7 books you heard about on CBC Radio recently

Check out some of the books discussed on national CBC Radio programs between Nov. 12-19, 2024.

Curiosities by Anne Fleming

Heard on: Bookends with Mattea Roach

InCuriosities, Anne Fleming inserts herself into her fiction as a "goofily overenthusiastic" amateur historian to piece together the story of two 17th century girls as they navigate their way to adulthood.

Weaving together different fictional accounts, the novel recounts the lives of Joan and Thomasina, who goes by Tom, the only two survivors of a village ravaged by the plague, and how they eventually find each other again in a tale of witchcraft, forbidden love and the very nature of truth itself.

Curiositieswas a finalist for the 2024 Giller Prize.

• Anne Fleming's novel Curiosities transports readers to the plagues, witch hunts and love stories of the 1600s

Anne Fleming is an author based in Victoria. Her books includePool-Hopping and Other Stories, which was shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. She has also written a middle-grade novel,The Goat, which was a Junior Library Guild and White Ravens selection.

LISTEN | Anne Fleming on writing a 17th century coming-of-age story:

Bookends with Mattea Roach39:24Anne Fleming: Why her latest novel is a gender-bending tale of witchcraft and forbidden love

In Anne Fleming's new novel, Curiosities, an amateur historian becomes fascinated by the lives of two girls from 1600s England. But as she pieces their stories together, the very nature of truth itself comes into question. Curiosities is a finalist for the 2024 Giller Prize. Anne and Mattea Roach discuss the pull of the 17th century and the exploration of gender and identity at the heart of the novel.

What I Know About You byric Chacour, translated by Pablo Strauss

Heard on: Bookends with Mattea Roach

ric Chacour's debut novel is his own take onRomeo and Julietditching Verona's cobblestone streets for the sounds and smells of Cairo in the second half of the 20th century.

What I Know About You, translated from French by Pablo Strauss, is a powerful queer love story that examines the consequences of breaking free from a life path that's been prescribed by family, religion, politics and society.

• ric Chacour's debut novel is an ode to the power of queer love even when it's forbidden

ric Chacour is a Montreal-based writer who was born to Egyptian parents and grew up between France and Quebec. In addition to writing, he works in the financial sector.What I Know About Youis his first book and was a bestseller in its French edition, winning many awards including the Prix Femina.

Pablo Strauss has translated 12 works of fiction, several graphic novels and one screenplay. He was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for translation forThe Country Will Bring Us No Peace,SynapsesandThe Longest Year.His translation ofLe plongeurby Stephane Larue calledThe Dishwasherwon the 2020 Amazon First Novel Award. He lives in Quebec City.

LISTEN | ric Chacour on writing an ode to love:

Bookends with Mattea Roach34:28Eric Chacour: Exploring the power of familial expectations and forbidden love

When Montreal author Eric Chacour wrote his first book, he didn't expect it to become a huge hit in France. Translated from French to English by Pablo Strauss, What I Know About You is a novel set in Cairo and Montreal, exploring sexuality as well as family secrets and pressures. It's nominated for this year's Giller Prize and Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Fiction Prize. Eric and Mattea Roach discuss the inspiration behind his debut novel.

A Way to Be Happyby Caroline Adderson

Heard on: The Next Chapter

A Way to Be Happyis a short story collection that follows various characters as they try to find happiness. Ranging from mundane to extraordinary, the stories feature everything from a pair of addicts robbing parties to fund their sobriety to a Russian hitman dealing with an illness and reliving his past.

• Building empathy through short story writing: Caroline Adderson shares A Way to Be Happy

Caroline Adderson is the Vancouver-based author of five novels, includingThe Sky is Falling,Ellen in PiecesandA Russian Sister. She has also published two short story collections, including the 1993 Governor General's Literary Award finalistBad Imaginings.

Adderson's awards include three B.C. Book Prizes, a National Magazine Award Gold Medal for Fiction. She has received the 2006 Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement. She is also a three-time winner of theCBC Literary Prizes.

LISTEN | Caroline Adderson on her short story collection A Way to Be Happy:

The Next Chapter18:11Caroline Adderson on the quest for contentment in A Way to Be Happy

The Vancouver-based writer's latest short story collection follows a cast of characters searching for much needed happiness an anxious husband, a Russian operative and party-crashing addicts.

Hair for Men by Michelle Winters

Heard on: The Next Chapter

Struggling with trauma from her teenage years, Louise lives a life of punk violence until she gets a job at a men's hair salon in the novelHair for Men. There, she builds relationships with her clients and begins to feel more settled. But when that sense of calm is destroyed, she runs away to the East Coast to escape her past, which she does successfully until a man from the Bay of Fundy arrives and gives her the opportunity to right her wrongs.

• Rage and Moshpits in Hair for Men

Michelle Winters is a writer, painter and translator from Saint John currently living in Toronto. Her novel debut novel,I Am a Truck, was shortlisted for the2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize. She also translatedKiss the UndertowandDaniil and Vanyaby Marie-Hlne Larochelle.

LISTEN | Michelle Winters ongender, forgiveness and bucking convention:

The Next Chapter19:01Rage and Moshpits in Hair for Men

Michelle Winter's latest novel explores gender, forgiveness and bucking convention. It focuses on a young protagonist who adopts a life of hardcore punk violence until she stumbles into a job at a mysterious mens hair salon.

Something, Not Nothing by Sarah Leavitt

Heard on: The Next Chapter

Following the medically assisted death of her partner of twenty-two years, cartoonist Sarah Leavittbegan small sketches that quickly becamesomething new and unexpected to her. In Something, Not Nothing the abstract images mixed withpoetic text, layers of watercolour, ink and coloured pencil combine to tell a story of love, grief, peace and new beginnings.

• 23 Canadian comics to check out in fall 2024

Sarah Leavitt is a Vancouver comics creatorand writing teacher. Her debut book wasTangles: A Story About Alzheimer's, My Mother, and Me.

LISTEN | Sarah Leavitt on a book she loves to re-read:

The Next Chapter0:50Why Sarah Leavitt loves to re-read The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

The award-winning author of Something, Not Nothing explains why she loves the heart breaking and heart healing illustrated memoir by American novelist Thi Bui.

What I Mean to Say by Ian Williams

Heard on: Ideas

Poet and Giller-Prize winning author Ian Williams is this year's Massey lecturer. InWhat I Mean to Say, the award-winning Canadian writer and professor has chosen to focus on the topic of conversations more specifically, our inability to have them in an age of increasing polarization, cancel culture and emerging forms of online communication.

• 'I believe in multiplicity': Why Massey lecturer Ian Williams stays open to all perspectives

Williams is the author of seven books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. His novel,Reproduction, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. He is a professor of English at the University of Toronto, director of the Creative Writing program, and academic advisor for the Massey College William Southam Journalism Fellowship.

LISTEN | Ian Williams on the books and experiences that shaped him:

Ideas53:58The Multiple Lives of CBC Massey Lecturer Ian Williams

2024 CBC Massey lecturer Ian Williams speaks withIDEAShost Nahlah Ayed about the forces that have shaped him as a thinker and writer, from the encyclopedias he read as a child in Trinidad to his years as a dancer to the poetry of Margaret Atwood. 'I believe in multiplicity,' he says. The 2024 Massey Lectures, What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation in Our Time, begin this coming Monday.

They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib

Heard on: The Next Chapter

Hanif Abdurraqib's first collection of essays,They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, pays tribute to the power of music to inspire empowerment and strengthen community. The title is a phrase Abdurraqib saw written down at the memorial of 18-year-old Michael Brown, which stuck with him as he finished this book. Abdurraqib is an accomplished wordsmith, whose reflections on pop culture are intensely personal, political and compelling.

• Acclaimed roots musician Kaia Kater on the power of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

Abdurraqib is an Ohio-based American poet and writer. His essay collectionA Little Devil in Americawon the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Obama previously includedA Little Devil in Americaon his2022 Summer Reading List.

LISTEN | Why musician Kaia Kater loves thisbook of essays that revolve around concerts and music.:

The Next Chapter2:44Acclaimed roots musician Kaia Kater on the power of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

The Montreal songwriter and banjo player talks about how Hanif Abdurraqibs book of essays revolve around concerts and music.