49th Shelf

4 days ago | 49thshelf.com | Jim McEwen |Miriam Toews |Matthew Hollett |Trevor Corkum

Here, my new book of interconnected short stories, explores community: how we relate to one another, how the troubled layers of our past affects our present lives, the heartaches that define and defy us. It’s “an ode to place, love, and collective care,” according to Maggie Burton’s kind words.  As a Newfoundlander and Labradorian, I am both fiercely protective and equally critical of my home. And so, many of the selections on this list are written by Newfoundland and Labrador authors.

1 week ago | 49thshelf.com | Trevor Corkum |Kate Braid |Tim Welsh |Kerry Clare

Finding Flora is up for giveaway until the end of May! Head to our giveaways page for your chance to win, and to check out all the other books up for grabs. *****Finding Flora is a rollicking historical novel set in turn-of-the-century Alberta about a young woman on the run from her abusive husband who uses a legal loophole to claim a homestead in the Wild West—perfect for fans of Outlawed and The Giver of Stars.

1 week ago | 49thshelf.com | Trevor Corkum |Elinor Florence |Tim Welsh |Kerry Clare

The Erotics of Cutting Grass is one of our great giveaways running until the end of May. Check out our giveaways page for your chance to win and to take a look at everything else up for offer. *****What these books (listed in no particular order) have in common for me is that they all tell, with wonderful skill and insight, heartfelt stories of coping with difficult times. I love oral history—the view of History from so-called “ordinary” people’s perspective, not just the “famous” people.

3 weeks ago | 49thshelf.com | Natalie Lim |Anna Veprinska |Trevor Corkum

When I was invited to put together a list of Canadian books for 49th Shelf, I had trouble deciding what the theme of my list should be. I knew I wanted it to be related in some way to my debut novel, Lake Burntshore, set at a fictional Jewish summer camp in the Muskoka region of Ontario, but beyond that I couldn’t decide. Jewish Canadian fiction? Novels about summer camp? Novels about Israel/Palestine? Books on the settler colonial encounter?

3 weeks ago | 49thshelf.com | Aaron Kreuter |Anna Veprinska |Trevor Corkum

Winter in Ottawa                   for the Love Poem Collective                    after Manahil Bandukwala the Rideau Canal doesn’t freeze over for the first time ever. it feels like a sign, although I’m not sure what of. global warming, I guess. our impending doom. but we sit in the café and talk about love poems and the dread can’t touch us. I think the cold makes me better. more human, aware of my body. the poets who build this world up – they make me better too.