I admit I have been procrastinating writing this blog post. June has been a terrible, painful, heart-breaking month in Canada, with the discovery of the remains of over 1000 Indigenous children on several former residential school sites. It is expected that many more will be found. I’m sure that readers have likely already heard and read A LOT about this news, and in coming here, may be looking for more of an escape. In the end, though, it didn’t feel right to simply ignore what has happened this month and post my usual (mostly) upbeat book reviews and book-ish news.
Ironically, June is also National Indigenous History Month and June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. While there is nothing that we as Canadians can do to change what happened, these devastating findings serve to highlight the importance of these celebratory and educational events. Of course, these dedicated days and months are only a small part of the work that needs to be done in this country, but we all know that education and awareness play a key role in our efforts to eradicate racism and bigotry.
I don’t claim to be an expert by any means, and I’m not in a position to provide advice about how to respond and what to do; but lucky for all of us, reading books by Indigenous writers and supporting their work is one way to assist in our own and others’ education. A few books that I have read and enjoyed by Indigenous authors are Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot; Five Little Indians by Michelle Good (which won the Governor-General’s Award for English-language fiction and the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, and was a finalist for several other important awards); and, a few years ago, The Break by Katherena Vermette, who also writes beautiful poetry. Here are some links:
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/heart-berries-a-memoir/9780385691147-item.html
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/566997/heart-berries-by-terese-mailhot/9780385691161
https://www.harpercollins.ca/9781443459181/five-little-indians/
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-break/9781487001117-item.html
https://katherenavermette.com/the-break/
June is also Pride month – a month to celebrate love in all its forms, and people of all gender and sexual identities. This celebration, and the progress that has been made in recent years with respect to the acceptance of LBGTQ+ individuals, and the protection of their rights, provide some positivity in these dark days (and YES, I know there is still much to be done, but I am trying to inject some optimism here!). Here are some interesting pieces on the history of Pride, in both in the U.S. and Canada:
https://www.queerevents.ca/canada/pride/history
While I haven’t read a lot of LBGTQ+ content, I am looking forward to the following reads:
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/they-both-die-at-the/9780062457806-item.html
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/aristotle-and-dante-discover-the/9781442408937-item.html
If you’re looking for other ideas, here’s a compilation of forty titles from Good Housekeeping (I’m not sure why, but I find that somewhat amusing): https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g27814264/best-gay-lgbt-books/?slide=1 The Hours by Michael Cunningham and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides are two of my favourites from this list.
Finally, one last item before I “link” you to death: I do want to give a shout out to Stratford, Ontario author Alison Wearing, who wrote a fantastic memoir entitled Confessions of a Fairy’s Daughter: Growing Up With a Gay Dad: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/confessions-of-a-fairys-daughter/9780345807571-item.html
I hope readers find some of these many links useful. I guess when the world outside seems grim and evil, and we feel paralyzed by helplessness and uncertainty, we do what we know: read, write and recommend.
Until next time…