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I'll start off. A year of books is really hard to look through and find a best one. I could rationalize any of ten or so titles as my best read this year and the range of genre and topic is rather large. From Canada to Japan to Azerbaijan. From history to science fiction dystopia to magical realism to even romance and a memoir. In the end, I’m going to give the nod to:
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston. This is the book the literary club should have voted for in the month I gave the nominations. It had me from the storm on the pack ice and it didn’t let me up for all 592 pages. I laughed, I gasped, I rolled my eyes. I loved it all.
Other notable reads in no particular order:
Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. Murakami at his alternate world best. A book my mom dismissed as nonsense. I loved it.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. If dystopian post-apocalypse can be poetry then this is it.
One Native Life by Richard Wagamese. A book about how to live. There is more useful information on how to forgive and move on then any book I've read. I’ll throw in Indian Horse by the same author in the best reads for this year as well. It is a brilliant book.
Ali and Nino by Kurban Said. A love story written many years ago that still resonates with themes for today.
February by Lisa Moore. Gut-wrencher of the year award for the first fifty pages.
Executive Summary: read things from Canadian authors, eh.
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