Reading List: Spring brings books that mesmerize, educate, and inspire
Nobel Prize-winning writer Kazuo Ishiguro and renegade B.C. biologist Alexandra Morton are among the authors with new must-reads
ABOUT 100 YEARS ago, the world was recovering from what came to be known as the Great War. Author and futurist H.G. Wells published a book about it, The War That Will End War – except it didn’t.
Such a book would these days fall under the category of Speculative Non-Fiction, but Wells’s most famous book, The War of the Worlds, would turn up in Science Fiction—or hang on, doesn’t it belong in Classics?
Welcome to Upstart & Crow Literary Arts Studio. Welcome to our monthly column in Stir. Welcome to the work we get very excited about: pondering how best to share books with their readers.
Our love of stories led us last year to a—some would say—foolhardy plan: in the summer we launched an independent bookstore and literary space in Vancouver in the middle of a pandemic.
There are four immediate reactions when people discover us: thank goodness there’s a bookstore back on Granville Island; your space is beautiful (thank you); what on Earth were you thinking; and, you’ve really curated your books in an interesting way.
That last one has been the most gratifying reaction of all.
Our aim—in all our activities—is to make visible the imperceptible lines between books, themes, ideas, and their future devourers; story lines that otherwise may go undiscovered. This, and the feeling that it’s always so difficult to find the perfect book, led us to stack our shelves somewhat differently than most other bookstores.
Do you want to immerse in social and political issues and wrestle with the hot topics of the day? Do you want to escape current realities with a page-turner that still has literary chops? Are you looking for a novel with a strong female lead? Do you want a deep epic about the human condition, or something that will protect your heart? Our shelves are curated by the reading experience you want to have—and we hope this column will do the same in the coming months.
Here are a few titles to launch you into spring from our various tables and shelves.
What Comes Next (or, how we make a better world):
Not on My Watch: How a renegade whale biologist took on governments and industry to save wild salmon (Penguin Random House Canada) by Alexandra Morton.
This is already racing off the shelves and deservedly so. Morton has written a devastating account of her 30-year fight to stop the pollution of the B.C. coast by the salmon farming industry. The book almost reads like a crime thriller, and her forensic account of the threats to wild salmon is an absolute must-read.
New and Exceptional:
Klara and the Sun (Knopf) by Kazuo Ishiguro.
A Nobel Prize winner, Ishiguro casts a keen eye on the modern world and artificial intelligence in particular. “There was this question,” Ishiguro told the Guardian recently, “ – it always sounds very pompous – about the human soul: do we actually have one or not?” His answer might surprise you.
Found in Translation:
Wild Swims (Graywolf Press) by Dorthe Nors; translated from the Danish by Misha Hoekstra.
The AP has called the 14 stories in this slim collection “mesmerizing, addictive…” but we can’t say it better than Lit Hub in describing this maestro of short stories: “If she were a surgeon, she would cut with the cleanest of lines.” These are tales of what it is to be human—the connections, the murky longing, the pull for both adventure and home. Each vignette is just a few pages—enough to immerse you in a scene or an emotion, yet perfect for pandemic attention spans.
Uplifting Read:
Stories from the Magic Canoe of Wa’xaid (Rocky Mountain Books [RMB]) by Cecil Paul as told to Briony Penn.
An incredible story of perseverance, recovery, and courage by one of the finest leaders we’ve had the privilege to know. The Kitlope Valley remains unlogged thanks to Paul’s warm invitation to join his Magic Canoe — an invitation that continues to this day.
Meanwhile, a final thought about categories and Alex Morton’s book. Maybe we should put it in our Planet and Politics section, but no, Ian’s decided to elevate it straight to the Classics section. It really is that good.
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