Happy Canada Day! In between painting your face red-and-white and heading off the see the fireworks, why not kick back with a home grown read? Dill pickle chips optional. 

Here’s our pick of the recent releases:

1. In Between Days by Teva Harrison

If you’re a little hesitant that perhaps reading a book about metastatic cancer might spoil your sunny summer idyll, fear not: This graphic (as in comic book form) memoir of one Toronto woman’s life with terminal cancer is a powerful and ultimately uplifting meditation and celebration of life, and enjoying it however it gets handed to us. 

2. 13 Ways of Looking At A Fat Girl by Mona Awad

For every kid that grew up in the ‘burbs and dreamed of escaping (and reinventing yourself) in the big city, this one’s for you. Awad’s tale catches up with a survivor of ‘Misery-Saga’ (aka the GTA’s Mississauga) years after she leaves behind the chubby girl she used to be….only to find that you can never really erase the child that you were. 

3. Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeline Thien 

This is the generational story of a Chinese family that moves from Mao’s cultural revolution to Tianemen Square to modern day Vancouver, packing a whole hefty helping of heart, humour and just really, really compelling characters in between.