorrowful, Chevengur—here published in a new English translation based on the most authoritative Russian text—is the most ambitious of the extraordinary novels that the great Andrey Platonov wrote in the 1920s and 1930s, when Soviet Russia was moving from revolutionary euphoria to state terror.

MARTIN KOHAN TRANSLATED BY DANIEL HAHN

$25.95 PB CHARCO PRESS

ANDREY PLATONOV TRANSLATED BY ROBERT CHANDLER & ELIZABETH CHANDLER

$35.95 PB New York Review of Books

The End of August

Counterweight

From the National Book Award winning author, an extraordinary, ground-breaking, epic multigenerational novel about a Korean family living under Japanese occupation. A poetic masterpiece that is a feat of historical fiction, epic family saga, and mind-bending storytelling acrobatics, The End of August is a marathon of literature.

For fans of the worlds of Philip K. Dick, Squid Game, and Severance: an absorbing tale of corporate intrigue, political unrest, unsolved mysteries, and the havoc wreaked by one company’s monomaniacal endeavor to build the world’s first space elevator.

YU MIRI TRANSLATED BY MORGAN GILES

DJUNA TRANSLATED BY ANTON HUR

$32.00 HC Knopf Doubleday

$48.00 HC Riverhead Books

Ariane, A Russian Girl

Beyond the Door of No Return

The inspiration for Billy Wilder’s Love in the Afternoon, Ariane has the perverse glitter of Nabokov and the disabused curiosity and keen emotional intelligence of Colette. It is a brilliant exploration—engrossing, unnerving, comic, and cunning—of the matchless cruelty of desire.

The thrilling and deeply moving new novel by David Diop, winner of the International Booker Prize. Written with sensitivity and narrative flair, this is a love story like few others. Drawing on the richness and lyricism of Senegal’s oral traditions, Diop has constructed a historical epic of the highest order.

CLAUDE ANET TRANSLATED BY MITCHELL ABIDOR

$21.95 PB New York Review of Books

DAVID DIOP TRANSLATED BY SAM TAYLOR

$36.00 HC Farrar Straus & Giroux

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

30 Mystery Resurrection Walk

Merry Widow Murders

MICHAEL CONNELLY

Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller enlists the help of his half-brother, Harry Bosch, to prove the innocence of a woman convicted of killing her husband. Packed with intrigue and courtroom drama, Resurrection Walk shows once again that Michael Connelly is “the most consistently superior living crime fiction author” (South Florida Sun Sentinel).

MELODIE CAMPBELL

The high society flair of Death on the Nile meets a 1920s ocean liner in this sensational cosy mystery. On the first night of her voyage, Lucy Revelstoke discovers a murdered man in her stateroom. To keep her past under wraps, she rushes to find the killer before they reach port.

$38.00 HC Little, Brown and Company

$24.95 PB Cormorant Books

The Running Grave

Deadly Game

ROBERT GALBRAITH

Deadly Game is a compelling, fastpaced novel of international intrigue and twisting suspense from a legendary actor and British icon, Michael Caine, who now proves himself to be a firstrate thriller writer.

A Cormoran Strike Novel

MICHAEL CAINE

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside. Utterly page-turning, The Running Grave moves Strike's and Robin's story forward in this epic, unforgettable seventh installment of the series.

$35.00 HC Mobius

$41.00 HC Little Brown and Company

The Last Dance

Double Eagle

He's a detective, a dancer, he has no respect for authority ­- and he's the best hope Blackpool has for keeping criminals off the streets.

Meet Detective Declan Miller. A double murder in a seaside hotel sees a grieving Miller return to work to solve what appears to be a case of mistaken identity. Just why were two completely unconnected men taken out?

THOMAS KING

MARK BILLINGHAM

A DreadfulWater Mystery In this new DreadfulWater instalment, our favourite reluctant investigator returns with his signature wit and wry humour to solve a mystery that only Thomas King could create. $24.99 PB HarperCollins

$28.99 PB Little, Brown Book Group

The Raging Storm

Huge

ANN CLEEVES

BRENT BUTT

Two Rivers #3

A Novel

Ann Cleeves, New York Times bestselling author of the Vera and Shetland series, returns with the third Two Rivers novel, following The Long Call, now a Britbox adaptation, and The Heron's Cry.

In comedy, killing is a good thing.

From the award-winning screenwriter and International Emmy nominee comes this unexpectedly dark and twisted thriller. It's going to take some getting used to, but Brent Butt is no longer just a funny guy. His debut novel is so accomplished it's frightening.

$25.99 PB Pan MacMillan

$26.00 PB Doubleday Canada

Pet

CATHERINE CHIDGEY

A suspenseful new psychological thriller from the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlisted and Dublin Literary Award shortlisted author of Remote Sympathy, Catherine Chidgey. $26.95 PB Europa

Brooklyn Crime Novel JONATHAN LETHEM

From the bestselling and award-winning author of The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn comes a sweeping story of community, crime, and gentrification, tracing more than fifty years of life in one Brooklyn neighborhood. $37.00 HC HarperCollins

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Mystery 31 Mother-Daughter Murder Night

Bright Young Women

“The perfect mix of family drama and murder mystery” (Kellye Garrett, award-winning author) in this lighthearted whodunnit about a grandmother-mother-daughter trio of amateur sleuths. Think: Gilmore Girls, but with murder.

Two women from opposite sides of the country are brought together by violent acts of the same man, and become allies and sisters in arms as they pursue the justice that would otherwise elude them in one of the most acclaimed, highly anticipated thrillers of the year.

NINA SIMON

JESSICA KNOLL

$24.99 PB HarperCollins

$24.99 PB Simon & Schuster

Murder in the Family

Holly

STEPHEN KING

CARA HUNTER

Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.

Mega-bestselling British crime novelist Cara Hunter makes her big American debut with a wholly immersive thriller like none you've seen before: written as the teleplay of a true-crime documentary, it has the reader puzzling away, reviewing photos, maps, coroner's reports and other evidence as they read. Can you tell who's lying?

$39.99 HC Scribner

$24.99 PB HarperCollins

The Land of Lost Things

The Secret Hours MICK HERRON

A gripping standalone spy thriller from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Slow Horses, with a riveting reveal about a disastrous MI5 mission in Cold War Berlin—an absolute must-read for Slough House fans.

JOHN CONNOLLY

The redemptive power of stories and family is revealed in New York Times bestselling author John Connolly’s atmospheric tale set in the same magical universe as the “enchanting, engrossing, and enlightening” (Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale) The Book of Lost Things.

$36.95 HC Soho Press

$37.00 HC Atria

The Bittlemores

The Defector

JAN ARDEN

The Apollo Murder Series

A heartfelt, comic, and deeply satisfying debut novel from the #1 bestselling author, singersongwriter, member of Canada's Music Hall of Fame and star of her own hit TV sitcom. A little bit All Creatures Great and Small, a little bit Fargo and all Jann Arden!

CHRIS HADFIELD

From the author of the #1 bestselling thriller The Apollo Murders comes the supersonic hunt for a shadowy Soviet defector. $37.00 HC Random House Canada

$36.95 HC Random House Canada

The Last Devil to Die

A Thursday Murder Club Mystery

RICHARD OSMAN

It's rarely a quiet day for the Thursday Murder Club. Shocking news reaches them—an old friend has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.

The Mystery Guest A Maid Novel

NINA PROSE

A new mess. A new mystery. It’s up to Molly the maid to uncover the truth, no matter how dirty, in this standalone novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid, a Good Morning America Book Club pick. $24.95 PB Penguin Canada

$39.00 HC Penguin

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

32 Short Stories The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society

Cocktail LISA ALWARD

These intimate, immersive stories explore life's watershed moments, in which seemingly insignificant details and the most chance of encounters come to exert a tidal pull. Set in the swinging sixties and each decade since, Cocktail reveals the schism between the lives we build up around us and our deepest hidden selves.

CHRISTINA ESTIMA

With imaginative aplomb and abiding passion, the unforgettable connected stories in The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society explore love and suspicion, trust and betrayal, faith and despair, war and displacement in an explosive debut collection that pushes the expectations for Arab women beyond conventions, beliefs, and borders.

$22.95 PB Biblioasis

$22.99 PB House of Anansi Press

Furies

Sons of a Fisherman

Stories of the Wicked, Wild, and Untamed

WAYNE CURTIS

Sons of a Fisherman is a collection of thirteen short stories by acclaimed New Brunswick author Wayne Curtis.

In his customary evocative prose, Curtis describes days in the lives of the people who work and play on the rivers, drawing sustenance and nourishment of all kinds from the bounty the waterways provide. $21.95 PB Potterfield Press

MARGARET ATWOOD ALI SMITH EMMA DONOGHUE

In this blazing cauldron of a book, fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers have taken up their pens and reclaimed these words, creating an entertaining and irresistible collection of feminist tales for our time. $26.99 PB Little, Brown Book Group

So Late in the Day

Our Lady of Mile End

Stories of Women and Men

CLAIRE KEEGAN

SARAH GILBERT

From Booker Prize finalist and bestselling author of “pitch perfect” (Boston Globe) Small Things Like These, comes a triptych of stories about love, lust, betrayal, and the ever-intriguing interchanges between women and men.

Our Lady of Mile End is a neighbourhood of stories where recurring characters face personal challenges and unexpected intimacies against a backdrop of renoviction threats and walking tours. $20.00 PB Anvil Press

$29.95 HC Grove Atlantic

Night Side of the River

How It Went

Thirteen More Stories of the Port William Membership

JEANETTE WINTERSON

In this delightfully chilling collection, the iconic Jeanette Winterson turns her fearless gaze to the realm of ghosts, interspersing her own encounters with the supernatural alongside hair-raising fictions. $40.95 HC Grove Atlantic

WENDELL BERRY

For those readers of his poetry and inspired by his increasingly vital work as advocate for rational land use and the right-size life, these stories of Wendell Berry's offer entry into the fictional place of value and beauty that is Port William, Kentucky. $23.00 PB Catapult

Normal Rules Don’t Apply KATE ATKINSON

The End of the World is a Cul de Sac

$34.95 HC Doubleday Canada

In these visceral, stunningly crafted stories by the author of the muchacclaimed Trespasses, women’s lives are etched by poverty—material, emotional, sexual—but also splashed by beauty, sometimes even joy, as they search for the good in the cards they’ve been dealt.

A dazzling collection of eleven interconnected stories from the bestselling, award-winning author of Shrines of Gaiety and Life After Life, which offer the gimlet eye and delightful social critique that have made Atkinson one of the most lauded writers of our time.

LOUISE KENNEDY

$37.99 HC Riverhead Books

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Speculative Fiction 33 Treacle Walker

The Lost Cause

Luminous, evocative, and sparely told, Treacle Walker is a stunning fusion of myth, folklore, and the stories we tell ourselves.

It’s thirty years from now. We’re making progress, mitigating climate change, slowly but surely. But what about all the angry old people who can’t let go?

For young Americans a generation from now, climate change isn't controversial.

It's just an overwhelming fact of life.

ALAN GARNER

CORY DOCTOROW

$29.95 HC Scribner

$39.99 HC Tor Books

Prophet

Do You Remember Being Born?

HELEN MACDONALD SIN BLACHÉ

A genre-bending, strikingly original tour-de-force about an unlikely spy duo on the most dangerous and otherworldly mission of their lives, from the New York Times–bestselling author of H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald, and the stunning new voice of Sin Blaché.

SEAN MICHAELS

Scotiabank Giller Prize-winner Sean Michaels' luminous new novel takes readers on a lyrical joy ride—seven, epic days in Silicon Valley with a tall, formidable poet (inspired by the real-life Marianne Moore) and her unusual new collaborator, a digital mind just one month old.

$38.00 HC Viking

$35.00 HC Random House Canada

The Narrow Road Between Desires

Rouge

MONA AWAD

Kingkiller Chronicle Series

Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.

PATRICK ROTHFUSS

New York Times-bestselling phenomenon Patrick Rothfuss returns to the wildly popular Kingkiller Chronicle universe with a stunning reimagining of "The Lightning Tree." Expanded to twice its previous length and lavishly illustrated by Nate Taylor, this touching stand-alone story is sure to please new readers and veteran Rothfuss fans alike.

$34.00 HC Hamish Hamilton

$36.00 HC DAW

Moon of the Turning Leaves

The Future

NAOMI ALDERMAN

The bestselling, award-winning author of The Power delivers a dazzling tour de force where a handful of friends plot a daring heist to save the world from the tech giants whose greed threatens life as we know it.

WAUBGESHIG RICE

Waubgeshig Rice’s exhilarating return to the world first explored in Moon of the Crusted Snow is a brooding story of survival, resilience, Indigenous identity, and rebirth. $24.95 PB Random House

$34.99 HC HarperCollins

Before We Say Goodbye TOSHIKAZU KAWAGUCHI

Featuring signature heartwarming characters and wistful storytelling, in the beautifully haunting Before We Say Goodbye, Kawaguchi asks: who would you visit if you could travel through time?

Shield Maiden SHARON EMMERICHS

Both epic and intimate, Sharon Emmerichs's extraordinary debut novel reimagines Beowulf from the perspective of a young woman reclaiming her power. $23.99 PB Orbit

$26.99 HC Hanover Square Press

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

34 Arts & Letters Opinions

The World According to Joan Didion

A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People’s Business

EVELYN MCDONNELL

ROXANE GAY

An intimate exploration of the life, craft, and legacy of one of the most revered and influential writers, an artist who continues to inspire fans and creatives to cultivate practices of deep attention, rigorous interrogation, and beautiful style.

Opinions is a collection of Roxane Gay’s best nonfiction pieces from the past ten years. Covering a wide range of topics, with an all-new introduction in which she reflects on the past decade in America, this sharp, thought-provoking anthology will delight Roxane Gay’s devotees and draw new readers to this inimitable talent.

$33.50 HC HarperCollins

$37.00 HC HarperCollins

How Writing Made Us Human, 3000 BCE to Now WALTER STEPHENS

A sweeping history of how writing has preserved cultural practices, traditions, and knowledge throughout human history. In How Writing Made Us Human, 3000 BCE to Now, Walter Stephens condenses the massive history of the written word into an accessible, engaging narrative. $46.95 HC John Hopkins

Prophets of Love The Unlikely Kinship of Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul

MATTHEW R ANDERSON

Matthew Anderson traces surprising connections between two Jewish thinkers separated by millennia.

Prophets of Love alters our views of both Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul, re-introducing us to two poetic prophets of divine and human love. $29.95 HC McGill-Queen’s University Press

If It Gets Quiet Later On, I Will Make a Display

No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy

Memoirs of a Working-Class Reader

NICK THRAN

MARK HODKINSON

Essays, stories, and poems on the interior lives of bookstores. Nick Thran’s volume of essays, stories and poems is a quietly powerful meditation on a life of reading, writing and bookselling.

Mark Hodkinson grew up among the terrace houses of Rochdale in a house with just one book. Today, Mark is an author, journalist, and publisher.

He still lives in Rochdale but is now surrounded by 3,500 titles, at the last count. $24.95 PB Canongate Books

$22.95 PB Nightwood Editions

Curating Capitalism

This Exquisite Loneliness

How Art Impacts Business, Management, and Economy

What Loners, Outcasts, and the Misunderstood Can Teach Us About Creativity

PIERRE GUILLET DE MONTHOUX

RICHARD DEMING

This singular meditation on loneliness reveals how we might transform the pain of emotional isolation and become more connected to others and more at home with our often unquiet selves.

How art impacts management, drawing from stories told by internationally known contemporary curators, artists, critics, and philosophers. $25.95 PB MIT PRESS

$39.00 HC Viking

Zero at the Bone

Way Makers

CHRISTIAN WIMAN

KERRI ANDREWS

Fifty Entries Against Despair

Christian Wiman braids poetry, memoir, and criticism to create an inspired, career-defining work. He is the rare thinker who takes up the mantle of our greatest mystics and does so with an honest, profound, and contemporary sensibility. Zero at the Bone is a revelation. $40.00 HC Farrar Straus & Giroux

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

An Anthology of Women’s Writing About Walking A sweeping collection of women’s writing on the wandering path, moving across genres, geographies, and centuries. The follow-up to the celebrated Wanderers, Kerri Andrews’s Way Makers is the first anthology of women’s writing about walking. $35.95 HC Reaktion Books

Poetry 35 Almost Beauty

After That

SUE SINCLAIR

LORNA CROZIER

Poems

New and Selected Poems

After That is a book written from the dark hollow we fall into when we lose those we love.

Lorna Crozier’s sure poetry finds the words to engage with the grief that comes from the death of her partner, the writer Patrick Lane, whom she’d lived with for forty years, many of them tumultuous.

This collection includes an introductory essay by editor and poet Ross Leckie, over one hundred selected poems from Sinclair’s twenty-year career, and new poems that consider the poet’s evolving relationships with the idea of beauty and with the more-than-human world in a time of manufactured upheaval.

$22.95 PB McClelland and Stewart

$24.95 PB Goose Lane Editions

Monday’s Child

Tumbling for Amateurs

Poems About Teaching

RENÉE BLANCHETTE

MATTHEW GWATHMEY

Monday's Child is a collection of poetry that will appeal to educators, parents, and poetry lovers alike. With inventive humour and imagery, Blanchette’s poems balance expectation and hope, childhood imagination and the challenging realities of the classroom.

A reimagining of an instructional text on tumbling supports poems about the amateurishness of being human. Tumbling for Amateurs is a reimagining of James Tayloe Gwathmey’s 1910 book of the same name, published as part of Spalding’s Athletic Library. $22.95 PB Coach House Books

$17.95 PB Acorn Press

Ultramarine

A Poem to Read Aloud Every Day of the Year

HARRY THURSTON

A beautifully packaged anthology of poems from around the world and throughout history, all especially selected for reading aloud, with one glorious poem for every day of the year.

Whether he’s examining the lost world of childhood through the long lens of memory, piecing together random fragments in the broken mosaics of his ‘tesserae’ poems, or wrestling to put the exile, isolation and vulnerability of the global pandemic into a more-than-human-world perspective, Thurston tracks “Light and occult, / the two realms we navigate,” trusting that the persistence of these “frail human signs” might still signal hope and possibility.

$40.00 HC Rizzoli

$23.95 PB Gaspereau Press Ltd

LIZ ISON

Soft Inheritance

The Iliad

In her exceptional poetic debut, Fawn Parker meditates on grief, illness, and the open-handed relationship between material objects and memory. Soft Inheritance is a finely crafted love letter to the people and places that imprint on a life.

The culmination of a decade of intense engagement with antiquity’s most surpassingly beautiful and emotionally complex poetry, Wilson’s Iliad now gives us a complete Homer for our generation.

FAWN PARKER

HOMER EMILY WILSON

$53.95 HC WW Norton

$21.95 PB Palimpsest Press

The Animal in the Room

The Book of Tree Poems

Animals are strange testing grounds for thinking about subjectivity, language, the body—really, anything you might want to write a poem about. Together, these poems are an evolutionary chart or a little bestiary.

With poems by some of the world's best-loved poets including William Wordsworth, Thomas Hardy, William Meredith and W.H. Auden, The Book of Tree Poems will help you see trees as you've never seen them before.

MEGHAN KEMP-GEE

$23.95 PB Coach House Books

ANA SAMPSON

$26.99 PB Laurence King Publishing

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

36 Young Adult Shovels Not Rifles

Say Yes and Keep Smiling

A Novel

GLORIA ANN WESLEY

LAURENCE BEAUDOIN-MASSE

Shovels Not Rifles is the story of Will, a young Black man from a small Nova Scotia town who enlists and goes to war in the historical Black battalion in 1916. Alongside his fellow soldiers in the No. 2 Construction Battalion, Will slowly faces the harsh realities of the war—and the country he wanted to fight for.

In the highly anticipated sequel to Suck it In and Smile, Ellie is wrestling her picture-perfect life as a social media influencer back under control—but how long can she keep bridging the distance between the desire to be herself and the pressure to conform? $17.99 PB Groundwood Books

$19.95 PB Formac Publishing Company Ltd

Nothing in Truth Can Harm Us

The Brothers Hawthorne

Eva’s dad is dead. Her mother isn’t, but ought to be, says Aunt Mathilde. Time to move on... Moving from Nova Scotia, Eva tries not to care. Whether it is on the French Shore, Halifax or Montreal, all three women can’t escape the spectre of Adam, Eva’s charming, dead father, and the unspoken memories of blood and loss.

JENNIFER LYNN BARNES

COLLEEN RENE

$22.95 PB Tidewater Books

The Inheritance Games #4 Four brothers. Two missions. One explosive read. Jennifer Lynn Barnes returns to the world of her #1 bestselling, TikTok sensation Inheritance Games trilogy, and the stakes have never been higher. $24.99 HC Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

House of Marionne

Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy

Brimming with ballgowns and betrayal, magic and mystery, decadence and darkness, House of Marionne is perfect for readers who crave morally gray characters, irresistible romance, dark academia, and a deeply intoxicating and original world.

New York Times bestseller Faith Erin Hicks is back with Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy, a young adult graphic novel romance about a hotheaded hockey player who asks for temper management lessons from the cool, calm boy in drama club.

J ELLE

FAITH ERIN HICKS

$22.99 PB First Second

$26.99 HC Razorbill

Defend the Dawn

Into the Bright Open

Defy the Night #2

A Secret Garden Remix

BRIGID KEMMERER

CHERIE DIMALINE

In the eagerly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestseller Defy the Night author Brigid Kemmerer continues her electrifying series with more royal intrigue, more sizzling romance, and shocking twists that will leave readers breathless.

This queer YA reimagining of The Secret Garden subverts the cishet and white status quo of the original in a tale of family secrets wonderful and horrifying. $26.99 HC Feiwel & Friends

$16.99 PB Bloomsbury

Curious Tides

The Drowned World Duology

PASCALE LACELLE

Ninth House meets A Deadly Education in this gorgeous dark academia fantasy following a teen mage who must unravel the truth behind the secret society that may have been involved in her classmates’ deaths. $24.99 HC Margaret K McElderry Books

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Murtagh

The World of Eragon

CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI Master storyteller and internationally bestselling author Christopher Paolini returns to the World of Eragon in this stunning epic fantasy set a year after the events of The Inheritance Cycle. $39.99 HC Tundra Books

Young Adult 37

Check & Mate

House of Ash and Bone

ALI HAZELWOOD

In this clever and swoonworthy YA debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, life’s moving pieces bring rival chess players together in a match for the heart.

JOEL SUTHERLAND

The Haunted meets House of Salt and Sorrows in this young adult debut horror by acclaimed Canadian master of the macabre Joel A. Sutherland. $23.99 HC Tundra

$19.00 PB G.P. Putnam

Courage to Dream

Beholder

NEAL SHUSTERMAN ANDRES VERA MARTINEZ

From Ryan La Sala, author of the tantalizingly twisted The Honeys and riotously imaginative Reverie, comes a chilling new contemporary fable about art, aesthetic obsession, and the gaze that peers back at us from behind our reflections.

Tales of Hope in the Holocaust

RYAN LA SALA

National Book Award winner Neal Shusterman and acclaimed illustrator Andrés Vera Martínez present a graphic novel exploring the Holocaust through surreal visions and a textured canvas of heroism and hope.

$25.99 HC Scholastic

$19.99 PB Scholastic

Heartstopper 5

Mall Goth

A Graphic Novel

ALICE OSMAN

Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. The bestselling LGBTQ+ graphic novel about life, love, and everything that happens in between: this is the fifth volume of the much-loved Heartstopper series, featuring gorgeous two-color artwork. $21.99 PB Scholastic

KATE LETH DIANA SOUSA ROBIN CRANK

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me gets a Y2K twist in this coming-ofage young adult graphic novel from acclaimed comic artist Kate Leth about a 2000s goth teen whose favorite part of her new town is the mall. $18.99 PB Simon and Schuster

Stocking Stuffers

Assorted Bookmarks IF

Choose from our extensive assortment of classic, academia, literary and vintage bookmarks. $6.99 ea.

Hexagon Trivia Games GINGER FOX

These pocket-sized fun-for-all trivia card games from Ginger Fox are perfect for un-plugged family entertainment. Little games for big fun! Great size for travel! Kit includes 80 cards. Suitable for various ages.

For 2 or more players. Choose from 5 different games. $12.99 ea.

CBC Swag

The perfect stocking stuffer for the CBC listener on your list.

From $13.99 ea.

Matchbox Games and Trivia

GINGER FOX Strike up the fun at any dinner party or get-together with this terrific range of matchbox trivia and games. Titles include: The Great Debate, Devilish Dilemmas, Bizarre Trivia, After Dinner Quiz, Quick Fire Quiz, Amazing Facts, Scridoodle, Slip of the Tongue, The Memory Game, Tongue Tied, Word Round, and Arrogance. $9.99 ea.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

38 Graphic Novels Lore Olympus

Through Their Eyes:

Volume Five

A Graphic History of Hill 70 and Canada's First World War

RACHEL SMYTHE

MATTHEW BARRETT ROBERT C. ENGEN

Witness what the gods do after dark in the fifth volume of a stylish and contemporary reimagining of one of the best-known stories in Greek mythology, featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes content from creator Rachel Smythe.

“Employing vivid graphics and authoritative history, Barrett and Engen offer diverse perspectives to reclaim the battle for a new generation.” Tim Cook, author of Vimy: The Battle and the Legend. $34.95 PB 240 full colour illustrations McGill-Queen’s University Press

Into the Uncut Grass

$28.00 PB Random House

Roaming

JILLIAN TAMAKI MARIKO TAMAKI

TREVOR NOAH CHRISTOPHER MYERS

From the author of the #1 bestselling Born a Crime comes an illustrated fable about a young child’s journey into the world beyond the shadow of home, a magical landscape where he discovers the secrets of solidarity, connection, and finding peace with the people we love. $36.00 HC Doubleday Canada

Roaming is the third collaboration from the critically acclaimed team behind Skim and Governor General’s Literary Award Winner This One Summer.

Moody, atmospheric, and teeming with life, the magic of this comics duo leaks through the pages with lush and exquisite pen work. $39.95 PB Drawn & Quarterly Publications

Are You Willing to Die for the Cause?

CHRIS OLIVEOS

A deep dive into a contentious and dramatic period in Canadian history—the rise of a militant separatist group whose effects still reverberate today. $29.95 HC Drawn & Quarterly

BOOKENDS

It just makes sense to us that you can buy bookends at your indie bookstore for your book collection. Bookmark carries an interesting assortment starting at $22.99 ea.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

The Mysteries BILL WATTERSON JOHN KASCHT

From Bill Watterson, bestselling creator of the beloved comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes," and John Kascht, one of America’s most renowned caricaturists, comes a mysterious and beautifully illustrated fable about what lies beyond human understanding. $26.99 HC Andrews McMeel Publishing

Armchair Travel 39

Where the Falcon Flies

Tender Maps ALICE MADDICOTT

A 3,400 Kilometer Odessey from My Doorstep to the Arctic

Taking us deep into our emotional and creative responses to place, this extraordinary book explores the author’s relentless travelling, from the heat of Sicily to the mountains of Japan. Tender Maps is a beautifully evocative book of travel, culture and imagination that transports readers in time and place.

ADAM SHOALTS

Where the Falcon Flies invites readers on an extraordinary armchair adventure that spans five ecoregions and centuries of fascinating history, and is a masterwork by one of Canada’s most successful and audacious authors.

$40.95 HC September Publishing

$36.00 HC Penguin Canada

An Almanac of New York City for the Year 2024

The Vagabond’s Way

This attractive little volume offers a day-by-day guide to the coming year in New York City: cultural events, holidays, historical anniversaries, weather predictions, the night sky, and much more. Each week gets its own page, with enough space to record your own appointments.

The Vagabond’s Way encourages you to sustain the mindset of a journey, even when you aren’t able to travel, and affirms that travel is as much a way of being as it is an act of movement.

366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel

ROLF POTTS

SUSAN GAIL JOHNSON

$27.99 PB Random House

$17.50 PB WW Norton

20,000 Steps Around the World Great Hikes, Walks, Routes, and Rambles

STUART BUTLER MARY CAPERTON MORTON The world’s best hikes and walks in one volume with breathtaking photography, detailed terrain and route guides, maps, and expert descriptions—whether you need to unplug for an afternoon or get away for longer. $53.95 HC Rizzoli

The Explorer’s Club

A Visual Journey Through the Past, Present, and Future of Exploration

THE EXPLORERS CLUB JEFF WILSER Discover the extraordinary history and thrilling frontiers of exploration with this gorgeously illustrated guide from The Explorers Club, the esteemed home of the world's most prominent explorers. $48.00 HC Clarkson Potter

WORLD GLOBES REPLOGLE

A globe is both a source of wonder and a way to help people make sense of the world. Replogle, the world’s largest globe manufacturer has been manufacturing the finest quality globes since 1930. Available in 4” to 16” diameters.

From $29.99 (Selection varies by store)

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

40 Author Profile

A message from

Jane Ledwell

I love that my independent bookstore supports every part of book-

creating, from encouraging reading and appreciation to supporting emerging writers and publishers to selling and celebrating the books that matter in the community where we live.

Every book I have read this year so far has been from my independent bookstore or the library, and each one was recommended to me in a conversation with a bookseller or a friend I met by the shelves — or a bookseller friend I met by the shelves! Not only did I get a good book recommendation, but I got a good conversation, sometimes about something unexpected or about something I hadn't known anything about. That personal connection is so valuable in these days of disconnection and isolation.

Independent bookstores are never going to phase out books as part of their business plan or treat books as home decor.

As a poet, I often joke that I make dozens — literally dozens — of dollars from my poetry every year. Well, my local independent bookstore only makes dozens of dollars in a good year from my poetry books, too, and yet they keep them on their shelves, because they care about sharing local stories and voices.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Jane recommends..............

These are some of Jane’s recent favourite books.

My PEI Cabbage Cookbook

The Fraud ZADIE SMITH

This literary fiction new release tops my Christmas to-read wish-list because it is by one of my very favourite contemporary novelists.

Zadie Smith is a wry, observant worldbuilder, and the worlds she builds and the people in them are ones I always want to know more about.

ANN THURLOW

I couldn't resist including this little local news-making phenom: the feel-good book story, feel-good food story of the pandemic. And the fact is, I use this cookbook a lot (and not only because I sent Ann all my best cabbage recipes to include here and have them bookmarked in my copy).

Epekwitk

Bury Your Dead

Mi'kmaq Poetry from Prince Edward Island

LOUISE PENNY

A latecomer to reading mysteries, I am an enthusiastic convert. I love the Inspector Gamache mysteries set in Three Pines.

Reading Bury Your Dead solidified me as a devotee who would show up at the bookstore on release day for the hardcover of any new book in the series.

JULIE PELLISSIER-LUSH

Embarrassingly, I don't have a copy of this book on my shelves— because I keep buying it and giving it away to people I love.

The book is the next best thing to having Julie read or recite the poems to you in person.

L.M. Montgomery's Complete Journals

Song of the Sparrow A Memoir

TARA MACLEAN

The Ontario Years: 1918-1921

I was really moved by singersongwriter Tara MacLean's tough and tender, selfcompassionate writing about her experiences. The passion and hard-won wisdom you can hear in her singing voice comes through as well in her writing voice.

EDITED BY JEN RUBIO

My partner has been reading L.M. Montgomery's complete journals and after reading this volume was inspired to take a family adventure that led to a rainy search through a cemetery for the grave of Montgomery's dearest friend, who died in the influenza pandemic that followed the First World War.

Books by Jane..............

Return of the Wild Goose

Bird Calls

The Island Responds In

JANE LEDWELL

1854 British travel writer Isabella Lucy Bird visited Prince Edward Island for six weeks and published an account of her stay there that was both scathing and charming. Contemporary Island poet Jane Ledwell was both fascinated and exasperated by Bird's haughty, privileged judgement and decided to "write back"—160 years later. The result is Bird Calls: The Island Responds. Island Studies Press $14.95

JANE LEDWELL

Return of the Wild Goose explores life of writer and activist Katherine Hughes. Set against the intimate relief of a PEI landscape, these poems are inspired by what is known—and unknown—about her contradictory life as a Catholic teacher in Mohawk territory; a journalist working alongside Canada's first-wave feminists and suffragettes; the first public archivist of Alberta; and finally, as a zealous Irish nationalist. Island Studies Press $14.95 the

Anne Around the World

Last Tomato

JANE LEDWELL JEAN MITCHELL

Jane’s first book of poetry. She won first prize for both prose and poetry in the Atlantic Writing Awards in 2001, and has been published in journals such as blueSHIFT and anthologies such as Landmarks and A Bountiful Harvest.

L.M. Montgomery and Her Classic

What makes Anne of Green Gables an international, time-honoured classic?

International audiences have described reading L.M. Montgomery's most celebrated novel as an experience in enchantment. Balancing criticism and celebration, Jane Ledwell and Jean Mitchell bring together essays that consider the sources of the wonder that Montgomery's work inspires.

McGill-Queen's University Press $34.95

JANE LEDWELL

Acorn Press $15.95

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

42 Music Biography 101 Fascinating Canadian Music Facts

Scattershot

Life, Music, Elton, and Me

BERNIE TAUPIN

An evocative, cleareyed, and revealing memoir by Bernie Taupin, the lyrical master and longtime collaborator of Elton John.

DAVID MCPHERSON

Music lovers and trivia buffs alike will love this giftable collection of stories, discovering fun facts and hilarious tales from Canada’s music industry. $19.99 PB Dundurn Press

Madonna

$40.00 HC Hachette Books

Johnny Cash

A Rebel Life

The Life in Lyrics

MARY GABRIEL

In this riveting biography, award-winning author Mary Gabriel chronicles the meteoric rise and enduring influence of the greatest female pop icon of the modern era: Madonna. $48.00 HC Little, Brown and Company

JOHNNY CASH JOHN CARTER CASH MARK STIELPER

The life of the Man in Black revealed by his lyrics and by rare photographs and ephemera, in a lavishly illustrated edition authorized by the Cash estate. $70.00 HC Little, Brown and Company

The Masters

My Effin’ Life GEDDY LEE

Conversations with Dylan, Lennon, Jagger, Townshend, Garcia, Bono, and Springsteen

The long-awaited memoir, generously illustrated with never-before-seen photos, from the iconic Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Rush bassist, and bestselling author of Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bass.

JANN S WENNER

From New York Times bestselling author and Rolling Stone founder comes "a visit to the Mount Olympus of rock" in this remarkable collection of new and collected interviews with some of the greatest rock stars and cultural icons of our time (Kirkus Reviews).

$50.00 HC HarperCollins

$38.00 HC Little, Brown an Company

Energy Follows Thought

World Within a Song

WILLIE NELSON DAVID RITZ

JEFF TWEEDY

The Stories Behind My Songs

Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music

For the first time ever, and to help celebrate his 90th birthday in 2023, American icon Willie Nelson provides the stories behind the lyrics of 160 of his favorite songs, along with a dynamic assortment of never-beforeseen photos and ephemera.

An exciting mix of memories, music, and inspiration from Wilco front man and New York Times bestselling author Jeff Tweedy, sharing fifty songs that changed his life, the real-life experiences behind each one, as well as what he’s learned about how music and life intertwine and enhance each other.

$62.00 HC HarperCollins

$36.00 HC Dutton

My Name is Barbra

George Harrison

No entertainer’s memoir has been more anticipated than Barbra Streisand’s, and this engrossing and delightful book will be eagerly welcomed by her millions of fans.

From the premiere Beatles biographer, a rare and revealing portrait of George Harrison, the most misunderstood and mysterious Beatle, based on decades-long research and unparalleled access to inside sources.

BARBRA STREISAND

$63.00 HC Viking

The Reluctant Beatle

PHILIP NORMAN

$39.99 HC Scribner

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Biography 43 Farley and Claire

The Dissident

A Love Story

Alexey Navalny: Profile of a Political Prisoner

MICHAEL HARRIS

“Farley and Claire is a love story, a biography, a Tale of Two Farleys, or perhaps three: the public one, the private one, and the secret one.”— Margaret Atwood. The tumultuous, enduring love story between iconic writer Farley Mowat and his wife Claire, including excerpts from their passionate letters, published here for the first time.

DAVID HERSZENHORN

$39.95 HC Greystone Book

$38.00 HC Grand Central Publishing

Astor

The Dissident is the story of how one fearless man, offended by the dishonesty and criminality of the Russian political system, mounted a relentless opposition movement and became President Vladimir Putin’s most formidable rival—so despised that the Russian leader makes a point of never uttering Navalny’s name.

Murphy’s Logic

The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune

Insights from 45 Years in the News Business

ANDERSON COOPER KATHERINE HOWE

STEVE MURPHY

After a lifetime of reporting news and showcasing the opinions of others, Steve Murphy is finally ready to express his own opinions about the things he's done and the people he's met along the way.

In this unconventional, page-turning historical biography, New York Times bestselling authors Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe chronicle the lives of the Astors and explore what the Astor name has come to mean in America— offering a window onto the making of America itself.

$26.95 PB Nimbus Publishing

$41.00 HC HarperCollins

Notes on a Writer’s Life

Doppelganger

DAVID ADAMS RICHARDS

From the award-winning, bestselling author of No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, and This Changes Everything, a revelatory analysis of the collapsed meanings, blurred identities, and uncertain realities of the mirror world.

A Trip Into the Mirror World

A Memoir

NAOMI KLEIN

Notes on a Writer's Life is the author's account of his more than fifty years as a writer. It chronicles his early childhood, his high school years of turmoil and rebellion, and his uneasy relationship with both publishers and academics.

$38.00 HC Knopf Canada

$19.95 PB Pottersfield Press

The Road Years

How Canada Works

A Memoir, Continued...

The People Who Make Our Nation Thrive

RICK MERCER

Rick Mercer is back—again!—with the eagerly awaited sequel to his bestselling memoir. Join the celebration, and revive a wealth of happy memories, with what is Rick Mercer’s funniest, most fascinating book yet.

PETER MANSBRIDGE MARK BULGUTCH

In this latest collection of personal stories, Peter Mansbridge and former CBC producer Mark Bulgutch shine a light on the everyday jobs that keep our nation running and the inspiring people who perform them with empathy and kindness.

$36.95 HC Doubleday Canada

$36.99 HC Simon & Schuster

From Sword to Pen

The Life and Works of the Honourable Cyrus J MacMillan

KATHLEEN M. MACMILLAN

Spanning both world wars, From Sword to Pen takes us from the trenches at Vimy Ridge and Hill 70 to his Cabinet role in the Mackenzie King government; from Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown to Harvard and McGill University during one of the most consequential periods in Canadian history. $34.95 PB Penumbra Press

Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons The Lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt

CHARLOTTE GRAY

Impeccably researched and filled with intriguing social insights, Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons breathes new life into Sara and Jennie, offering a fascinating and fulsome portrait of how leaders are not just born but made. $39.99 HC Simon & Schuster

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

44 Cookbooks Asian Vegetables

The East Coast Celebrations Cookbook

Gardening, Cooking, Storytelling

CAROLINE WANG STÉPHANIE WANG PATRICIA HO-YI WANG

CRAIG FLINN

Leading Halifax chef Craig Flinn offers recipe ideas for every special event of the year – from Valentine’s Day to family reunions, to New Year’s Eve and more!

Whether it’s one new dish, or an entire menu, this is a cookbook that will give any East Coast cook great ideas for their special occasions and celebrations.

Caroline, Stéphanie, and Patricia Ho-Yi Wang, three sisters of Cantonese descent, have made it their mission to introduce gardeners, cooks, and vegetable lovers of all flavours to wider sources of sustenance.

$29.95 PB Formac Publishing

$55.00 HC House of Anansi Press

CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL

The East Coast Christmas Cookbook

$44.00 HC Little, Brown and Company

Alice Burdick has brought together this collection of Christmas recipes from more than 50 regional cookbooks published over the last four decades.

Her introductions give the history of each recipe and offer suggestions for how each dish can fit into holiday plans.

Milk Street Simple

ALICE BURDICK

The James Beard Awardwinning team at Milk Street delivers 200 easy, clever recipes you can just cook: the world’s greatest culinary ideas, distilled to their essence and simplified for weeknight meals.

$29.95 PB Formac Publishing Company

Fraiche Food, Fuller Hearts

The Look and Cook Air Fryer Bible

Wholesome Everyday Recipes Made with Love

BRUCE WEINSTEIN MARK SCARBROUGH

JILLIAN HARRIS TORI WESSZER

In this new collection from bestselling appliance cooking gurus Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, unlock the potential of your favorite at-home appliance with 125 recipes for every occasion.

Fraiche Food, Fuller Hearts is filled with simple, feel-good recipes that focus on fresh, whole foods for you and your loved ones to enjoy any day of the week.

$28.99 PB Little, Brown and Company

Farmhouse Vegetables

$45.00 HC Penguin Canada

In Mary’s Kitchen

A Vegetable-Forward Cookbook

Stress-Free Recipes for Every Home Cook

MICHAEL SMITH

Inspired by the bounty of his culinary farm at the Inn at Bay Fortune, chef Michael Smith shares everything that he has learned about vegetable cookery—ideas, techniques, and recipes—in this stunning cookbook so you can develop your own vegetable cooking style that suits your lifestyle. $40.00 HC Penguin Canada

MARY BERG

However you feel about mealtimes, Mary is here to help, with uncomplicated but delicious recipes, packed with tips and tricks, to produce flavourful results—every time. $35.00 HC Appetite

5 Ingredients Mediterranean

Basics with Babish

Simple Incredible Food

Recipes for Screwing Things Up, Trying Again, and Hitting it Out of the Park

With chapters including Salads, Soups & Sandwiches, Pasta, Veg, Pies & Parcels, Seafood, Fish, Chicken & Duck, Meat and Sweet Things, you’ll find something for every day of the week, and every occasion.

Over 100 easy-to-follow recipes that teach you how to learn from your mistakes and become a better cook, from the culinary genius who created the Babish Culinary Universe YouTube channel in this long-awaited companion.

JAMIE OLIVER

$45.00 HC Appetite

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

ANDREW REA

$50.00 HC Simon & Schuster

Gardening & Homesteading 45 Cabin

Our Little Farm

WILL JONES

PETER WOHLLEBEN MIRIAM WOHLLEBEN JANE BILLINGHURST

Adventures in Sustainable Living

How to Build a Retreat in the Wilderness and Learn to Live with Nature In 2010, journalist and author Will Jones gave up London life to move to rural Canada with his young family.

His dream was to build a remote cabin in the woods that would be a silent retreat from the world. Cabin is the story of how he created the ultimate hideaway.

Brimming with insights, wisdom, and tips, Our Little Farm shows that, with a little grit, humor, and self-compassion, it's possible to live according to our values and to care for the earth even as we care for ourselves, our homes, and our families.

$37.95 HC Abrams Image

Edible Houseplants

$29.95 HC Greystone Books

The Winter Market Gardener

Grow Your Own Citrus, Coffee, Vanilla, and 43 Other Tasty Tropical Plants

A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Year-Round Harvests

LAURELYNN G MARTIN BRYAN E MARTIN

JEAN-MARTIN FORTIER CATHERINE SYLVESTRE LAURIE BENNETT

The world of houseplants just got tastier with this colorful guide to growing edible plants indoors!

Houseplant enthusiasts will be delighted to discover the range of tropical plants that can be grown in containers indoors, in any location.

The Winter Market Gardener will excite, inspire, and empower you to embrace the seasons and work with nature to produce and enjoy superiorquality local vegetables all year.

$24.99 PB Storey Publishing

$44.99 PB New Society Publishers

Heirloom Skills

Why We Garden

A Complete Guide to Modern Homesteading

The Art, Science, Philosophy, and Joy of Gardening

ANDERS RYDELL ALVA HERDEVALL

CLAIRE MASSET

Whether you seek sanctuary in your potting shed, find paradise amongst your patio plants, or enjoy the simply solace of your hands in the soil, there is beauty, peace, and happiness to be found for every gardener in this thoughtful and entertaining collection.

100 ways to embrace the simple life, with step-by-step instructions for keeping chickens, growing vegetables, making beer and wine, arranging flowers, soap making, and more! This is a home-management book for the twenty-first century.

$26.95 HC Rizzoli

$39.99 HC Skyhorse

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It

The Milkwood Permaculture Living Handbook

JOHN SEYMOUR

KIRSTEN BRADLEY

The Complete Back-to-Basics Guide

This is the only book that teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, and much more. $54.00 HC DK

Habits for Hope in a Changing World

Packed with practical skills and projects, discover how simple changes to your every day can make a big difference.

Maybe it's decluttering your home, growing sprouts on your windowsill, connecting with your community or taking on a locavore mini-challenge. $45.99 PB Murdoch Books

VINTAGE POUCHES & TOTES CAVALLINI & CO.

Zippered pouch made of 100% cotton features a high-quality YKK zipper and a leather zipper pull. 6" x 8.75" (15 cm x 22 cm). Designed with vintage images from the Cavallini archives. $19.99 ea.

Heavyweight tote bag made of 100% natural cotton canvas. 13" x 16" (33 cm x 40.5 cm) featuring sturdy flat-bottom design with interior pocket. $26.99 ea.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

46 Current Events The Age of Insecurity

On Community

Coming Together as Things Fall Apart

Field Notes #8

THE CBC MASSEY LECTURES ASTRA TAYLOR

CASEY PLETT

We need community to live. But what does it look like? Why does it often feel like it's slipping away? Deeply personal, authoritative in its illuminations, On Community is an essential contribution to the larger cultural discourse that asks how, and to what socio-political ends, we form bonds with one another. $19.95 PB Biblioasis

This genre-bending book rethinks both insecurity and security from the ground up. By facing our existential insecurity and embracing our vulnerability, Taylor argues, we can begin to develop more caring, inclusive, and sustainable forms of security to help us better weather the challenges ahead. $24.99 PB House of Anansi Press

Who Killed Richard Oland?

A Real-Life Murder Mystery

JANICE MIDDLETON

Richard Oland, once co-owner of Moosehead Breweries, was brutally murdered in his office in downtown Saint John, New Brunswick in the early evening of July 6th, 2011. His murder remains unsolved and unexplained.

Janice Middleton pieces together the tangled story of one of Saint John’s most dysfunctional citizens. $27.95 PB Formac Publishing Group Ltd.

Mass Murder, Police Mayhem

The Mass Casualty Commission: The Facts, The Findings, and What Must be Done.

DEAN BEEBY

In this book Dean Beeby distills the extensive research of the Mass Casualty Commission into a readable account of exactly what happened during 13 chaotic hours when 22 Nova Scotians were murdered in April 2020. $24.95 PB Formac Publishing Group Limited

The Bridge Effect

Canada

EDITED BY DR. LAURIE BRINKLOW AND ANDREW JENNINGS

DONALD J. SAVOIE

Critical Solutions in the Age of Technological Solutionism

Beyond Grudges, Grievances, and Disunity Exploring how regions and groups in Canada view their participation in the Canadian family. “Donald Savoie is the éminence grise of Canadian public administration.” The National Post

The Bridge Effect explores physical and digital bridges on islands around the globe and if and how these links have changed island identity.

Also available: Le Canada : Au-delà des rancunes, des doléances et de la discorde $37.95 HC McGill-Queen’s University Press

$39.95 PB Island Studies Press

The Chaos Machine The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World

What We Owe the Future WILLIAM MACASKILL

The fate of the world – and the future – is in our hands. Now with a new foreword, What We Owe the Future argues for longtermism: that positively influencing the distant future is our time’s key moral priority.

MAX FISHER

Both panoramic and intimate, The Chaos Machine is the definitive account of the meteoric rise and troubled legacy of the tech titans, as well as a rousing and hopeful call to arrest the havoc wreaked on our minds and our world before it’s too late.

$24.99 PB $24.99

$23.99 PB Little, Brown and Company

Íjè

Unhistoric Acts

ELIZABETH IWUNWA GESSY ROBIN SHUMBUSHO ILONA DANIEL

DIANNE PORTER DIANNE MORROW KATHLEEN FLANAGAN

An Immigrant’s Voyage into Prince Edward Island Life

This collection of personal reflections, interviews, photo essays, and visual works of art includes themes of belonging, imposed and realized identities, cultural traditions, culinary symbols, living the contradictions of social norms. $26.95 PB Pownal Street Press

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Inside the Women’s Movement on Prince Edward Island

Working together as a force for change, Porter honours the "unsung heroes" of the movement with profiles of front-liners in the fields of early childhood education, politics and social services, which collectively were able to transform the landscape. $34.95 PB Pownal Street Press

Current Events 47 Resisting Eviction

The Summer Canada Burned

Domicide and the Financialization of Rental Housing

ANDREW CROSBY

The Wildfire Season that Shocked the World

$32.00 PB Fernwood Publishing

The dramatic story of Canada’s wildfires in 2023—a story that provides a case study of the changing climate and its impacts on our environment. From the ashes, people rise, communities rebuild and seeds of new growth sprout. $34.95 HC Greystone Books

Resisting Eviction centres tenant organizing in its investigation of gentrification, eviction and the financialization of rental housing. Andrew Crosby argues that racial discrimination, property relations and settler colonialism inform contemporary urban (re-) development efforts and impacts affordable housing loss.

The Future of Geography

MONICA ZUROWSKI

Democracy Awakening

How the Competition in Space Will Change Our World

Notes on the State of America

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

TIM MARSHALL

From the New York Times bestselling author of Prisoners of Geography and leading geopolitics expert comes a must-read book on today’s space race— including the increasingly tense power struggle between the US, China, and Russia and what it means for all of us here on Earth.

During the impeachment crisis of 2019, Heather Cox Richardson launched a daily Facebook essay providing the historical background of the daily torrent of news. Democracy Awakening explains how we got to this perilous point, what our history really tells us about ourselves, and what the future of democracy can be.

$37.00 HC Scribner

$39.99 HC Viking

Canada Alone

How Not to Be a Politician

Navigating the PostAmerican World

A Memoir

KIM RICHARD NOSSAI

RORY STEWART

The American-led global order has been increasingly challenged by Chinese assertiveness and Russian revanchism. Canada Alone sketches the more dystopian future that is likely to result if the illiberal, antidemocratic, and authoritarian Make America Great Again movement regains power.

How Not to Be a Politician is a candid and penetrating examination of life on the ground as a politician in an age of shallow populism, when every hard problem has a solution that’s simple, appealing, and wrong. This is one of the most revealing memoirs written by a politician in living memory. $39.99 HC Penguin

$24.99 PB Dundurn Press

Seeking Social Democracy

Misbelief

What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things

Seven Decades in the Fight for Equality

DAN ARIELY

EDWARD BROADBENT FRANCES ABEL JONATHAN SAS

The first full-length treatment of Ed Broadbent’s ideas and remarkable seven-decade engagement in public life. The result is an engaging, timely, and sweeping analysis of Canadian politics, philosophy, and the nature of democratic leadership.

The renowned social scientist, professor, and bestselling author of Predictably Irrational delivers his most urgent and compelling book—an eye-opening exploration of the human side of the misinformation crisis— examining what drives otherwise rational people to adopt deeply irrational beliefs.

$38.95 HC ECW PRESS

$24.99 PB HarperCollins

The Lost Supper

I Love Russia

TARAS GRESCOE

ELENA KOSTYUCHENKO BELA SHAYEVICH ILINA YAZHBIN CHAVASSE

Searching for the Future of Food in the Flavors of the Past In the tradition of Michael Pollan, Anthony Bourdain, and Mark Bittman, “a surprising, flavorsome tour of ancient cuisines” (Kirkus)— from Neolithic bread to ancient Roman fish sauce—and why reviving the foods of the past is the key to saving the future. $39.95 HC Greystone Books

Reporting from a Lost Country

Elena Kostyuchenko's fearless attempt to document Putin's Russia as experienced by those it systematically and brutally erases. At once uncompromising and deeply humane, her book stitches together reportage and personal essays into a kaleidoscopic, often otherworldly journey.

Here is Russia as it is, not as we imagine it. $38.00 HC Random House Canada

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

48 History Searching for Franklin

The Duel

KEN MCGOOGAN

JOHN IBBITSON

Diefenbaker, Pearson and the Making of Modern Canada

New Answers to the Great Arctic Mystery Arctic historian Ken McGoogan approaches the legacy of nineteenth-century explorer Sir John Franklin from a contemporary perspective and offers a surprising new explanation of an enduring Northern mystery.

One of Canada’s foremost authors and journalists offers a gripping account of the contest between John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson, two prime ministers who fought each other relentlessly, but who between them created today’s Canada. $45.00 HC McClelland & Stewart

$38.95 HC B&W photographs and maps Douglas & McIntyre

Canada in Afghanistan A Story of Military, Diplomatic, Political and Media Failure 03-23

OWEN SCHALK

Canadian leaders then and now claim great success for Canada’s role in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2014 and beyond. Though 151 Canadians were killed in combat, the Canadian military played a key role in fighting the Taliban. Yet within hours of the final withdrawal by US troops in 2021, the government collapsed and the Taliban returned to power. $27.95 PB James Lorimer and Company

Time Flies

A History of Prince Edward Island from the Air

DR JOSHUA MACFADYEN

Time Flies presents images of iconic landscapes on PEI and traces how those communities and natural ecosystems have changed over 85 years (1935–2020). A visually rich discussion of one island offers lessons that we can learn from the social and ecological transformation of PEI. $49.95 PB Island Studies Press

The Ottomans

Fashioning Acadians

MARC DAVID BAER

HILARY DODA

Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs

Clothing in the Atlantic World, 1650–1750

A “panoramic and thoughtprovoking” (The Guardian) history of the Ottoman dynasty, revealing a diverse empire that straddled East and West.

The Ottomans vividly reveals the dynasty’s full history and its enduring impact on Europe and the world.

Owing to the disintegration of materials, what people wore in the distant past is often challenging to determine.

Yet by combining new findings from archaeological excavations and comparing them with documentation about early Acadia, a fascinating picture of the society’s early fashions is revealed. $65.00 HC 90 photos McGill-Queen’s University Press

$29.99 PB Basic Books

Beyond the Wall

A History of East Germany

KATJA HOYER

In Beyond the Wall, acclaimed historian Katja Hoyer sets aside the usual Cold War caricatures of the GDR to offer a kaleidoscopic new vision of this vanished country, revealing the rich political, social, and cultural landscape that existed amid oppression and hardship. $44.00 HC Basic Books

Persians

The Age of the Great Kings

LLOYD LLEWELLYN-JONES

This is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran, a book that completely reshapes our understanding of the ancient world. $28.99 PB Basic Books

Sovietistan

A Journey Through Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan

ERIKA FATLAND

Shortlisted for Edward Stanford/ Lonely Planet debut travel writer of the year 2020, an unforgettable journey through the former Soviet Republics, by a prizewinning author of international reportage. $24.99 PB Quercus Publishing

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Blood on the Coal

The True Story of the Great Springhill Mine Disaster

KEN CUTHBERTSON

The riveting true story of one of Canada’s worst mining disasters, told in the voices of the men who survived it. They said it was the world’s deepest and most dangerous coal mine. The mine was the proverbial “disaster waiting to happen.” And it did. $36.99 HC HarperCollins

History 49 The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel

Emperor of Rome

Ruling the Ancient Roman World

Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I

MARY BEARD

With its finely nuanced portrayal of sex, class, and politics, Emperor of Rome goes directly to the heart of Roman fantasies (and our own) about what it was to be Roman at its richest, most luxurious, most extreme, most powerful, and most deadly, offering an account of Roman history as it has never been presented before.

DOUGLAS BRUNT

The hidden history of one of the world’s greatest inventors, a man who disrupted the status quo and then disappeared into thin air on the eve of World War I—this book answers the hundred-yearold mystery of what really became of Rudolf Diesel. $38.99 HC Atria Books

Cloven Country

$49.99 HC WW Norton

Crown, Cloak, and Dagger

The Devil and the English Landscape

The British Monarchy and Secret Intelligence from Victoria to Elizabeth II

JEREMY HARTE

According to legend, the English landscape—so calm on the surface—is really the Devil’s work.

Cloven Country tells of rocks hurled into place and valleys carved out by infernal labour, offering a fascinating panorama of these decidedly sinister English tales.

RICHARD J. ALDRICH RORY CORMAC

Fascinating and fast-paced, Crown, Cloak, and Dagger demonstrates that the British monarch continues to be far more than a figurehead. This book will inform as well as entertain anyone with an interest in history, espionage, and the royals.

$22.99 PB Reaktion Books

$42.95 HC Georgetown University Press

By the Ghost Light

The Dangerous Harbour

War, Memory, and Families

R H THOMSON

Revealing the Unknown Ships and Wrecks of the Halifax Explosion

From one of Canada’s most beloved performing artists comes an audacious work of non-fiction that explores the stories that shape us and the reach that the past can have across generations.

Epic in its scope and incredibly intimate in its exploration of lives touched by the tragedy of war, this is a truly original book that will challenge the way we approach our history.

BOB CHAULK

Scuba diver and author of Atlantic's Last Stop uses records and personal experience to examine the vessels in Halifax Harbour on the day of the 1917 Explosion to uncover what happened that day—and why. $24.95 PB Nimbus

$37.00 HC Knopf

Humility

Pirates

CHRISTOPHER M. BELITTO

PETER LEHR

The Secret History of a Lost Virtue

A New History, From Vikings to Somali Raiders

Explores humility in GrecoRoman history, philosophy, and literature; in the ancient and medieval Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scriptures and sermons; in the Enlightenment; and in contemporary discussions of education in virtue and citizenship.

In this global history of the phenomenon, maritime terrorism and piracy expert Peter Lehr casts fresh light on pirates.

Ranging from the Vikings and Wako pirates in the Middle Ages to modernday Somali pirates, Lehr delves deep into what motivates pirates and how they operate.

$32.95 HC Georgetown University Press

$24.50 PB Yale University Press

Arctic Convoys

Cracking the Nazi Code

Bletchley Park and the War for the Seas

DAVID KENYON

An incisive account of the Arctic convoys, and the essential role Bletchley Park and Special Intelligence played in Allied success. $53.50 HC Yale University Press

The Untold Story of Canada’s Greatest Spy

JASON BELL

The thrilling true story of Agent A12, the earliest enemy of the Nazis, and the first spy to crack Hitler’s deadliest secret code: the framework of the Final Solution. Informed by recently declassified documents, Cracking the Nazi Code is the first book to illuminate the astounding exploits of Winthrop Bell, Agent A12. $36.99 HC HarperCollins

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

50 Indigenous Decolonizing Sport

Apli'kmuj's Journey

EDITORS: JANICE FORSYTH CHRISTINE O’BONSAWIN RUSSELL FIELD MURRAY G. PHILLIPS

BRAELYN CYR

Apli’kmuj is heading to the gathering—all on his own!

His friends try to help guide his way, but they must follow their own paths and cannot travel with him. Maybe the four sacred medicines can help him on his journey!

Indigenous Peoples have taken physical recreational activity – sport – back from the colonizers.

One of very few books to show the two edges of sport: it colonized but is now decolonizing.

$22.95 HC $12.95 PB Monster House Publishing

$29.00 PB Fernwood Publishing

The Art of Mi'kmaw Basketry

Truth Telling

Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada

SHALAN JOUDRY HOLLY BROWN BEAR

MICHELLE GOOD

A collection of essays exploring the historical and contemporary Indigenous experience in Canada. From racism, broken treaties, and cultural pillaging to the value of Indigenous lives, and the importance of Indigenous literature, this collection reveals facts about Indigenous life in Canada that are both devastating and enlightening.

Mi’kmaw artists are creating a wide range of imaginative and beautiful work using the skills and traditions of basketry weaving given to them by their elders and ancestors. In this book, nine important contemporary artists present their work and their stories in their own words. $29.95 PB Formac

$29.99 HC HarperCollins

When the Owl Calls Your Name

Amazing L’nu’k

A Celebration of the People of Mi’kma’ki

JULIE PELLISSIER-LUSH ROBIN GRANT JAMES BENTLEY

ALAN SYLIBOY

From bestselling author Alan Syliboy comes a beautiful new book exploring spirituality, mortality and grieving.

This book for all ages is a poignant depiction of what might happen when the Owl calls your name, and you begin your journey home to the ancestors. $22.95 HC Nimbus Publishing

With dozens of profiles featuring artists, athletes, entrepreneurs, scientists, and more—both historical and present-day, from kids to Elders—Julie Pellissier-Lush and Robin Grant celebrate the many brilliant achievements of the Mi'kmaq. $24.95 PB Nimbus Publishing

Becoming a Matriarch

It Stops Here

When matriarchs begin to disappear, there is a choice to either step into the places they left behind, or to craft a new space.

This is a journey through pain, on the way to becoming.

RUEBEN GEORGE MICHAEL SIMPSON

HELEN KNOTT

$32.00 HC Knopf Canada

Standing Up for Our Lands, Our Waters, and Our People It Stops Here is the profound story of the spiritual, cultural, and political resurgence of a nation taking action to reclaim their lands, waters, law, and food systems in the face of colonization. $34.00 HC Penguin Canada

The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle Vol 1 A True and Exact Accounting of the History of Turtle Island

KENT MONKMAN GISELE GORDON

From global art superstar Kent Monkman and his long-time collaborator Gisèle Gordon, a transformational work of true stories and imagined history that will remake readers’ understanding of the land called North America. $48.00 HC McClelland and Stewart

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Mind Over Matter Hard-Won Battles on the Road to Hope

JORDIN TOOTOO STEPHEN BRUNT

Following the bestselling success of the inspiring All the Way, pioneering Inuit NHLer Jordin Tootoo begins the process of healing in the wake of the suicide and violence that marks his family, only to discover the source of all that trauma in his father's secret past. $34.00 HC Penguin Canada

Gifts for Everyone 51 Steven Spielberg All the Films

“You Talkin’ to Me?” The Definitive Guide to Iconic Movie Quotes

The Story Behind Every Movie, Episode, and Short

BRIAN ABRAMS

"You Talkin’ to Me?" is a fun, fascinating, and exhaustively reported look at all the iconic Hollywood movie quotes we know and love, from Casablanca to Dirty Harry and The Godfather to Mean Girls. Packed with film stills, sidebars, lists, and other fun detours throughout movie history, the book covers all genres and a diverse range of directors, writers, and audiences.

ARNAUD DEVILLARD OLIVIER BOUSQUET NICOLAS SCHALLER

A first-of-its-kind deep dive into Steven Spielberg's decades-long career, covering everything from early short films and television episodes to each of his more than 30 feature length-films.

$24.99 PB Workman Publishing

$75.00 HC Running Press

A Ukrainian Christmas

The Peaky Blinders Compendium

YAROSLAV HRYTSAK NADIYKA GERBISH

BBC ONE

From dress sense to the drinking dens, history to haircuts, the customs and, of course, the caps, The Peaky Blinders Compendium is a celebration of the swagger and cool of the Shelby family enterprise and the era that made their name.

From Christmas music to gifts and food, as well as a look back through the country's rich and troubled history through the perspective of the festive season, this beautifully illustrated and powerful book introduces readers to Ukraine's unique Christmas traditions.

$19.99 PB Mobius

$32.99 HC Little, Brown Book Group

Murdle Volume 2

The Beginner’s Guide to Urban Sketching

100 Elementary to Impossible Mysteries to Solve Using Logic, Skill, and the Power of Deduction

TARIA DAWSON

Capture the world as it lives and breathes in the pages of your sketchbook. Taria Dawson, creator of the popular blog Urban Sketching World, makes it easy to draw on location. Using the art form’s loose, colourful, and spontaneous method, you’ll learn to create sentimental impressions of the places where you live and travel. And all with minimal supplies!

G T KARBER

G. T. Karber, the creator of the popular online daily mystery game Murdle, presents the next collection of 100 original murder mystery logic puzzles, a perfect gift for armchair detectives and puzzlers to hone their minds and solve a series of crimes.

$30.99 PB Page Street Publishing

Symphony Nova Scotia at 40

$22.00 PB St Martin’s Press

Jane Austen’s Wardrobe

A Milestone of Musical History

HILARY DAVIDSON

MARY LU MACDONALD ADRIAN HOFFMAN DR JANE GORDON

Hilary Davidson delves into the clothing of one of the world’s great authors, providing unique and intimate insight into her everyday life and material world. What did Jane Austen wear?

Symphony Nova Scotia at 40: A Milestone of Musical History marks the fortieth anniversary of Symphony Nova Scotia and offers a fascinating cultural history that explores in three parts how the region's musical past laid the ground for the orchestra's future.

$49.99 HC Yale University Press

$29.95 PB Nimbus Publishing

Cavallini Ceramic Mugs

Cavallini 1,000 Piece Puzzles

14 oz Ceramic Stackable Mug. Individual mugs are packaged in a decorative gift box with a charming hang tag. Microwave and dishwasher safe. $23.99 ea.

Packaged in a 10" tube, with handsewn muslin bag inside. Featuring images from the Cavallini archives. Choose from over 30 different puzzles.

22" x 28" (55 cm x 70 cm). $30.00 ea.

CAVALLINI & CO.

CAVALLINI & CO.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

52 Religion A Place at the Table

Beyond Homelessness

Faith, Hope, and Hospitality

MIRANDA HARRIS JO SWINNEY

15th Anniversary Edition: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement

A Place at the Table is a profound book, lyrically written, and subversively humorous in its observation of daily life lived in community. Carved around the shape of a meal, they explore the transformative way in which sharing food is at the heart of a shared life.

STEVEN BOUMA-PREDIGER BRIAN J WALSH RUTH PADILLA DEBORST

This revitalized classic is a must-read for any Christian committed to social justice—and anyone longing for home.

$16.99 PB Hodder Faith

$53.95 PB Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Blessed in the Mess How to Experience God’s Goodness in the Midst of Life’s Pain

The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse

110 Poets on the Divine

JOYCE MEYER

Through the wisdom distilled in this book, we can learn how to gain something from our messes, use those insights to avoid trouble in the future, and share our experiences to help other people find blessings in the midst of their messes. $35.00 HC Faithwords

KAVEH AKBAR

An inspiring new selection of poems exploring faith and the divine, featuring poets from across the world, from antiquity to the present, compiled by renowned poet Kaveh Akbar. $24.95 PB Penguin Classics

On Repentance and Repair

Forgive

Why Should I and How Can I

Making Amends in an Unapologetic World

TIMOTHY KELLER

In Forgive, Timothy Keller shows readers why it is so important and how to do it, explaining in detail the steps you need to take in order to move on without sacrificing either justice or your humanity.

DANYA RUTTENBERG

A crucial new lens on repentance, atonement, forgiveness, and repair from harm—from personal transgressions to our culture's most painful and unresolved issues.

$24.95 PB Penguin Books

$24.00 PB Beacon Press

Practicing the Way

Be with Jesus. Become Like Him. Do As He Did.

JOHN MARK COMER

To live by what the first Christian disciples called a Rule of Life, a set of practices and relational rhythms that slow us down and open space in our daily lives for God to do what only God can do—transform the deepest parts of us to become like him.

Falling Upward

A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

RICHARD ROHR BRENE BROWN

In the revised and updated edition of Falling Upward, Richard Rohr seeks to help readers come to terms with the two halves of life. In this book, Rohr teaches us that we can’t understand the meaning of “up” until we have fallen “down.” More importantly, Rohr describes what “up” can look like in the second half of life. $32.00 HC Jossey-Bass

$36.00 HC WaterBrook

Our web site is always open!

Browse over 10 million book titles, view more Bookmark curated book lists, check out our event schedules and see more staff picks. Check us out at bookmarkreads.ca.

Bookmark Swag is here!

For the month of December, buy a tote bag for $15 and we will donate the $15 to our local foodbanks.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Science 53 Devilfish When Giant Squid Ruled the Northern Sea JENNY HIGGINS

The world did not truly believe in giant squid until the 1870s, when record numbers of the mysterious creatures appeared in the waters and beaches around the island of Newfoundland. As a newly acknowledged member of the animal kingdom, the public imagination playfully cloaked the mollusc in mystery: a real-life sea monster who had acquired many of the attributes of the Kraken and sea serpent. $34.95 HC Boulder Books

Fiona Prince Edward Island Accounts of Canada’s Biggest Storm EDITED BY POWNAL STREET PRESS

With royalties to be donated to Island Nature Trust, this collection of poetry, essays and photographs records Islanders' experience of the storm, from its first shocking moments to the wonder experienced as the lights came back on. $55.00 HC Pownal Street Press

The Future of Us

At Home on an Unruly Planet

The Science of What We’ll Eat, Where We’ll Live, and Who We’ll Be

Finding Refuge on a Changed Earth

JAY INGRAM

MADELINE OSTRANDER

A fascinating look at the cutting-edge science and technologies that are on the cusp of changing everything from where we’ll live, how we’ll look, and who we’ll be, by the popular science broadcaster and bestselling author Jay Ingram.

Ostrander pairs deeply reported stories of hard-won optimism with lyrical essays on the strengths we need in an era of crisis. The book is required reading for anyone who wants to make a home in the twenty-first century.

$35.00 HC Simon and Schuster

$26.99 PB Henry Holt and Co

The Curious World of Seahorses

To Infinity and Beyond

The Life and Lore of a Marine Marvel

A Journey of Cosmic Discovery

TILL HEIN RENEE VON PASCHEN

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON LINDSEY NYX WALKER

With the whimsy and heart of The Soul of an Octopus and the surprising details of the very best science writing, The Curious World of Seahorses brilliantly captures the ocean’s most charismatic and mysterious inhabitant.

For space enthusiasts, astrophysics brainiacs, and the millions who follow Tyson’s podcast and social media posts, Cosmic Conundrums is a provocative window into the intricacies of the cosmos. $41.00 HC National Geographic

$34.95 HC Greystone Books

Women in Science Now

White Holes CARLO ROVELLI

Let us journey, with beloved physicist Carlo Rovelli, into the heart of a black hole. We slip beyond its horizon and tumble down this crack in the universe.

As we plunge, we see geometry fold.

Time and space pull and stretch. And finally, at the black hole’s core, space and time dissolve, and a white hole is born.

Stories and Strategies for Achieving Equity

LISA M P MUNOZ

Women in Science Now examines solutions to this persistent gender gap, offering new perspectives on how to make science more equitable and inclusive for all. $34.95 HC 16 Illustrations Columbia University Press

$36.00 HC Riverhead Books

Determined

A Science of Life Without Free Will

ROBERT M SAPOLSKY

One of our great behavioral scientists, the bestselling author of Behave, plumbs the depths of the science and philosophy of decision-making to mount a devastating case against free will, an argument with profound consequences. $48.00 HC Penguin Press

Deep Water

From the Frilled Shark to the Dumbo Octopus and the Continental Shelf to the Mariana Trench

RILEY BLACK

From celebrated science writer Riley Black, a beautifully illustrated, compelling deep dive into the life story of the abyss, its ancient creatures, and the scientists and submersibles that have documented them. $49.99 HC University of Chicago Press

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

54 Nature Tree by Tree

Medicinal Perennials to Know and Grow

SCOTT J MEINERS

Growing your own medicine is empowering—learn how with plant activists Dan Jason and Rupert Adams.

This compact book describes some of the best-known medicinal plants and provides expert information on their care and use.

Saving North America’s Eastern Forests

DAN JASON RUPERT ADAMS LYN ALICE

Tree by Tree is a warning and a toolkit for the future of forest recovery. Scott J. Meiners investigates the critical biological threats endangering tree species native to the forests of eastern North America, providing a needed focus on this plight. $33.95 PB Cornell University Press

$19.95 PB Harbour Publishing

Ten Birds That Changed the World STEPHEN MOSS

Paths of Pollen STEPHEN HUMPHREY

“Stephen Humphrey is a highly accomplished, and engaging storyteller ... he calls attention to little-known or misunderstood topics, and presents these to an often science-hostile public. I couldn’t put it down.” Stephen Buchmann, author of What a Bee Knows.

$39.95 HC 51 photos McGill-Queen’s University Press

From Odin’s faithful raven companions to Darwin’s finches, and from the wild turkey of the Americas to the emperor penguin as potent symbol of the climate crisis, this is a fascinating, eyeopening, and endlessly engaging work of natural history. $38.00 HC Basic Books

Darwin and the Art of Botany

The Screech Owl Companion

Observations on the Curious World of Plants

Everything You Need to Know About These Beneficial Raptors

JAMES T COSTA BOBBI ANGELL

Collected writings from six often overlooked texts devoted entirely to plants, and pairs each excerpt with beautiful botanical art from the library at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, creating a gorgeously illustrated volume that never existed in Darwin's own lifetime, and hasn't since.

JIM WRIGHT SCOTT WESTON

$38.00 HC Timber Press

$31.99 PB Timber Press

The Comfort of Crows

Owls are widespread throughout North America—and screech owls are the most likely to make their homes near humans. Experts Jim Wright and Scott Weston show you how to attract them to nest in your yard, year after year.

Thin Places

KERRI NÍ DOCHARTAIGH

A Backyard Year

MARGARET RENKL

From the beloved New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author of Late Migrations comes a “howling love letter to the world” (Ann Patchett): a luminous book that traces the passing of seasons, personal and natural.

Both a celebration of the natural world and a memoir of one family’s experience during the Troubles, Thin Places is a gorgeous braid of “two strands, one wondrous and elemental, the other violent and unsettling, sustained by vividly descriptive prose” (The Guardian). $26.95 PB Milkweed Editions

$41.99 HC Spiegel & Grau

Entangled Life

The Illustrated Edition: How Fungi Make Our Worlds

MERLIN SHELDRAKE

Merlin Sheldrake’s New York Times bestseller, Entangled Life, is now a lavish visual journey into the hidden lives of fungi. In vivid, surprising images, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms—and our relationships with them—are changing our understanding of how life works. $54.00 HC Random

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

New York Botanical Garden

Mushroom Identification Flashcards

THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN A compact, colorful, and informative deck of 103 flashcards for newly minted mushroom lovers, featuring illustrations from the renowned archives of the New York Botanical Garden and text from the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms. $27.99 Cards Clarkson Potter

Nature 55

The End of Eden

The Book of Animal Secrets

Wild Nature in the Age of Climate Breakdown

Nature’s Lessons for a Long and Happy Life

ADAM WELZ

An exquisitely written and deeply researched exploration of wild species reacting to climate breakdown, The End of Eden offers a radical new kind of environmental journalism that connects humans to nature in a more empathetic way than ever before and galvanizes us to act in defence of the natural world before it's too late. $38.99 HC Bloomsbury

DAVID B AGUS

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The End of Illness comes an ingenious guide to what our fellow animals can teach us about living longer, healthier, happier lives. $39.99 HC Simon & Schuster

In Search of the Old Ones

Bird Day

ANTHONY D FREDERICKS

MARK E HAUBER TONY ANGELL

A Story of 24 Hours and 24 Avian Lives

An Odyssey Among Ancient Trees

An hourly guide that follows twentyfour birds as they find food, mates, and safety from predators. Hauber and Angell have created an engaging read that is a perfect way to spend an hour or two—and a true gift for readers, amateur scientists, and birdwatchers.

An extraordinary journey to visit the oldest trees in the United States that beautifully reveals the connection between humans and natural history—a perfect read for nature lovers and fans of The Hidden Life of Trees. $36.95 HC Smithsonian Books

$25.99 HC University of Chicago Press

Pests

Of Time and Turtles

BETHANY BROOKSHIRE

SY MONTGOMERY MATT PATTERSON

How Humans Create Animal Villains An engrossing and revealing study of why we deem certain animals “pests” and others not—from cats to rats, elephants to pigeons—and what this tells us about our own perceptions, beliefs, and actions, as well as our place in the natural world. $24.99 PB HarperCollins

Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell

Sy Montgomery turns her journalistic curiosity to the wonder and wisdom of our long-lived cohabitants—turtles—and through their stories of hope and rescue, reveals to us astonishing new perspectives on time and healing. $35.99 HC HarperCollins

Assorted Trivia Games GINGER FOX

These portable card game is designed to be played anywhere, from road trips to cosy evenings by the fireplace. Its compact size makes it easy to slip into your bag or pocket, ensuring you'll always have entertainment at hand for those moments of downtime. Choose from Book Lover, Film Fanatic or Nature Explorer. $17.99 ea.

Reversable Tote Bags

COGNITIVE SURPLUS

These sturdy canvas tote bags are reversible with a zipper pocket on one side. We carry a large assortment of these popular tote bags. 100% Recycled canvas, 10 oz, double layer 18” x 14.5” x 5” $34.99 ea.

Enamel Mugs GIFT REPUBLIC

A perfect gift for the lover of the outdoors. $17.99 ea.

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza Card Game BLUE ORANGE GAMES

This is a great game for groups, families, parties, and friends looking for a fun game to liven up the night. Also available: Taco Puck Maple Syrup Canoe and Taco Hat Cake Gift Pizza. $13.99 ea.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

56 Author Profile

A message from

Andre Fenton

I was 23 years old when my first novel was published. The night of my first book launch, I was filled to the brim with excitement and anxiousness, not really sure of what I had gotten myself into.

Being a writer is a whirlwind of trying to make sense of the world and the people in it, becoming a balancing act of uncertainty and confidence, creating the problem, and becoming the problem solver. In the midst of trying to accept this career path, Bookmark II was one place that always reassured me with unconditional support and encouragement.

I was proud to partner with them for my first ever launch, and they made the very hectic process of hosting a book launch so much easier.

Bookmark II goes above and beyond supporting local authors at launches, readings, and keeping our books readily in stock. The shelves are filled with stories from folks who live in our neighbourhoods and beyond. As you walk through the doors, you are quickly met with a wonderfully kind staff who instantly make you feel part of the community, and will guide you to the stories you need in your life. Independent bookstores are a vital part of our local community of readers and writers, and offer support that is not often available elsewhere.

From poetry, contemporary fiction, sci-fi, memoirs, historical accounts, Bookmark II is a little store that carries so much heart and will selflessly share the passion to inspire many writers from emerging to established, and will make sure readers are moving in the direction that their wonder seeks. I’m always filled with gratitude knowing that my books are on the shelves of this beautiful bookstore, and proud to be part of this ever-growing community. If your heart is in need of a good story, go over to Bookmark II on Spring Garden Road, I’m sure you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Andre recommends..............

These are some of Andre’s recent favourite books.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Butter Honey Pig Bread FRANCESCA EKWUYASI

Francesca’s ground-breaking debut novel holds a special place in my heart, A story about three women, Kambirinachi and her daughters, Kehinde and Taiye, must confront the past through an intergenerational lens that offers insight on finding the path towards forgiveness. This book is difficult to put down, and a triumph of storytelling.

GABRIELLE ZEVIN

As an artist, I didn’t know how much I needed this book in my life. Gabrielle Zevin crafts a wonderful story about creatives and their lives outside of being creative. This story offers everything: love, loss, grief, heartbreak, healing, tomorrow.

Patriarchy Blues Reflection of Manhood

Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of The Universe

An important reflection of race, masculinity, and challenging patriarchy. Frederick Joseph creates an honest, heartfelt collection of essays, short stories, and poetry that will be hard to put down. I read this book in one sitting, and plan to return.

One of the most important coming of age stories I’ve ever read. Two boys figuring out the secrets of the universe in the palm of their hands. After reading this, Benjamin Alire Sáen makes sure that Aristotle & Dante will hold a special place in your heart forever.

FREDERICK JOSEPH

BENJAMIN ALIRE SÁEN

All About Love

Brother

BELL HOOKS

DAVID CHARIANDY

bell hooks’ All About Love will reenergize your heart, creativity and help you reflect on the kinds of love to allow in your life.

A vital read for everyone, as bell hooks holds us all accountable in the best ways possible.

A book that pulled my heartstrings followed by a film adaptation that made my heart race. David Chariandy writes a beautiful account of grief about two brothers, Michael and Francis. This is a coming-of-age novel that needs to be a priority on your list.

Books by Andre..............

Worthy of Love ANDRE FENTON

Adrian Carter is a young mixed-race teen struggling with poor self-image, but he's through with being bullied for his weight. Adrian decides to shed the pounds, no matter what it takes. When he meets and falls for Mel Woods, a confident and sensible girl with a passion for fitness, his motivation to change leads him to take dangerous measures. When Mel confronts Adrian about his methods of weight loss, he is left trying to find a balance between the number on the scale and wondering if he'll ever be worthy of love. Formac $14.95

The Summer Between Us ANDRE FENTON

This coming-of-age story follows eighteenyear-old Adrian Carter as he graduates from high school and confronts difficult decisions about his future, all while dealing with the stress and pressure he feels to please those closest to him. As Adrian navigates the emotional highs and lows of the summer between graduation and the post-secondary future, he negotiates the difficulties of forging a path in life against others’ expectations.

Formac $14.95

Annaka

ANDRE FENTON

Annaka has always hated her first name. That's why, when her mother packed her up at age seven and moved from Yarmouth to Halifax, she decided she would go by Anna. Now Anna is back in Yarmouth after the death of her beloved Grampy, and sorting through memories from her younger self. She discovers a journal Grampy gifted her years ago. It is filled with snapshots of a happy childhood: sketches of Nan braiding Anna's hair on the porch, stories about road trips Anna and Grampy took in his antique truck, and memories of her best-kept secret, who also happened to be her best friend.

Nimbus Publish $16.95

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

58 Humour The Conspiracy Tourist

Funny You Should Say That

DOM JOLY

In The Conspiracy Tourist Dom Joly sets out on a global journey to find out what's going on. His travels see him meeting followers of QAnon, hunting for UFOs in Roswell, chasing Alex Jones of Info Wars around Austin, trying to prove that Finland exists and taking a flat-earther to the edge of the world.

GERRY DEE

One of Canada’s top comedians shares the funniest stories from his life and career in this collection of hilarious essays. This is Gerry Dee at his comedic finest.

$35.00 HC Mobius

The World’s Even Dumber Criminals

$36.99 HC HarperCollins

The Ultimate Hockey Joke Book

Unbelievable True Tales of Crime Gone Wrong

Laugh Your Face Off

IAN ROBINSON

DUNCAN MCKENZIE

If you like a good joke (and we all know you do), then you'll get a kick out of this hilarious collection that pokes fun at all things hockey. Whether you're aged one or 99, if you love all things hockey, then you gotta have this The Ultimate Hockey Joke Book.

Whether they leave behind clues that quickly lead to their capture, or drop counterfeit money for the authorities to find, The World’s Even Dumber Criminals is full of new, unbelievablebut-true stories about foolish people who put the wrong in wrongdoing.

$14.95 PB MacIntyre Purcell

$22.99 PB HarperCollins

Different Times

Unruly

DAVID STUBBS

DAVID MITCHELL

A History of British Comedy

The Ridiculous History of England’s Kings and Queens

Comedians and their work speak to and of their time, drawing upon and moulding Britons' relationship with their national history, reflecting us as a people, and, simply, providing raucous laughs for millions of people around the world.

Think you know the kings and queens of England? Think again. A funny book that takes history seriously, Unruly is for anyone who has ever wondered how the British monarchy came to be—and who is to blame. $42.50 HC Crown

$44.95 HC Faber & Faber

Unreliable Narrator

Oh. It’s You.

Love Poems By Cats

FRANCESCO MARCIULIANO

Me, Myself, and Imposter Syndrome

Cats have so many ways to say "I love you." Sometimes it's a gentle purr and a slow blink. Sometimes it's a tiny dead animal offered in tribute.

And sometimes, it's expressed in that deepest of cat love languages: poetry.

APARNA NANCHERLA

These essays deliver hilarious and incredibly insightful meditations on body image, productivity culture, the ultra-meme-ability of mental health language, and who, exactly, gets to make art “about nothing.”

$19.50 HC Chronicle Books

$37.99 HC Viking

Vinyl Café

Merry Christmas, Dave

STUART MCLEAN

NEW from the Vinyl Café! Vinyl Café Christmas Stories—a bundle of never-beforereleased Vinyl Café Christmas stories by the late, great humorist and storyteller, Stuart McLean. $19.99 CD Vinyl Café

The Corset and the Jellyfish

A Conundrum of Drabbles

NICK BANTOCK

For those perceptive readers with a curious mind, the celebrated author of Griffin & Sabine cordially invites you to find your own path through his beguiling conundrum of drabbles—or even to contribute one of your very own. $28.95 HC Tachyon Publications

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Sports 59 Why We Love Baseball

The Turcottes

JOE POSNANSKI

CURTIS STOCK

A Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty

A History in 50 Moments

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Secretariat’s Triple Crown Victory.

This is the true underdog story of the Turcotte family’s journey to the top of the thoroughbred racing world.

From nineteenth-century pitchers’ duels to breaking the sport’s colour line in the ’40s, all the way to the greatest trick play of the last decade and the slide home that became a meme, Posnanski’s illuminating take allows us to rediscover the sport we love—and thought we knew.

$35.00 HC 16 pages full-colour and b&w photographs Firefly Books

$39.00 HC Dutton

Picturing the Game

The Art of Cycling JAMES HIBBARD

A meditative love letter to the sport of cycling, The Art of Cycling traces the journey of a former professional racer regaining his love for the sport and shows how cycling can shed new light on age-old questions of selfhood, meaning, and purpose.

An Illustrated Story of Hockey

DON WEEKS

Hockey’s history, seen through the lens of graphic satire and commentary by some of Canada’s most prominent cartoonists and illustrators.

$21.99 PB Quercus Publishing

$49.95 HC Illustrated McGill-Queen’s University Press

Ignite

Wavewalker

Unlock the Hidden Potential Within

A Memoir of Breaking Free

SUZANNE HEYWOOD

ANDRE DE GRASSE

From the bestselling author of What Does Jeremy Think?, Wavewalker is the incredible true story of how the adventure of a lifetime became one child’s worst nightmare – and how her determination to educate herself enabled her to escape.

In Ignite, De Grasse shares important lessons from his improbable journey to becoming an Olympic champion.

As one of the fastest humans alive, De Grasse has demonstrated what it takes to perform at your best under enormous pressure and to continue to push the limit of what seems impossible.

$25.99 PB HarperCollins

$34.99 HC HarperCollins

Life in Two Worlds

Undisputed

A Coach’s Journey from the Reserve to the NHL and Back

A Champion’s Life DONOVAN BAILEY

TED NOLAN MEG MASTERS

A memoir of Olympic glory, the value of mentorship and the courage to champion your own excellence, from the long-reigning world's fastest man, Canadian sprinting legend Donovan Bailey.

Life in Two Worlds is more than a story of succeeding against the odds. It’s an exploration of how a beloved sport can harbour subtle but devastating racism, of how a person can find purpose when opportunity and choice are stripped away, and of how focussing on what really matters can bring two worlds together.

$35.00 HC Random House

$35.00 HC Penguin Canada

Draft Day

How Hockey Teams Pick Winners or Get Left Behind

DOUG MACLEAN SCOTT MORRISON

Doug MacLean, former NHL coach, general manager, team president, and one of the game’s biggest personalities, reveals how teams build for greatness—or fail to—on hockey’s most anticipated day. A Moneyball for hockey.

Ken Reid’s Hometown Hockey Heroes KEN REID

From Sportsnet Central host and broadcaster Ken Reid comes an inspiring and entertaining new collection of hockey stories about local legends who define the game and its values. $24.99 PB Simon and Schuster

$34.99 HC Simon and Schuster

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

60 Stationery

Fountain Pens For the Beginner

Perfect starter fountain pens at prices that won’t break the bank.

Prefounte Fountain Pens PLATINUM

A step up in style from the Preppy, an affordable starter fountain pens with subdued translucent colours. Comes with one cartridge. Available in M, F and EF nibs. $14.99 ea.

Plaisir Fountain Pen PLATINUM

Magnum Fountain Pen

The Plaisir has a colourful aluminum body with a steel nib. A unique "Slip & Seal" cap keeps the fountain pens from drying out, allowing you to leave the pen filled for long periods of time. Available in 10 colours and medium and fine nibs.

Great quality for a budget price. $27.00 ea.

DIPLOMAT

Diplomat writing instruments have been made with German craftsmanship since 1922. The Magnum is their entry level fountain pen featuring a non-slip lacquered body and steel nib.

Available in several colours and F and EF nibs. $29.00 ea.

SM∙LT ART - Open, independent & socially responsible brand with unique attitude to products, people and business.

Assorted Authentic Art Pads

Watercolour Pads

SM-LT ART

A5 size. Choose from Mixed Media, Marker Sketch, Drawing, black paper and Painting pads.

From $8.99 ea.

Black Edition Colour Pencils FABER CASTELL

Triangular coloured pencils—the colours included have been carefully selected by art teachers. Its ergonomic triangular shape ensures a better grip and comfort for small children's hands. Black wood and super soft lead: pure colour! Box of 24. $15.99 pkg.

SM-LT ART

Choose from an array of formats including A4 in folder, A5, stitched album, square lay flat album, and round.

From $9.99 ea.

Metallic Marker Set FABER CASTELL

Decorate light, dark or colourful paper or even smooth surfaces, such as plastic, foil, porcelain, glass and metal, with a premium metallic effect.

You can even make wood or rocks look shiny.

After drying, metallics are resistant to both smudging and water splashes. Package of 6 colours. $15.99 pkg.

Grip Finepen Set FABER CASTELL

Ideal for thin lines and shading. The finepen features an ergonomic triangular barrel that automatically promotes a tripod grasp and ensures optimum writing comfort. Brilliant colours, washes out of most fabrics, suitable for right- and left-handers.

Plastic wallet of 10. $11.99

NEW Goldfaber Charcoal Set FABER CASTELL

Goldfaber Aqua Watercolour Pencil Set FABER CASTELL

Intense colour laydown as well as outstanding colour brilliance using either dry or wet techniques. All the dry drawing techniques of colour pencils can be used with these watercolour pencils. Watercolour paintings can be conjured into a motif or pattern. The fully water soluble lead of the Goldfaber Aqua watercolour pencil was produced with the most innovative production technology and impresses with its excellent lightfastness. Tin of 12. $17.99 pkg.

The Charcoal Sketch Set includes 5 Goldfaber Charcoal pencils in extra super soft, super soft, soft, medium, hard. These can be sharpened with a regular sharpener (included). The set also includes 1 x Blending Stump and 1 x Kneadable eraser $14.99 pkg. Plastic wallet of 10. $11.99

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Stationery 61

For the Intermediate Enthusiast Lamy Studio Fountain Pen

Full assortment of fountain pens & ink not available in all locations. Can be special ordered.

This premium writing instrument seamlessly fuses its individual elements with its convex cylindrical form while simultaneously foregoing all unnecessary embellishments. The iconic propeller-shaped, seemingly twisted clip counters the objective elegance of the LAMY studio with an innovative design accent.

From $135.00 ea.

BONUS: Free bottle of any colour Private Reserve Fountain Pen Ink.

For the Aficionado

Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen This is a grail pen for a lot of people. It is LAMY's flagship fountain pen, made of matte black polycarbonate with brushed stainless steel accents. It features a hooded platinum-plated 14k gold nib and uses a piston-filling mechanism to fill from bottled ink.

Available in M, F and EF nibs. $325.00 ea..

BONUS: Free bottle of any colour Private Reserve Fountain Pen Ink.

Century 3776 Fountain Pen PLATINUM

With Platinum's latest technology and innovative cap design, the "Slip & Seal" mechanism in this #3776 Century model prevents the ink from drying out for up to 12 months. Available in a variety of colourful resins, accented by gold trim and featuring a 14k gold nib, it accepts proprietary Platinum cartridges or a Platinum converter (sold separately) for use with bottled ink.

Available in M, F, EF and SF. $270.00 ea.

BONUS: Free bottle of any colour Private Reserve Fountain Pen Ink.

Mirage Mythos Fountain Pen VISCONTI

This is a new edition to the Mirage series with innovations that distinguish it at first glance from the basic model, such as the large steel nib (yellow gold plated), and the central section made of brass instead of resin, but above all the central ring, on which is engraved the inscription MYTHOS and the V, similar to a stylised Mount Olympus. $295.00 ea.

BONUS: Free bottle of any colour Private Reserve Fountain Pen Ink.

Aero Fountain Pens DIPLOMAT

This is a favourite pen at Bookmark. An aluminum fountain pen with a streamlined Zeppelin-inspired body. Made in Germany, it has a satisfying, exclusive soft sliding click cap that posts securely onto the barrel when writing.

It features a smooth writing #6 JoWo stainless steel nib, a gunmetal grip and trim, and fills via standard international cartridge/converter (both are included).

Choose from 12 colours. $190.00 ea.

BONUS: Free bottle of any colour Private Reserve Fountain Pen Ink.

Private Reserve Ink YAFABRANDS

The Private Reserve Ink collection includes 36 beautiful colours from the famous Vampire Red to the Avocado and the Electric DC Blue, to name a few. All Private Reserve Inks are vibrant, rich and highest quality. 60 ml bottle. $19.00 ea.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

62 Stationery Bookaroo Notebook Tidy or NEW Clipboard Tidy IF

A super stylish and ingenious gift for stationery lovers and notebook carriers of all ages. Perfectly positioned, interwoven, non-slip elastic securely holds all the stuff you need for your day at work, uni, school, or trip! Look... no hands!

Part of the Bookaroo range of incredibly practical lifestyle CLAIREFONTAINE accessories. $24.99 ea.

These notebooks are made with Clairefontaine's ultra-smooth 90gsm paper which is protected by durable card covers made to look a little bit worn. Available in bound 192-page, and coil 100-page formats.

Available in 6 colours in lined, graph or plain formats. From $12.99 ea.

Age-Bag A5 Notebooks

Paperblanks Journals

Staedtler 175 Coloured pencil

PAPERBLANKS

Paperblanks creates products that inspire creativity, empower expression and celebrate special moments. An homage to art and culture, our line of journals and creative tools sparks the imagination by offering a connection to artists and cultural movements from all eras and regions. Expression has no limits with Paperblanks. Available in various sizes and formats. From $17.95.

STAEDTLER

Metal case containing 36 coloured pencils in assorted colours, classic hexagonal shape. Easy to sharpen with standard sharpeners. $14.99 ea.

SAVE Two Pack Mnemosyne A5 Notebook MARUMAN

Maruman's line of Mnemosyne products combines sophisticated style with highquality paper to create the perfect notebooks.

Features 80 micro-perforated sheets. "Title" and "Date/No." spaces at the top of each page. Lined sheet style: The lines are printed in subtle gray ink. Two bolder lines divide the lines into three sections of eight lines for better organization. Acid-free pages. Sturdy twin-ring binding. $19.99 pkg.

Leuchttrum1917 Notebooks LEUCHTTURM1917

Pigeon

PIGEON POSTED

Write. Fold. Send.

Inspired by Inspired by origami, Pigeon is a beautifully crafted combination of letter and envelope.

A more satisfying alternative to the always-on, instant-gratification tools we all use to communicate with each other every day. Because even with all our hi-tech wizardry, nobody has managed to recreate the magic and joy of the handwritten letter. $14.99 ea.

Founded in the year 1917, LEUCHTTURM can now look back on over 100 years of experience in the manufacture of high-quality stationery. Characterised by a love of the product, functional details, outstanding quality and a wide range of colours. We carry a wide variety of sizes, colours and formats. From $21.95 ea.

Stocking Stuffers

JR. PAGODA MECHANICAL PENCIL—TWSBI The Pagoda Pencil comes in 3 colours. Two lead sizes: 0.5mm and 0.7mm. ABS construction.

Lightweight, easy carry and storage. $7.99 ea.

CAT STICKY NOTES — MIND WAVE

Write notes with catitude. 30 sheets. $5.99 ea.

MINI-COLOUR PENCILS—EYEBALL

A-356 or A-358C mini-coloured pencils. $4.99 to $11.99 pkg.

MINI NOTEPADS—MARUMAN

Choose from A7 top spiral or A6 side spiral 6 mm ruled notebook in various colours. $2.99 ea.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Dingbat A5 Notebooks DINGBATS

Dingbats is an eco-friendly brand of notebooks designed and developed in a masterful consideration of materials and design. Notebooks are handmade and are FSC® (FSC-C105099) approved. Core materials are biodegradable, vegan and 100% recyclable.

From $25.95 ea.

63 Cobble Hill

Lots of new puzzles images from our favourite puzzle maker!

Since 2005, Cobble Hill Puzzles have created quality puzzles with a loving, whimsical, nostalgic feel for jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts around the world! Their finely crafted jigsaw puzzles have been described as nostalgic, lively, endearing, sweet, and durable. Its high-quality linen paper reduces glare and makes it the perfect piece to frame as art in your home.

Prices from $21.99.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

64 Personal Growth How Not to Age:

Generation Dread

The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older

Finding Purpose in an Age of Eco-Anxiety

BRITT WRAY

MICHAEL GREGOR

Weaving in insights from climate-aware therapists, ideas about the future of mental health innovation, and creative coping strategies, Generation Dread brilliantly illuminates how we can learn from the past, from our own emotions, and from each other to survive—and even thrive—in a changing world. $23.00

Inspired by the dietary and lifestyle patterns of centenarians and residents of “blue zone” regions where people live the longest, Dr. Greger presents simple, accessible, and evidence-based methods to preserve the body functions that keep you feeling youthful, both physically and mentally. $52.99 HC Flatiron

No Time to Panic

PB Knopf

How to Smile

How I Curbed My Anxiety and Conquered a Lifetime of Panic Attacks

THICH NHAT HANH JASON DEANTONIS

The final book in the bestselling How To series. Simple, refreshing meditations of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh give us inspiration and tools for transforming our suffering and cultivating happiness.

MATT GUTMAN

Unsparing, perceptive, and often funny, this is the story of a panic sufferer who took on the monster within. Filled with wisdom and actionable insights, it’s at once an inspirational journey and a road map—if not toward a singular cure, then to something even more worthy: peace of mind.

$13.50 PB Parallax Press

$37.99 HC Doubleday

Build the Life You Want

The Art and Science of Getting Happier

ARTHUR C BROOKS OPRAH WINFREY

Equipped with the tools of emotional self-management and ready to build your four pillars, you can take control of your present and future rather than hoping and waiting for your circumstances to improve. Build the Life You Want is your blueprint for a better life. $39.99 HC Portfolio

How to Know a Person

The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen

DAVID BROOKS

A practical, heartfelt guide to the art of truly knowing another person in order to foster deeper connections at home, at work, and throughout our lives—from the author of The Road to Character and The Second Mountain. $39.99 HC Random House

How to Be the Love You Seek

Do Interesting

Notice. Collect. Share

Break Cycles, Find Peace, and Heal Your Relationships

RUSSELL DAVIES

Interesting isn’t a personality, it’s a decision. Don’t hunt for diamonds. Get fascinated by pebbles. Don’t try to be interesting. That’s a fool’s errand. Do interesting instead.

Make the world light up by paying proper attention.

DR NICOLE LEPERA

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller How to Do the Work comes this paradigm-shifting guide to healing your relationships, beginning with the one you have with yourself. Complete with stories, exercises, journal prompts, and other practical tools, How to Be the Love You Seek offers a healing roadmap for all generations of cycle-breakers.

$22.95 PB Global Book Sales

$25.99 PB HarperCollins

Master of Change How to Excel When Everything is Changing— Including You

BRAD STULBERG

Drawing on modern science, ancient wisdom, and daily practice, Stulberg offers concrete principles for developing a mindset called rugged flexibility, along with habits and practices to implement it. $36.99 HC HarperCollins

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Climb Your Mountain

Everyday Lessons From an Extraordinary Life

SIR RANULPH FIENNES

Now in his late seventies, Sir Ranulph Fiennes looks back on a lifetime of exploration, and draws powerful, inspiring lessons that we can all use when faced by the tribulations of everyday life. $36.99 HC Quercus Publishing

Business 65 Right Kind of Wrong

Chokepoint Capitalism

The Science of Failing Well

How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We’ll Win Them Back

AMY C EDMONDSON

With vivid, real-life stories from business, pop culture, history, and more, Edmondson gives us specifically tailored practices, skills, and mindsets to help us replace shame and blame with curiosity, vulnerability, and personal growth.

You’ll never look at failure the same way again.

REBECCA GIBLIN CORY DOCTOROW

Chokepoint Capitalism is a call to workers of all sectors to unite to help smash these chokepoints and take back the power and profit that’s being heisted away—before it’s too late. $25.00 PB Beacon Press

$38.99 HC Atria

Going Infinite

Clear Thinking

MICHAEL LEWIS

SHANE PARRISH

The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon

Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results

From the author of The Big Short and Flash Boys, the story of FTX’s spectacular collapse and the enigmatic founder at its center. Going Infinite is Michael Lewis at the top of his game, tracing the mindbending trajectory of a character who never liked the rules and was allowed to live by his own—until it all came undone.

Through stories, mental models, and more, Parrish offers the missing link between behavioral science and real-life outcomes. The result is a must-have manual for optimizing decision-making, gaining competitive advantage, and living a more intentional life.

$40.00 HC WW Norton

$36.00 HC Penguin Canada

Hidden Potential

Do Start

The Science of Achieving Greater Things

How to Create and Run a Business (That Doesn’t Run You)

ADAM GRANT

DAN KIERAN

Many writers have chronicled the habits of superstars who accomplish great things. This book reveals how anyone can rise to achieve greater things. The true measure of your potential is not the height of the peak you’ve reached, but how far you’ve climbed to get there.

The entrepreneur’s path can be intimidating. It will test your creativity, resilience and push you further than you thought possible. But it is also one of the most rewarding journeys you will ever make. $22.95 PB Global Book Sales

$42.00 HC VIKING

Breaking Twitter

Thinking Better

Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History

The Art of the Shortcut in Math and Life

MARCUS DU SAUTOY

BEN MEZRICH

Success isn’t about hard work – it’s about shortcuts. Shortcuts allow us to solve one problem quickly so that we can tackle an even bigger one. And according to Marcus du Sautoy, math is the very art of the shortcut.

A rollicking, character-driven narrative by New York Times bestselling author Ben Mezrich, pulling back the curtain on the biggest business story of our time.

Can Musk miraculously succeed, or will he spectacularly fail? The whole world is watching. Breaking Twitter will provide ringside seats.

$23.99 PB Basic Books

$39.00 HC Grand Central Publishing

The End of Reality

How Four Billionaires are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, and Crypto

JONATHAN TAPLIN

A brilliant takedown and exposé of the great con job of the twenty-first century—the metaverse, crypto, space travel, transhumanism—being sold by four billionaires (Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreesen, Elon Musk), leading to the degeneration and bankruptcy of our society. $38.00 HC PublicAffairs

A year ago, we launched our monthly BookmarkTHIS! Newsletter. If you haven’t subscribed, you can sign up on each store’s web site. Gift yourself a free subscription and share in some bookish news once a month from your local bookstore.

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

66 More Gift Ideas France on Trial

Dominion

The Case of Marshal Pétain

The Railway and the Rise of Canada

JULIAN JACKSON

In the terrible month of October 1940, few things were more shocking than the sight of Marshal Philippe Pétain—supremely decorated hero of the First World War, now head of the French government—shaking hands with Hitler. Pausing to look at the cameras, Pétain announced that France would henceforth collaborate with Germany. “This is my policy,” he intoned. “My ministers are responsible to me. It is I alone who will be judged by History.”

STEPHEN BOWN

$49.95 HC Belknap Press

$39.95 HC Doubleday Canada

The Armor of Light

In The Company, his bestselling work of revisionist history, Stephen Bown told the dramatic, adventurous, and bloody tale of Canada's origins in the fur trade. With Dominion, he continues the nation's creation story with an equally gripping and eyeopening account of the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The Voyage of Sorcerer II

A Novel

The Expedition That Unlocked the Secrets of the Ocean’s Microbiome

KEN FOLLETT

The long-awaited sequel to A Column of Fire, The Armor of Light heralds a new dawn for Kingsbridge, England, where progress clashes with tradition, class struggles push into every part of society, and war in Europe engulfs the entire continent and beyond.

J CRAIG VENTER DAVID EWING DUNCAN ERLING NORRBY

A fifteen-year quest to collect DNA from the world’s oldest and most abundant form of life: microbes. Venter traveled over 65,000 miles around the globe to sample ocean water and the microscopic life within.

$51.00 HC Viking

$39.95 HC Belknap Press

Before Scotland

The Class

A Prehistory

A Memoir of a Place, a Time, and Us

ALISTAIR MOFFAT

This story of early Scotland begins 10,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age when the familiar Scottish geography of mountains, glens, and rugged coasts evolved. It follows the movement of huntergatherers north, the growth of fishing, the establishment of farming. $22.95

KEN DRYDEN

On Tuesday, September 6, 1960, the day after Labour Day, class 9G at Etobicoke Collegiate Institute in a suburb of Toronto assembled for the first time.

Its thirty-five students, having written special exams, came to be known as the “Selected Class.” This is the story of a place, a time, and so much more. $39.95 HC McClelland & Stewart

PB WW Norton

Great-Uncle Harry

Early Days

MICHAEL PALIN

BONNIE DEVINE SARAH MILROY

Indigenous Art from the McMichael

A Tale of War and Empire Great-Uncle Harry is an utterly compelling account of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life. A blend of biography, history, travelogue and personal memoir, this is Michael Palin at his very finest.

A landmark publication bringing together more than seventy voices illuminating the rich array of Indigenous art held by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. $70.00 HC Figure 1 Publishing

$38.00 HC Random House Canada

The Hockey Skates KARL SUBBAN MAGGIE ZENG

Inspired by Karl Subban’s son, NHL star PK Subban, The Hockey Skates is a story about maintaining perseverance and optimism through a series of comical misfortunes—all of which are brought to life by Maggie Zeng’s charming illustrations. $24.99 HC HarperCollins

Books Make Good Friends A Bibliophile Book

JANE MOUNT

This new picture book from beloved author-illustrator Jane Mount celebrates the avid reader, demonstrates how books make you better, and reassures anyone who has been anxious or uncertain about facing the real world. $28.99 HC Chronicle Books

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Bookseller Picks 67

Jamieson's Picks The book is the world’s most patient medium.

NORTHROP FRYE

BEST OF 2023 The Tenant Class RICARDO TRANJAN

A short, cogent and illuminating book on rental housing in Canada. Tranjan combats myths and proposes alternatives in ways that inspire.

The Blue Commons

Rescuing the Economy of the Sea

GUY STANDING

Standing distils an issue of oceanic proportions marvellously.

Plus, each of the Pelican series of which this title is a part are gorgeous, purse sized and just the right amount of floppy.

Wonder Confronts Certainty

Russian Writers on the Timeless Questions and Why Their Answers Matter

GARY SAUL MORSON

This book ponders and probes the “essences” of Russian classics. It is both a grounded introduction to philosophy for the literary minded and a way to read many books through one.

How to Write About Africa Collected Works

BINYAVANGA WAINAINA CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE ACHAL PRABHALA

Barbara Isn't Dying A Novel

Wainaina's wit and candour shine in this posthumous collection of essays. The style is varied and the topics range from the “Angelina Jollification of Africa” to perceptions of sexuality.

ALINA BRONSKY | TIM MOHR

This quirky, newly translated novel about a compassionate curmudgeon is a humorous yet layered delight.

My Name Is Red

CLARICE LISPECTOR KATRINA DODSON BENJAMIN MOSER

The Radiance of the King

Fernando Pessoa and Co. FERNANDO PESSOA RICHARD ZENITH

ORHAN PAMUK ERDAG GOKNAR

Half of a Yellow Sun

CAMARA LAYE JAMES KIRKUP TONI MORRISON

CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

The Inconvenient Indian THOMAS KING

His Name Was Death

The African Trilogy

CHINUA ACHEBE CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

RAFAEL BERNAL KIT SCHLUTER

Fathers and Children

IVAN TURGENEV NICOLAS PASTERNAK SLATER MAYA SLATER

PAST FAVOURITES

Complete Stories

The Age of Innocence

EDITH WHARTON

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

68 Bookseller Picks

Dominique's Picks Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend.

Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.

GROUCHO MARX

BEST OF 2023

Sure, I'll Join Your Cult A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere

MARIA BAMFORD

A memoir by the greatest living comedian. It deals mainly with mental illness, told in her signature quirky, surprising-funny way.

All Souls Poems

SASKIA HAMILTON

By one of my favourite poets, this book is her last, posthumous collection.

Meandering, intelligent, thoughtful. It made me glad to be alive.

Information Desk An Epic

ROBYN SCHIFF

An epic poetry collection featuring wasps and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Schiff writes breathy, winding lines that are fun to follow.

Sukun

New and Selected Poems

KAZIM ALI

Deliver Me From Nowhere

A selection from Ali’s six previous collections, with 35 new poems. Meditative poems that are both calming and revelatory. I love Ali’s work.

The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska

WARREN ZANES

For fans of The Boss, this book is a deep-dive into the making of Nebraska, one of folk-rock’s seminal albums. Informative, insightful, and elegantly-written.

Hallelujah Time

Brat

PAST FAVOURITES

VIRGINIA KONCHAN

Out of the Vinyl Deeps

Ghosthawk

American Estrangement

SAÏD SAYRAFIEZADEH

Exhalation TED CHIANG

SADIQA DE MEIJER

What We Both Know

NONA WILLIS ARONOWITZ SASHA FRERE-JONES DAPHNE CARR

MATT RADER

The Outer Wards

SOPHIE CROCKER

FAWN PARKER

Where Reasons End YIYUN LI

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Surrender & Resistance

KATIE FEWSTER-YAN

Bookseller Picks 69

Ben's Picks

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

OSCAR WILDE

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

BEST OF 2023

A Novel

BENJAMIN STEVENSON

This is a rare foray into mystery for me, but it's definitely got a twist. It's very very funny—think more Knives Out than Poirot—and it clearly has a deep love for the genre. It actually tells you in the opening pages when all the murders (and there are a few) will occur! Needless to say, this one may have made a mystery fan out of me, and that's saying something!

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow A Novel

GABRIELLE ZEVIN

This is my book of the year hands down. "Two friends make a video game together" is a tough pitch to get behind for some, but let me tell you this: it's a treatise on platonic love (and the societal pressure to make it something more), ambition, rivalry, and creativity. It's honestly perfect.

Oh God, The Sun Goes DAVID CONNOR

The premise is simple: the sun's gone out. The book transcends the premise on page one and never looks back. Weird, surreal, foreboding, deeply uncomfortable—all of these are compliments. You have to read this.

Tom Lake A Novel

ANN PATCHETT

In my other life, I'm an actor. It's so hard to get across the wistful emptiness (alongside the electric fullness) of a life in theatre, but Patchett does an incredible job here. She also manages to set a novel during the pandemic that doesn't feel like a book about the pandemic. This book is so beautiful, I've had to put it down a couple of times and walk it off.

Girlfriend on Mars DEBORAH WILLIS

I thought this was going to be my summer beach read this year, and it definitely succeeded in that regard—it's quirky and funny and charming at times—but it also has a distinct undercurrent of climate disaster and late-stage capitalism, commentary on reality TV and what "loving someone" actually means. I was so surprised by this book.

Why We Came to the City

HILARY FANNIN

A Visit from the Goon Squad

The Summer Tree GUY GAVRIEL KAY

KRISTOPHER JANSMA

Acting Class

NICK DRNASO

House of Leaves

MARK Z DANIELEWSKI

JENNIFER EGAN

Even Though I Knew the End C L POLK

This Is How You Lose the Time War AMAL EL-MOHTAR MAX GLADSTONE

Ayoade on Top RICHARD AYOADE

PAST FAVOURITES

The Weight of Love

What Your Hands Have Done CHRIS BAILEY

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

70 Bookseller Picks

Caitlin's Picks

If a story touches you, it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.

NEIL GAIMAN

BEST OF 2023

The Best of Everything RONA JAFFE RACHEL SYME

Set in the publishing world in New York, Rona Jaffe’s novel follows five women as they navigate life and careers in the 1950s. Originally published in 1958, The Best of Everything caused a sensation by being provocative, honest, and foresighted.

Good Pop, Bad Pop

The Sunday Times bestselling hit from Jarvis Cocker

JARVIS COCKER

Fresh Dirt From the Grave

I adore Jarvis Cocker; Pulp was the soundtrack of my teenage years. For any fans out there, this book is filled with anecdotes and pictures and it is quite frankly dreamy.

Beyond the Door of No Return A Novel

GIOVANNA RIVERO ISABEL ADEY

I would be remiss if I did not recommend a book from my favourite publisher. These gothic short stories speak so much to the curated collection of work that Charco Press puts out again and again. With aspects of horror and folklore these stories are utterly delicious.

Our Share of Night

DAVID DIOP SAM TAYLOR

A Novel

MARIANA ENRIQUEZ MEGAN MCDOWELL PABLO GERARDO CAMACHO

David Diop’s writing is beautiful. I hesitate to use the common descriptors to describe the impact his writing can have on the reader. He does historical fiction like no other.

I absolutely loved Mariana Enriquez’s short story collection so when I saw that she wrote a massive novel I gasped. There is something so disarming about her stories. They leave you feeling unnerved. She is such an exciting writer.

Perfect for fans of horror and fantasy.

A Rage in Harlem

The Black Spider

PAST FAVOURITES

CHESTER HIMES

The Caterpillar Dogs

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS TOM MITCHELL

Beauty Is a Wound EKA KURNIAWAN ANNIE TUCKER

Mordew

ALEX PHEBY

JEREMIAS GOTTHELF SUSAN BERNOFSKY

Slum Virgin

Bread Givers

GABRIELA CABEZÓN CÁMARA FRANCES RIDDLE

The Lady in the Lake RAYMOND CHANDLER

ANZIA YEZIERSKA DEBORAH FELDMAN

The Dry Heart NATALIA GINZBURG FRANCES FRENAYE

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Elmet

FIONA MOZLEY

Bookseller Picks 71

Ryan's Picks

… it is only out of habit … that the writer speaks of ‘my reader.’ In reality every reader is, while he is reading, the reader of his own self.

MARCEL PROUST

Leaving Good Things Behind

BEST OF 2023

Photographs of Atlantic Canada

DARREN CALABRESE

This gallery in print, and the stories with which it’s paired, always leaves me on the edge of speechlessness. Particularly, something in the lighting and composition of the photographs evokes in me each time I encounter them that same bittersweetness with which I’m struck each time I hear much of Stan Rogers’ oeuvre; each time, I just want to pause and sit with them for a while.

Marigold and Rose A Fiction

LOUISE GLÜCK

A mere fifty-five pages, this “fiction” welcomes its readers into the sophisticated inner lives of its titular characters—a pair of infant twins. Gentle, heartfelt, and mildly Woolfean, it ponders loss and loneliness, growth and hope, and the twins’ (and our) relationships with one another and with the world beyond their (and, perhaps, our) blankets and cribs.

Ducks

Two Years in the Oil Sands

KATE BEATON

Beaton shares her story skillfully—not only in pictures and words, but also through her masterful use of silence, negative space, and frame-size.

The result? A must-read graphic memoir swiftly taking its well-deserved place in whatever canon unflinchingly portrays the Maritime experience.

The HalfDrowned

TRYNNE DELANEY

In this novella of struggle, community, and sense-making in a postdiluvian, refuse-littered region of Turtle Island, Delaney’s storytelling neither soapboxes nor sinks into despair but remains surprisingly and delicately compassionate— extending that compassion even to the very dangers the characters face.

Almost Beauty

New and Selected Poems

SUE SINCLAIR

Each of these poems leads us to things both grand and mundane and invites us with quiet, wide-eyed warmth, to look: to wonder at the (sometimes fragile) beauty there. Even the order in which the poems are presented is a kind of wandering pilgrimage from the Prado through our back-yards to a Heaven of dusty-robed angels and reflections on loss.

The Odyssey

EDITH WHARTON

The Great Divorce

On Beauty

ZADIE SMITH

C S LEWIS

Glorious Light

HOMER EMILY WILSON

JOHN LEROUX

CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

Impressionism in the Age of Industry Warrior Life

PAMELA PALMATER

Pachinko MIN JIN LEE

CAROLINE SHIELDS JOSEPH CLARKE MARY HUNTER

Half of a Yellow Sun

PAST FAVOURITES

The Age of Innocence

What Strange Paradise OMAR EL AKKAD

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

72 Bookseller Picks

Emma C's Picks

Fiction gives us empathy: it puts us inside the minds of other people, gives us the gift of seeing through their eyes.

NEIL GAIMAN

My Best Friend's Exorcism

BEST OF 2023

A Novel

GRADY HENDRIX

Fourth Wing REBECCA YARROS

Twenty-one-year-old Violet Sorrengail is forced to fight for her life in a war school for dragon-riding soldiers. Along the way, she manages to find love, friendship, and her true purpose. I adored this novel. It was a fast-paced and fun read, perfect for fantasy lovers. “A dragon without its rider is a tragedy. A rider without their dragon is dead.”

Set in the 80s, best friends Abby and Gretchen are starting high school when suddenly Gretchen starts to change; when strange coincidences and odd behaviour start piling up, Abby comes to the natural conclusion that Gretchen is possessed by a demon. This book is an homage to the 80s and the goofy films that the horror genre provided at the time, and I loved it.

“Demons are ideas made flesh.”

The Mitten JAN BRETT

When a young boy loses his mitten in a winter wonderland, a charming adventure among animal friends ensues. This is an absolutely beautiful story accompanied by colourful illustrations and a wonderful mix of characters. Perfect for children during the winter months. “A little mole found it and crawled inside. It was just the right size, so he decided to stay.”

The Silent Patient ALEX MICHAELIDES

Ajin 1

Criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber takes on the case of a lifetime, working with Alicia Berenson, infamously known for shooting her husband five times in the face before going mute.

Very little is the way it seems in this addictive psychological thriller and it had me hooked from the first chapter. “Her silence was like a mirror reflecting yourself at you.”

Demi-Human

GAMON SAKURAI

Student Kei Nagai is struck dead in a traffic accident, but then he gets up; after this incident, he realizes that he is a supernatural being known as a demi-human. With this knowledge he goes on the run. This manga is a quick and exhilarating read with beautiful illustrations. It is sure to impress those looking for a new manga series, as well as lovers of Tokyo Ghoul.

No Longer Human

Hooked

PAST FAVOURITES

OSAMU DAZAI DONALD KEENE

I'm Glad My Mom Died

American Psycho

JENNETTE MCCURDY

On Writing STEPHEN KING

The Hobbit

NEIL GAIMAN DAVE MCKEAN

Vicious

V E SCHWAB

BRET EASTON ELLIS

J R R TOLKIEN

Coraline

EMILY MCINTIRE

Birds of Eastern Canada DK

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Mushrooms

JAMES KAVANAGH RAYMOND LEUNG

Bookseller Picks 73

Mike's Picks

To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.

VICTOR HUGO

BEST OF 2023 The Adversary A Novel

MICHAEL CRUMMEY

Michael Crummey has delivered a wallop of a novel. In a vernacular that had me dazzled by its poetic force, this tale of early Newfoundland commercial competition is simply spectacular, infused with a sibling rivalry of operatic proportions, a most unforgiving climate and threats of marauders from the sea. Hold onto your piggin!

Good Pop, Bad Pop

The Sunday Times bestselling hit from Jarvis Cocker

JARVIS COCKER

I think all pop is good for one reason or another, so Jarvis Cocker's title alone was an invitation for me to wander through his thought processes on music in general. Using the ephemera of popular music culture that he finds in the nooks and crannies of his home, he joyously examines his quotidian life and the creative journey of a songsmith. And like Jarvis himself, the book is impeccably designed.

Age of Vice A Novel

DEEPTI KAPOOR

Age of Vice could be considered a throwback to a time when thick, crime/family sagas were at the top of the bestseller lists. A sprawling tale of the poor and the newly rich coexisting in the rapidly changing India of the 2000s, Kapoor's novel can proudly stand with these adventurous and breathtaking classics.

Honeybees and Distant Thunder

The million copy awardwinning Japanese bestseller

RIKU ONDA PHILIP GABRIEL

A runaway hit in Japan, I was initially intrigued by this novel's central story of young participants entered in an international piano competition.

As classical pieces are performed by the contestants for each stage of the event, Rika Onda manages the challenging feat of interpreting music through words and phrases.

She is triumphant and I understood why this book has become a phenomenon.

Pageboy A Memoir

ELLIOT PAGE

Elliot Page had lived one life under a spotlight and another in shadow. In the writing of this searingly honest and restorative memoir, Elliot has shown us that it is possible to find the sunshine we deserve.

Chasing Smoke

KIM FU

RAWI HAGE

ANDREY KURKOV BORIS DRALYUK

AARON WILLIAMS

Canadian Poetry from the Beginnings Through the First World War

Carnival

Grey Bees

Borne

JEFF ANDERMEER

CAROLE GERSON GWENDOLYN DAVIES

The Age of Movies

PAULINE KAEL SANFORD SCHWARTZ

A Whale for the Killing FARLEY MOWAT

Margaret Atwood

ROSEMARY SULLIVAN

PAST FAVOURITES

For Today I Am A Boy

The Waves

VIRGINIA WOOLF

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

74 Bookseller Picks

Lorna's Picks

Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.

LLOYD ALEXANDER

BEST OF 2023

The London Séance Society A Novel

SARAH PENNER

I was initially attracted to the supernatural aspect of this book, which I found to be well executed.

The plot of two women, during the Victorian era, sleuthing in an elite men's club was both suspenseful and engaging.

The Bullet That Missed A Thursday Murder Club Mystery

RICHARD OSMAN

I can't get enough of this book series. This quartet of sleuths may be aging, but they will not be outsmarted. This book is funny, it's full of unexpected twists and I am hooked.

We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies A Novel

TSERING YANGZOM LAMA

I was completely immersed in this story of Lhamo and her sister Tenkyi who flee Tibet with their parents during China's invasion. It is a story of culture, displacement, love and hardships. It is a story that is both engaging and beautifully written.

Gideon the Ninth TAMSYN MUIR

The Urban Sketching Handbook— Understanding Light

This was my first dive into the world of necromancers, and I could not put it down. I was fascinated with the world and the trials that Tamsyn Muir created. And while I had no idea where it would lead, I enjoyed the character of Gideon so much that I had to follow along.

Portraying Light Effects in On-Location Drawing and Painting

KATIE WOODWARD

The Urban Sketching Handbooks are my "go to" for tips and tricks in the art of sketching. There is a wide variety of topics including colour, perspective, and general tips and tricks, as well as clear explanations and lots of examples. As technical guides, these handbooks are hard to beat.

Night Train to Marrakech

Trust Your Vibes

PAST FAVOURITES

DINAH JEFFERIES

Jennie's Boy

WAYNE JOHNSTON

Under the Whispering Door

SONIA CHOQUETTE

The Whispering Dark

TJ KLUNE

The Course in Miracles Experiment

KELLY ANDREW

PAM GROUT

Le Pit à papa Ink and Wash Florals CAMILLA DAMSBO BRIX

Prince Edward Island JOHN SYLVESTER

The Sea Gate JANE JOHNSON

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

MARIE-FRANCE COMEAU MARIE CADIEUX ANGELE ARSENAULT

Bookseller Picks 75

Leslie's Picks

Take my books away and I should be desperate!

EMILY BRONTË

BEST OF 2023

Atalanta A Novel

Pineapple Street A Novel

JENNY JACKSON

This was an absolutely entertaining and clever novel about relationships—parent/child, sibling, romantic—interesting obsessions and a look into the world of elite New York. You won't like them all, but you'll be fascinated by them.

JENNIFER SAINT

Jennifer Saint brings this classic tale to life through her description of the environment that Atalanta grows up in and the adventure she finds as an Argonaut. It's at times thrilling, unnerving and emotional.

The Everlasting Meal Cookbook Leftovers A-Z

TAMAR ADLER CAITLIN WINNER

Those who love cookbooks and read them like novels are probably familiar with Adler's An Everlasting Meal. This long-awaited follow up is as practical as it is gorgeous. You'll never run out of ideas to reduce your food waste and really enjoy the results.

The World

A Family History of Humanity

SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE

I Have Some Questions for You

I was fortunate to attend a Q&A with the author in London and I had to start this as soon as I got home. Although you can read it in bits and pieces (and it's been designed that way), I didn't want to put it down. You've heard of some, maybe many, of these people. You definitely haven't heard of them all.

A Novel

REBECCA MAKKAI

There is a mystery at the heart of this novel, but that's not the only (or even most) interesting thing about it. A potentially unreliable narrator, multiple timelines and a host of unique characters advance the story and keep you guessing the whole way.

A Room of One's Own

SAMANTHA SHANNON

JANE AUSTEN GILLIAN BEER

PATRICK DEWITT

VIRGINIA WOOLF

The Plantagenets

Persuasion

French Exit

The Odyssey

DAN JONES

HOMER EMILY WILSON

The Irish Assassins

JULIE KAVANAGH

Jane Eyre

CHARLOTTE BRONTË DIANE JOHNSON

The Summer Tree GUY GAVRIEL KAY

PAST FAVOURITES

The Priory of the Orange Tree

Voracious

CARA NICOLETTI MARION BOLOGNESE

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

76 Bookseller Picks

Dan's Picks Let’s be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading.

LENA DUNHAM

BEST OF 2023

Bad Actors MICK HERRON

This is book 8 in the Slough House Series. Yes, I am a fan of Jackson Lamb and his motley crew of disgraced MI5 spies. I have read all eight books in the series and am eagerly awaiting book 9.

Lots of dry humour and musings on modern day British politics.

Moon of the Crusted Snow A Novel

WAUBGESHIG RICE

I may be breaking the rules including this as it came out in 2018 but I finally just read it this year. It is a haunting story of a crumbling society and the resilience of one man to survive through valuing old ways. It deserves to be read especially since its hotly anticipated sequel, Moon of the Turning Leaves just came out.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop A Novel

SATOSHI YAGISAWA ERIC OZAWA

The wise and charming international bestseller about a young woman who loses everything but finds herself. A refreshing tale of new beginnings, romantic and family relationships, and especially the comfort that can be found in books.

The Wager

A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

How Big Things Get Done

DAVID GRANN

The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, From Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between

Riveting, narrative non-fiction.

A very interesting bit of history, an exposure of what life was like on a 17th century British war ship and a harrowing adventure. A real page turner but one that dampened my interest in being in a boat.

BENT FLYVBJERG DAN GARDNER

A surprise best seller at Bookmark, this is my professional development title. It includes some really good advice, some new and some that serve as a refresher, for undertaking big or small projects.

A Factotum in the Book Trade

Foster

PAST FAVOURITES

MARIUS KOCIEJOWSKI

Jennie's Boy

WAYNE JOHNSTON

100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants for Canadian Gardens LORRAINE JOHNSON ANDREW LEYERLE

Some Hellish

CLAIRE KEEGAN

Wild Light

Ink and Wash Florals

ANGELA HARDING

Sea of Tranquility EMILY ST JOHN MANDEL

NICHOLAS HERRING

CAMILLA DAMSBO BRIX

When We Cease to Understand the World BENJAMIN LABATUT ADRIAN NATHAN WEST

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

On Browsing JASON GURIEL

Bookseller Picks 77

Rebecca's Picks

I love to give the proper name to what I see… always [when writing] for children–never use the word tree or bird or flower, you say this is a daisy, this is a forget-me-not… every word is a poem.

TOMI UNGERER

BEST OF 2023

Mall Goth

KATE LETH DIANA SOUSA ROBIN CRANK

Kate Leth’s graphic novel is a solid and lovely addition to the world of young adult coming-ofage books. The characters are funny, likable and realistic and the tangled mess of adolescence is presented with nuance, tenderness, and Plant-Led Pairings, Recipes, honesty—proving Leth’s respect & affection for younger readers. and Ideas for Cooks

The Flavor Thesaurus: More Flavors NIKI SEGNIT

The Devil's Treasure MARY GAITSKILL

Printed beautifully by the imprint series McNally Editions, The Devil’s Treasure is a unique reading experience—a collage-style Greatest Hits compilation with a running commentary. As a huge fan of Gaitskill’s writing, it’s fascinating and a treat to revisit themes through complementary selections from her novels, and to then read her thoughts on those pieces.

SAMMY HARKHAM

Sammy Harkham’s graphic novel (which ran as an extended story in his comic book series Crickets for 14 years) is a sumptuous and addictive portal into the grindhouse movie-making scene in 1970’s Los Angeles, and into the world of Seymour, a 27-year-old Iraqi Jewish immigrant as he juggles working in this scene with being a husband and father. The artwork, storytelling and character renderings are gorgeous and heartfelt, and promise to reward many re-readings.

Bluebeard's Castle A Novel

ANNA BILLER

Anna Biller is one of contemporary film’s most talented auteurs, and in Bluebeard’s Castle she, as in her films, applies her trademark lush, nostalgic feminine style & decor to a modern setting. It’s a page-turning, fun approach to a gothic romance, while also viscerally exploring how people get trapped in toxic, dangerous relationships.

Use Your Imagination!

Little Fish

KRIS BERTIN

Collected Poems of Alden Nowlan

Wendy, Master of Art

DAVID HUEBERT

Watermark

CHRISTY ANN CONLIN

WALTER SCOTT

ALDEN NOWLAN BRIAN BARTLETT

Peninsula Sinking

CASEY PLETT

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible!

JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN

Queen Solomon TAMARA FAITH BERGER

Curry

NABEN RUTHNUM

PAST FAVOURITES

Blood of the Virgin

In keeping with the Tomi Ungerer quote above, Segnit’s compendium of plant-led flavor pairings is inspiring in its joyous dedication to the unique details of each ingredient.

Her writing is a crisp delight and is full of surprises, such as a poem she writes about the combination of radishes & rye bread.

Nights Below Station Street

DAVID ADAMS RICHARDS

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

78 Bookseller Picks

Sophie's Picks "One must always be careful of books," said Tessa, "and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us."

CASSANDRA CLARE

Song of the Sparrow

BEST OF 2023

A Memoir

TARA MACLEAN

Even if you haven’t heard of local musician Tara MacLean, her memoir still sparks interest. Starting from her turbulent early life on PEI and through the years of her music career, this biography explores her relationships with people and places along the way. A must-read for any music fan.

Betting on You LYNN PAINTER

Several chance encounters bring together Bailey and Charlie who can't seem to get along. That is, until they make a bet with each other. The novel is mostly light and fun, but also addresses social issues such as moving, separation and lies.

Nine Liars

MAUREEN JOHNSON

Stevie and her friends leave boarding school to embark on a London adventure. But along the way they become embroiled in an unsolved murder case. Budding detective Stevie won’t rest until this case is solved. Alternating between the past and present, this novel is perfect for fans of YA murder mysteries, particularly The Good Girls Guide to Murder series.

Meet Me at the Lake

Sweet Valley Twins Best Friends

CARLEY FORTUNE

A Graphic Novel

This standalone romance story follows Fern as she wrestles with her obligations and dreams, with the plot constantly weaving between her past and present, while also uncovering family secrets along the way.

FRANCINE PASCAL CLAUDIA AGUIRRE NICOLE ANDELFINGER

A massively popular kids series in the 90s, Sweet Valley Twins has been re-launched as a graphic novel. Jessica and Elizabeth are different in every way, except for their looks. The story follows the identical Californian twins as they tackle the timeless problems of middle school, friends and family.

Heartstopper

I'm Glad My Mom Died

PAST FAVOURITES

ALICE OSEMAN

All of Us Villains

AMANDA FOODY C L HERMAN

The House in the Cerulean Sea

JENNETTE MCCURDY

TJ KLUNE

Book Lovers

Honor Girl

EMILY HENRY

MAGGIE THRASH

Five Survive HOLLY JACKSON

On Sleepy Hill PATRICIA HEGARTY XUAN LE

Scattered Showers RAINBOW ROWELL

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Madeline

LUDWIG BEMELMANS

Bookseller Picks 79

Kim's Picks I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

BEST OF 2023

The Puzzler A J JACOBS GREG PLISKA

The Everlasting Meal Cookbook Leftovers A-Z

TAMAR ADLER

A wonderfully quirky read that provides plenty of trivia and history about all things puzzle related.

From jigsaws to crosswords to speed-cubing and more, this exploration of the human fascination with puzzles will engage novice and ardent solvers alike.

A reference book that is both informative and engaging, whether browsing through or seeking a specific consultation. No matter what, this book helps the home cook use accumulated ends, bits, spoonfuls, and leftovers in creative, delicious ways.

The Narrow Road Between Desires PATRICK ROTHFUSS

After eight years of waiting, another novella focused on a character from The Kingkiller Chronicles! This time, it’s Bast, the fae, who features in this tale of a single day.

The Whalebone Theatre JOANNA QUINN

Agatha Christie A Very Elusive Woman

LUCY WORSLEY

I thought I knew Agatha Christie—I’ve read the canon, the autobiography, and a couple of biographies. Happily, there is more to know and this volume delivers it with great interest and appreciation for “the Queen of Crime.”

Babel

Dinner in One

R F KUANG

A Field Guide to Getting Lost

A Gentleman in Moscow

MELISSA CLARK

100 Poems

AMOR TOWLES

Upstream

SEAMUS HEANEY

MARY OLIVER

REBECCA SOLNIT

Saudade ANIK SEE

The Overstory RICHARD POWERS

The Atlas Six OLIVIE BLAKE

PAST FAVOURITES

Surrounding the reader in atmospheric description, and the sweep of history from after WWI through WWII, this is a read to savour like the best sort of company—full of imagination and never growing old. The pacing is a slow unfolding of time spent with clever, selfsufficient characters that I wept and laughed with, rooted for, and deeply admired.

Burning Questions MARGARET ATWOOD

VISIT US ONLINE AT www.bookmarkreads.ca

Hello Book Friends, At Bookmark, our wonderful team of passionate booksellers read widely and love sharing their latest favourite books, our well-curated stores are bursting with new books, stationery, puzzles and games and book related gift products and our Bookmark event schedule has been full with wonderful author events. We sincerely thank our growing community of customers who believe in the importance of shopping at local, independent businesses and who share our love of books and reading.

In September, Bookmark finalized the purchase of the Westminster Books business in Fredericton, allowing long-time owner, Janet North, to take a well-deserved and overdue retirement after 46 years in the book business.

A special hello to Fredericton from Westminster Bookmark. If you are not familiar with Bookmark, we have been in business in Charlottetown since 1972 and Halifax since 1989. We are known for our well-curated stores, as well as for our support for local authors and our author events. It is our intention to carry on the legacy of Janet North and Westminster Books and build upon it. Each of our stores is unique to its community and this will not change. You will discover more books as we increase the number of titles that we stock along with the established stationery lines, puzzles and games that are popular in Charlottetown and Halifax. We are reactive to customer feedback so let us know what you are looking for. You can also shop on the Westminster Bookmark website, www.westminster.bookmarkreads.ca and keep up to date on our event schedule as we endeavour to bring authors to the Fredericton location.

Charlottetown 172 Queen Street 902.566.4888

Halifax 5686 Spring Garden Road 902.423.0419

Fredericton 88 York Street 506.454.1442