Reluctant Saint, by Donald Spoto (2002)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A faithful yet demythologizing account of the life of St. Francis of Assisi

Review: While this biography is a bit long in the tooth now, it absolutely holds up. So much of what has been written about St. Francis is caught up in one myth-making venture or another. ⬇️

“It's always exhausting when you're trying to get someone to do something they're lying about wanting to do.”—Julius Julius, by Aurora Stewart de Peña (2025 ??)

Julius Julius, by Aurora Stewart de Peña (2025 ??)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A loving satire centered on a (very) established advertising agency, its employees, and ghosts.

Review: Satire rarely works for me, since so much of it seems ungracious and mean-spirited. This was a great exception to that rule. ⬇️

The Nightmare Before Kissmas (Royals and Romance 1), by Sara Raasch (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: The notoriously unserious crowned prince of Christmas is thrust into an unwanted (and totally fake) competition with the Halloween prince for the hand of the Easter princess.

Review: I thought this would be a fun transition between the seasons and it worked.⬇️

The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison (2014)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Long exiled to a remote backwater and abused by his guardian, a young halfling is suddenly thrust onto the imperial throne and must quickly learn the byzantine politics of the court.

Review: This is a brilliant piece of light fantasy set in a lightly steampunk world. ⬇️

The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest, by Aubrey Hartman (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: An undead fox who ushers the souls of animals into their best fit of four afterlifes (peace, pleasure, progress, and pain) is disturbed by a prophecy of great upheaval followed by the arrival of a plucky badger who can‘t seem to enter any of the realms.

Review: This is so charming, with a dash of spooky, and a powerful message for kids of all ages. ⬇️

The Hidden Keys (Quincunx 3/4), by André Alexis (2016 ??)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️?

Premise: A thief is drawn into a series of heists intended to solve a puzzle about gifts given by an eccentric billionaire to his grown children.

Review: This wasn‘t at all what I was expecting it to be. It‘s a fun heist story with a satisfying mystery.⬇️

Hi, It‘s Me, by Fawn Parker (2024 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A young woman goes to visit the feminist commune where her mother spent her final months, while battling grief and demons of her own.

Review: This is a strange book and I don‘t know what to make of it. ⬇️

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol 6, by Beth Brower (2022)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Even more journals of a young woman navigating her assortment of handsome and charming men in her whimsical neighbourhood in Victorian London.

Review: I reiterate my claim that these get better with every volume. I appreciated how this one is more intentional about moving the overall plot forward. I‘m excited for what comes next!

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Dunk & Egg 1-3), by George R.R. Martin (2015)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Three novellas about the adventures of a fledgling knight and his young squire, set in Martin‘s famed fantasy world of Westeros.

Review: These are exceptional tales of chivalry and battle. ⬇️

Wylding Hall, by Elizabeh Hand (2015)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A (fictional) oral history of a folk band‘s greatest album and the tragic mystery involved in its recording.

Review: This has a great premise, and it absolutely delivered in the haunted atmosphere. Unfortunately, this had pretty severe pacing issues. ⬇️

The Ghoul of Windydown Vale, by Jake Burt (2022)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: Questions abound when a terrified girl arrives in a small town claiming to have been attacked by the village ghoul—a monster those in the know know for a fact is not real.

Review: This was a fun middle grade novel that felt a bit like a reverse-Sooby Doo (though don‘t let that make you think its plot is simplistic, because it‘s not!).

A Room Above a Shop, by Anthony Shapland (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Two men quietly and secretly build a tenuous life together in 1980s rural Wales.

Review: If you come to this looking for plot or character, you‘ll leave disappointed. But this is an absolute triumph in atmosphere and in the way its spare writing style reinforces the secrecy of the men‘s lives. ⬇️

The Hollow and the Haunted, by Camilla Raines (2024)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (a half point taken off for it not having an ending)

Premise: A young seer is torn about what to do when he sees a vision of a dying young man begging for him to save him, then discovers it‘s the son of his family‘s sworn enemy.

Review: This does so much well: it‘s a fun, queer, YA, paranormal adventure with just the right balance of spooky and romance. ⬇️

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol 5, by Beth Brower (2021)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: The still continued journals of a bright young woman navigating a fascinating assortment of handsome and charming men in her whimsical and slightly magical neighbourhood in Victorian London.

Review: I reiterate my previous pronouncement that these get better with every volume. ⬇️

Midnight Timetable, by Bora Chung (2023, transl. 2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Interconnected short stories about a secret Korean facility that houses cursed objects.

Review: There are some wonderfully creative and creepy stories in this volume, which is a good fit for those who want to engage in spooky season content but are tired of the normal Western fare.

Bookish Pair: Uketu‘s Strange Pictures (transl. 2025)

The Sapling, by Marc Bendavid (2025 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: A man looks back on the unusually close and life-changing friendship he developed with his junior high art teacher.

Review: While at times repetitive, overall I think this odd little novel is a wonderful success. It describes a relationship that crossed professional boundaries but remained completely innocent, and something both people held precious for decades after. ⬇️

What Mother Won‘t Tell Me, by Ivar Leon Menger (2022, transl. 2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A teenager living with her family on a remote lake becomes increasingly convinced that her parents aren‘t telling the truth about their circumstances.

Review: There‘s a lot that this does well: It‘s perfecly atmospheric, I was hooked immediately and the propulsive plot helped me get through it in two short sittings. ⬇️

Ordinary Saints, by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: An Irish lesbian living in London faces an overdue reckoning with her homeland and family when she finds out her parents are leading a charge to have her late brother canonized as a Saint.

Review: I have no words to describe how beautiful this is. The long shadow of the Church over Irish life is common literary fare, but never have I seen it handled the tenderness it is here⬇️

On Social Justice, by St. Basil the Great (ca. 370, transl. 2007)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Collected sermons by one of Christianity‘s most influential theologians on the theme of social justice

Review: A lot of ancient Christian writing can be difficult for people today to understand, either because of awkward translations or the complexity of the theological controversies the authors were engaging. But this volume feels fresh and accessible. ⬇️

The Dogs of Venice, by Steven Rowley (2025)
⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: A newly single New York man travels to Venice to learn to be comfortable being alone and finds his teacher in a street dog.

Review: Over the past decade Steven Rowley has been among my favourite authors, and I love short fiction, so I was excited to pick up this new novella. But, even the greats strike out some times, and wow was this ever a miss for me.⬇️

Brothers of the Wild North Sea, by Harper Fox (2011)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: After a Viking raid leaves his monastery in ruins and his mentor dead, a young monk takes in a wounded raider to heal him, but the two bond in ways that have lasting impacts on the world around them.

Review: This is an ambitious book, which is an odd thing to say for what is ostensibly queer historical romance⬇️..

Taaqtumi, by various authors (2019 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: An anthology of horror stories from the Arctic

Review: This is an impressive collection of stories, especially considering the small population of the Canadian Arctic regions from which it drew its contributors. I really appreciated the varied threats, from the supernatural to the natural to the human and everything in between. Like any anthology, it‘s uneven, but overall I enjoyed this.

Ghost Mountain, by Ronan Hession (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Life for a small community is changed when a mountain suddenly appears in an abandoned field—but not as much as one might think.

Review: Hession has been one of 2025‘s great discoveries for me, but this one didn‘t quite live up to expectation or to its fascinating premise. ⬇️

We Computers: A Ghazal Novel, by Hamid Ismailov (2022, transl. 2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A French philosopher at the advent of personal computing becomes obsessed with Persian literature, Sufism, and the possibilities of artificial intelligence for creating art beyond the limitations of artistry and artists.

Review: This is the kind of book readers who don‘t like literary fiction think of when they think about what literary fiction is. ⬇️

The Unselected Journal of Emma M. Lion, Vols 3-4, by Beth Brower (200-21)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: The continued journals of a bright young woman navigating a fascinating assortment of handsome and charming men in her whimsical and slightly magical neighbourhood in Victorian London.

Review: My goodness, these just get better and better. ⬇️

Fifteen Dogs (Quincunx 2), by André Alexis (2015 ??)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Apollo and Hermes grant fifteen dogs human intelligence to settle a bet over whether it is possible for mortals to die happy.

Review: I DNFed this on a first try after it won the 2015 Giller Prize, but I‘ve recently become an André Alexis fan so thought I‘d try again, and I‘m so glad I did. It‘s thoughtful, insightful, and beautifully-written, with memorable characters.⬇️

A Rival Most Vial (Side Quest Row 1), by R.K. Ashwick (2023)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: Sparks of all kinds fly when a new arrival in town opens up a potion shop across the street from the shop of a renowned and reclusive potionmaster

Review: I sometimes find cozy fantasy a bit too light on plot, but this struck the perfect balance between cozy vibes and storytelling. All of the characters pop and the found family element is perfect.

Heart the Lover, by Lily King (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A college student finds herself caught in the orbit of two charismatic male friends, with lasting impacts on all of their lives.

Review: In the past, Lily King novels have fallen into the ‘liked but didn‘t love‘ category for me. But wow is this something special! This is writerly, insightful, and deeply moving, and it could easily find itself at the top of my books of the year. ⬇️

The Sideways Life of Denny Voss, by Holly Kennedy (2025 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: A developmentally disabled young man tries to clear his name when he‘s falsely accused of murder.

Review: The most impressive thing about this book, which was longlisted for the Giller this year, is how Kennedy manages to make this sweet and charming despite its rather awful and discomforting subject matter. ⬇️

The Unselected Journal of Emma M. Lion, Vols 1-2, by Beth Brower (2019)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: The journals of a bright young women who returns to London to claim the strange house in a strange neighborhood that is her inheritance.

Review: This is just so lovely and charming, with the perfect amount of wit and magic. There are currently seven very short volumes of this; this post covers the first two and I‘ll eagerly read on.

⬇️

Pick a Colour, by Souvankham Thammavongsa (2025 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫💫

Premise: Issues of race, class, gender, and power collide in this day in the life of a woman who runs a nail salon.

Review: This does exactly what it sets out to do. As such it‘s extremely successful. But I will say that I wanted a bit more from it.

Sugaring Off, by Fanny Britt (2020, transl. 2024 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: A chance accident leaves a lasting mark on the lives and relationship of a Quebec couple.

Review: There are a lot of books about the unexpected deterioration of a marriage, But this took a unique take on that trope, that felt very realistic and earned. ⬇️

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), by Rabih Alameddine (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A queer resident of Beirut navigates the many crises of the past sixty years of his country‘s history.

Review: What makes this book so good is that somehow Alameddine makes it delightful and fun despite the very often serious subject matter. An unexpected but deserved choice for the National Book Award list!

Palaver, by Bryan Washington (ARC - Nov 2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: An African American man living in Tokyo receives a visit from his estranged mother.

Review: I had mixed feelings about this book. It does a lot very well, particularly in bringing its Tokyo setting to life, and in the tense, stilted conversations between the two main characters that give it its name. It's a feeling I won't soon forget. ⬇️

We Love You, Bunny (Bunny 2), by Mona Awad (2025 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: The members of a campus cult kidnap the author of a novel exposing their disturbing activities, in order to set the record straight.

Review: Awad‘s 2019 title Bunny was an absolute phenomenon, so I was intrigued to pick up this sequel/prequel, which goes even deeper in its send-up of higher education, the arts, and toxic female friendship. ⬇️

Native Nations, by Kathleen DuVal (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A history of Indigenous peoples within the borders of the United States, with a focus on specific exemplar nations and a summary of recent legal developments.

Review: There‘s a reason why this won the Pulitzer. It is absolutely fantastic. ⬇️

We Survived the End of the World, by Steven Charleston (2023)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: An elder looks at Indigenous prophetic movements from the colonizing era for guidance about how to survive and thrive in our own apocalyptic times.

Review: This book has a tremendous premise. And I was grateful to the author for introducing me to some of the figures and movements about which I had not been aware. That said, I was a bit let down by this. ⬇️

The Road Between Us, by Bindu Suresh (2025 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A series of interconnected stories about contemporary life and the lasting impacts of the traumas we carry.

Review: This Giller-longlisted title was not at all what I was expecting, in good ways. It expertly weaves its disparate threads and diverse characters together. ⬇️

The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, by Eddy Boudel Tan (2025 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A man is called back to his hometown on BC‘s Sunshine Coast after his father disappears in a turn of events that eerily mirrors the disappearance of his brother.

Review: The Giller longlist is really hitting it out of the park this year! It‘s rare to see a mystery on one of these major awards lists, but this is more than deserving. ⬇️

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, by Kiran Desai (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: In and around the turn of the century, two young Indians navigate migrant life, family expectations, and the long pull of the past.

Review: This is an incredibly special book. In this rather intimate story about two families, Desai was somehow able to explain all of the hopes, dreams, and divisions of our present troubled century. ⬇️

Concerning the Future of Souls: 99 Stories of Azrael, by Joy Williams (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: 99 vignettes about the legendary psychopomp angel Azrael.

Review: This does exactly what it sets out to do, but what it does didn‘t quite work for me. Being a collection of 99 very short stories, it necessarily flits over the surface of some interesting content. So it felt more like butterfly kisses than a story. But tit‘s still good.

Wild Life, by Amanda Leduc (2025 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: In the generations after a strange animal intervention in a young man‘s life, a new religion grows up as the barriers between animals and humanity break down, bringing human society down with them.

Review: This is a strange book, told as a series of interconnected stories set decades apart, and going to some very unexpected places. ⬇️

Pastoral (Quincunx Cycle 1), by André Alexis (2014 ??)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Premise: A priest arrives in his first parish in a small Ontario town and is immediately put to the test by its residents and his own doubts.

Review: This is an old-fashioned kind of story, but effectively so. I was charmed by the townspeople and appreciated the light, yet serious, touch with which the more spiritual themes were handled.⬇️

An Astonishment of Stars, by Kirti Bhadresa (2024 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A collection of short stories largely about life for women of colour in contemporary Canada.

Review: I‘ve had a lot of big wins for story collections the past couple of years, but this really disappointed me, and I‘m a bit surprised it made it onto the Giller Prize longlist. ⬇️

The Wanderer, by Peter van den Ende, illustrator (2020)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A wordless graphic novel that follows a paper boat on its adventures at sea.

Review: The illustrations in this are absolutely stunning, which is a good thing considering they carry the whole weight of the story. I was hoping it would be a bit more than it was, but it‘s beautiful nonetheless

Panenka, by Rónán Hession (2021)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A man carrying the weight of failure for both himself and his whole (unspecified, vaguely European) city struggles to bring meaning to his remaining years.

Review: With two HUGE wins in three weeks, Hession is quickly becoming a favourite author for me. While less ‘charming‘ than his debut, this is still a beautiful and wise book, a needed balm for the soul in a harsh world. ⬇️

Other Worlds, by André Alexis (2025 ??)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A collection of stories about medicine, family, life in Canada‘s Caribbean diaspora, and a small town in which, oddly enough, I spent three years as a kid.

Review: This is quite possibly the best story collection I‘ve read this year. Without exception, they were interesting,insightful, and just the right length. A worthy entry on this year‘s Giller Prize longlist! ⬇️

The Remembered Soldier, by Anjet Daanje (2019, transl. 2025)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A former soldier experiencing severe amnesia and PTSD struggles to recover his memories and life after he is brought home from an asylum by a woman who identifies him as her husband.

Review: This is a stunning, deeply moving literary love story that will reward patient readers. ⬇️

This Is How We Love, by Lisa Moore (2022 🇨🇦)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: As a mother races a blizzard back home to be with her son in the aftermath of a vicious assault, generations of stories unspool to explain the complex web of relationships that led them to this moment.

Review: I had a hard time sorting out how I felt about this one. It starts off so strongly, with such intensity that I couldn‘t help but feel let down by the historical pieces. ⬇️