Spring preview: 21 books to put at the top of your reading list

Things That Cause Inappropriate Happiness, by Danila Botha (Guernica Editions, April 14)

Toronto writer Botha crafts stories about love and yearning. Her two previous short-story collections and one novel (a second is coming out in 2025) have been shortlisted for numerous awards, and the stories in this collection have been published in journals and magazines around the world. Perhaps that speaks to the universality of her observations, as in this particular collection, of those trying to find their place in the world.

Prairie Edge, by Conor Kerr (McClelland & Stewart, April 16)

Kerr’s debut novel “Avenue of Champions” won the 2022 ReLit Award, was shortlisted for the Amazon First Novel Award and nominated for a Giller. This new book is described by his publisher as “a frenetic, propulsive and darkly funny crime thriller that critiques modern activism, reckons with generational wounds and challenges readers to consider what ‘Land Back’ might actually look like as a concrete reality.”

World’s Fastest Man: The Incredible Life of Ben Johnson, by Mary Ormsby (Sutherland Press, April 16)

Long-time Toronto Star features and sports reporter Ormsby covered runner Ben Johnson and the scandal that surrounded him and the 1988 Olympics. Here, she takes a new, in-depth look at the athlete and the person — and how he might not have received the credit he was due.

Play, by Jess Taylor (Book*hug, April 23)

Toronto writer Taylor’s short-story collections “Just Pervs” and “Pauls” introduced her as an innovative writer willing to take risks. “Play” is her first novel, a unique (as expected) blend of “contemporary storytelling” and psychological fiction.

The Call Is Coming From Inside the House: Essays, by Allyson McOuat (ECW, April 30) 

You might not remember her name, but you surely remember McOuat’s popular 2020 New York Times Modern Love essay “The Ghost Was the Least of Our Problems.” She’s out with her debut essay collection that promises humour and intimacy, told through “her identity as a queer woman, and as a mother, through the lens of the pop culture moments in the ’80s and ’90s that moulded her identity.”

May 

You Like It Darker: Stories, by Stephen King (Scribner, May 2)

There are so many books of short stories coming out this year, including from the master of horror. This collection includes 12 stories, many new, some familiar, about which King writes in the afterword: “You like it darker? Fine, so do I.” It’s also the 50th anniversary of “Carrie,” another excuse to read King in the sunshine.  

Behind You, by Catherine Hernandez (HarperCollins, May 7)

Hernandez’s debut book “Scarborough” won acclaim for its writing about people living in poverty, and their challenges, hopes and dreams. Here, she returns to Scarborough, this time exploring ideas of consent and resilience, while looking back at the terror created when the Scarborough Rapist was on the loose in the 1980s and ’90s.

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie, by Jackie Lau (Simon & Schuster, May 7)

The author of the “The Stand-Up Groomsman” returns with a rom-com about Emily Hung, a young writer and barista, and her desperate attempts to fend off her meddling mother, who really wants her to get together with their friend’s son, Mark Chan. Jackie Lau studied engineering and worked as a geophysicist before turning to writing, and has now penned more than 20 romantic comedies.

Long Island, by Colm Tóibín (McClelland & Stewart, May 7)

This is a book a lot of people have been waiting for: the sequel to the Irish writer’s bestselling novel “Brooklyn.” Eilis and Tony have moved to Long Island and been married for 20 years when a stranger reveals something that makes her rethink her decision to leave Ireland. Tóibín asks whether it’s possible to return to the past.

Small Acts of Courage, by Ali Velshi (St. Martin’s Press, May 7)

Velshi was born in Nairobi, raised in Canada, in midtown Toronto (he went to Queen’s University and worked at CTV), and he’s had enormous success internationally. This is a look at social justice through the story of his family’s migration/immigration. Perhaps most importantly, subjects are approached through the history of these individuals, their lives and choices, which also makes for a compelling personal story.  

The Years Shall Run Like Rabbits, by Ben Berman Ghan (Wolsak & Wynn, May 14)

Toronto writer Ghan’s debut novel is speculative fiction set in a futuristic Toronto featuring a detention centre on the Toronto Islands and a city AI engaged in a battle with aliens.

Wild Failure, by Zoe Whittall (HarperCollins, May 14)

Whittall’s writing chops toggle between novels (“The Best Kind of People,” “The Fake” and others), poetry (“The Emily Valentine Poems”) and screenwriting (“Baroness von Sketch Show”). This latest volume is her debut work of “poetic fiction,” short stories that contend “with the meaning of desire for both intimacy and danger in a world that devalues queer femininity.”

The Education of Aubrey McKee, by Alex Pugsley (Biblioasis, May 14)

Like Whittall, Pugsley is a screenwriter as well as a short-story and novel writer. This latest is the second book in what is expected to be a four-book series, which began with 2020’s “Aubrey McKee,” which our reviewer called “exuberant, freewheeling stories” with the general theme of “the insanity of being human.”

Coexistence, by Billy-Ray Belcourt (Hamish Hamilton, May 21)

Belcourt’s books touch chords; beginning with his first, the Griffin Prize-winning book of poetry “This Wound Is a World,” continuing with his other work, including fiction and his personal book of essays “A History of My Brief Body,” Belcourt’s writing is always lyrical, profound and emotional. This latest is a collection of short stories.

Crooked Teeth, by Danny Ramadan (Viking, May 28)

Ramadan is well known for his two acclaimed novels, “The Clothesline Swing” and “The Foghorn Echoes.” In this new book he does something different. Subtitled “A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir,” this a very personal story, about being an outsider and creating community, both as a queer man and as a refugee, during the Arab Spring. “Writing this memoir is a betrayal,” is how the story begins.

June

Barfly and other poems, by Michael Lista (Biblioasis, June 4)

Toronto writer Lista is well-known as a journalist, essayist and a poet. This is his third book of poetry — and his first volume in ten years. The language is punchy, it can be raunchy, benefits from being read aloud, and when you do, like a Hole song, it’s full of bravado and vulnerability. 

A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue, by Dean Jobb (HarperCollins, June 4)

The internationally bestselling Canadian author of “The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream” is back with a new true-crime story about Arthur Barry, a master jewel thief who embedded himself in New York society (a Rockefeller, Harry Houdini, the Prince of Wales) in order to get at the precious jewels.

The Art of Vanishing, by Lynne Kutsukake (Knopf Canada, June 11)

Her debut novel, “The Translation of Love,” won awards including the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. Her newest is described by the publisher as “an intimate, explosive story of creativity and friendship between two young Japanese women in 1970s Tokyo.”

The Lost Tarot, by Sarah Henstra (Doubleday Canada, June 18)

As with Kutuskake’s book and Cusk’s, below, this is a volume that centres art. Known for her Governor General’s Award-winning novel “The Red Word” and her YA fiction, Henstra tells the story of Theresa Bateman, an art historian living in Toronto, who is sent a tarot card: the key to unravelling decades of secrets. A novel about art and deception.

Parade, by Rachel Cusk (HarperCollins, June 18)

Twice a finalist for the Giller Prize, Cusk is a Canadian critical and audience favourite for her unique approach. This one is a stand-alone novel that her publisher describes as being about “art, womanhood and violence, one which confronts and upends the conventions of storytelling.”

Caledonian Road, by Andrew O’Hagan (Random House, June 18)

O’Hagan writes big novels — this one is 656 pages — three of which have been nominated for the Booker Prize. It’s the perfect book to sink into with a vast cast of characters set in London, of Dickensian proportions but with social media, the internet and class at its core, setting it firmly in the realm of social justice and societal critique.

Update - April 18, 2024

This article and headline were updated from a previous version to include an additional recommendation, “Barfly and other poems,” by Michael Lista.