Each week, Globe and Mail staffers and readers share what they’re reading now, whether it’s a hot new release or an old book they’re discovering for the first time. Here’s the latest, with more to come every Friday. Tell me about a book you loved and we might publish your recommendation. Fill out this form, or send your book recommendation to Lara Pingue at lpingue@globeandmail.com
See our full 2023-2024 archive of book recommendations
All FoursSupplied
All Fours, Miranda July
In what has been dubbed ‘The First Great Perimenopause Novel,’ Miranda July’s All Fours follows an unnamed 45-year-old woman intent on a fresh start. Leaving her husband and child behind, she embarks on a cross-country road trip, which is quickly derailed after she locks eyes with a handsome stranger. She settles into a motel, spends $20,000 renovating it and begins a lustful obsession while grappling with stream-of-consciousness existential questions. Her sexual exploits are sometimes uncomfortable to read, but her shameless journey to self-discovery is also refreshing. The witty, earnest prose will keep you reading through the cringe.
-Globe editor Aruna Dutt
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Travels with Charley: In Search of America, John Steinbeck
My book club is comprised of a bunch of women in their 80s like me, and we’ve been reading and discussing books for over 45 years. In my hunt for a new title, I found an oldie on my shelf: Travels with Charley: In Search of America, written by John Steinbeck in 1962. The titular Charley is a dog and the perfect companion for Steinbeck in his search for the answer to his question, “What are Americans like today?” Man and dog shelter in a custom-made camper nicknamed Rocinante, and Steinbeck describes everything – the weather, his fellow travellers, the laundry – as only he can. Charley simply nods in agreement. The book turned out to be one of those reading experiences that we live for. I kept saying to myself, “I’m loving this!”
-Globe reader Sally Mooney, Ottawa
Democracy in One Book or Less, David Litt
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What’s really going on in the U.S. and what’s at stake in the 2024 election? In his 2020 book Democracy in One Book or Less: How it Works; Why It Doesn’t; And Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think, author David Litt explores how the U.S. political system is moving toward autocracy, almost entirely by design. Litt argues most Americans are opposed to this and places the blame for the execution of this pernicious political strategy primarily on just one person in the Republican power structure (Who, you ask? Read the book to find out.). Voting is an obvious way to exercise democracy, but there are many easier-than-you-think things that Americans can do. Read on!
-Globe reader Walter Shoup, Boucherville, Que.
Case Study, Graeme Macrae Burnet
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Graeme Macrae Burnet’s Case Study (longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize) is the best type of novel: the sharply crafted, deeply intelligent but compulsively readable kind. Case Study purports to be an account of the life of a radical and philandering psychotherapist, Collins Braithwaite, who enjoys a fling with fame in the mid-1960s when he claims the most effective therapy is no therapy at all. Evidence of Braithwaite’s unconventional practices are found in five notebooks – the diary of one of his patients, a repressed young woman pretending to be someone more vivacious while she investigates the suicide of her sister, a former client of Braithwaite’s. Questions of identity are braided through the book: who we are, and who we think we are, and why they are never the same person. As soon as you stop reading, you’ll want to read it again.
-Globe reporter Ian Brown
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Long Island Compromise, Taffy Brodesser-Akner
The Fletchers of Long Island Compromise live in the largest house “on a block of extremely robbable homes” in Middle Rock, a mainly Jewish enclave where the Long Island Sound is “their own personal swimming pool.” In 1980, Carl Fletcher is kidnapped. His wife, Ruth, pays a $250,000 ransom for his (bumpy) return and his mother, Phyllis, immediately begins compartmentalizing. “This happened to your body. This did not happen to you. Don’t let it in,” Phyllis says. It’s impossible not to, and decades later, the three adult Fletcher kids are fantastically warped. Author Taffy Brodesser-Akner scrutinizes generational wealth and trauma with clear eyes. Her fictionalized version of a real abduction is a few great things at once – a comedy, a mystery, and a twist on the American Dream.
-Maryam Sanati, managing director of product growth and innovation
Monsters: A Fan's DilemmaSupplied
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, Claire Dederer
What do we do with the art of monstrous men and women? It’s a question more pertinent than ever, given the explosive news about Alice Munro earlier this month. It’s also the question at the centre of Claire Dederer’s newest book, Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, which is based on her earlier essay on the same topic during the #MeToo movement. Can we still love the art made by men like Michael Jackson, Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso? Dederer also explores the idea of women who abandon their children to create their art. Is it possible that we’re all monsters to some degree? This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book.
-Globe reader Sheryl Irwin, Victoria
The Broken Places, Frances Peck
The Broken Places, by Frances PeckSupplied
What would happen if “The Big One” actually hit the West Coast? That’s the premise of The Broken Places by Frances Peck, which follows a cast of characters in the aftermath of a magnitude-9 earthquake in Vancouver. A tech tycoon’s house on the bay becomes the epicentre of the drama when several passersby and a landscaper take shelter. By capturing their fears and sharing their dilemmas, the author makes these complex, believable characters come alive on the page. Charlotte, the tech tycoon’s discontented wife, takes advantage of the chaos around her to discard her old life and step into a new one. This clever, insightful novel forces readers to examine their commitment to the status quo.
-Globe reader Rachel Baxter, Irishtown, N.B.
Piglet, Lottie Hazell
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My book club recently read Lottie Hazell’s debut novel Piglet, which became a big talker in my group. The story centres on Piglet, an up-and-coming cookbook editor in London who is no slouch in the kitchen. Her plan for a picture-perfect life is culminating with an upcoming marriage to the upper-class Kit. But when he confesses a betrayal just 13 days before the wedding, Piglet’s world is overcome by a hunger she didn’t know she had – slowly at first and then all at once. Reader beware: Hazell makes some narrative decisions that keep important details undisclosed. Still, it’s a worthy read. Come for the mouth-watering food descriptions, stay for the smart commentary on female ambition, desire and class dynamics.
–Danielle Webb, deputy visuals editor, data & digital storytelling
Monday Rent Boy, Susan Doherty
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Monday Rent Boy by Susan Doherty is a sensational, heartbreaking story about two teenage boys both abused in childhood. It is about mentorship, being a bystander, divided loyalties, and family secrecy. Above all, it is an examination of resilience. What does it take to rise above trauma versus what crushes someone? It is unputdownable with the best ending I have ever read. This is a book that needed to be written and needs to be read.
–Globe reader Hal Hannaford, Westmount, QC
I’m So Glad We Had this Time Together, Maurice Vellekoop
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I love a book that allows you to walk in someone else’s shoes, and this time it was a graphic novel that took me on that journey. I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together: A Memoir by Maurice Vellekoop is an epic work at almost 500 pages, with visuals and a story that are remarkably honest and engaging. Vellekoop depicts growing up in a Dutch immigrant family who were members of the Christian Reform Church, and held somewhat conservative social views. As a young gay man, he struggled to find his place in the world, suffering from depression along the way. Vellekoop tells this very personal story with such humour and insight that you will see in no time why his comics have been published in celebrated magazines including Vogue and The New Yorker. He illustrates a very specific time and location, and getting to see the evolution of the city of Toronto and its suburbs from the 1970s to the 2000s certainly brought back memories.
-Globe reader Kelly Irwin, Waterloo, Ont.
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A Serious Widow, Constance Beresford-Howe
When the fussy and penny-pinching Edwin Hill dies, his widow Rowena has trouble grieving as her overbearing friends and family think she should. Soon, another shock: She wasn’t the only Mrs. Edwin Hill. Rowena’s husband had another life with another wife, and a son who’s out to prove it. In A Serious Widow, late Canadian author Constance Beresford-Howe tells the comical and disastrous story of Rowena’s journey into widowhood and independence, which includes attracting some very agreeable suitors. Looking back on her marriage and calling it a “holy deadlock,” Rowena sets sail on a whole new sea.
-Globe reader Barbara Bagnell, Toronto
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I Am Pilgrim, Terry Hayes
I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes tells the story of a former master spy, Pilgrim, who returns to the shadowy corridors of espionage, terrorism and religious fanaticism to thwart an attack on the United States. This action-packed thriller predates the COVID-19 pandemic but touches on the same themes of danger and destruction. The ever-mounting suspense rises constantly, leaving the reader compulsively turning pages and staying up too late. They will be rewarded.
-Globe reader Greg Finucan, Orillia, Ont.
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Shrines of Gaiety, Kate Atkinson
Kate Atkinson’s Shrines of Gaiety is a rollicking read about London’s club scene in the roaring twenties, where the elite rub shoulders with starlets, gangsters and hard-working girls who sell dances for a shilling. Atkinson does a superb job of setting the scene and writing compelling characters, including Nellie Coker, the madame who owns the clubs, the librarian-turned-sleuth Gwendolyn Kelling and John Frobisher, the cop who is trying to shut the clubs down. Atkinson refers to a plethora of London landmarks, including the embankment, the Savoy and the boating lake in Regent’s Park. I felt like I was living in London when I read it.
-Globe reader Jane McCall, Ladner, B.C.
The Globe 100: The best books of 2022
Tell us about a book you love
What are you reading now? Is it a hot new release or an old classic you're discovering for the first time? Share all about your latest literary obsession below.