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The 14 books you have to read this spring

Spring is a thrilling time for book lovers. We break down the season’s best

By Toronto Life
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Canadian Graphic Novels
(Images: Carlo Mendoza)

Four beautiful, offbeat graphic novels

Sea Change

Frank Viva Viva is a kids’ illustrator who draws gorgeously spare covers for the New Yorker. This new book follows a teenage boy whose parents send him away to spend the summer in a remote Maritime fishing village—it’s part prose, part dreamy graphic novel. May 24.

Carpet Sweeper Tales

Julie Doucet Doucet’s first book in a decade is a collection of glamorous and nostalgic photo comics. She applies the form’s traditional tropes—campy word bubbles, strips and splats—to images culled from 1970s Italian comics, vintage catalogues and housekeeping magazines. March 29.

In-Between Days

Teva Harrison Two years ago, at age 37, writer-artist Teva Harrison was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. To cope with her illness, she crafted a book of heartbreaking cartoons that document the physical effects, the loss of independence, and the strange hopefulness that comes with knowing you’re going to die. April 26.

Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus

Chester Brown Professional provocateur Chester Brown has drawn graphic novels about masturbation, prostitution and Louis Riel. His latest delves into full-blown heresy: it’s a collection of potty-mouthed comics about biblical heroines, including Ruth, Tamar and the Mother of God herself. April 12.

 

Four blockbuster novels to fawn over

The 14 books you have to read this spring
The High Mountains of Portugal
by Yann Martel
The Life of Pi author’s latest magical acid trip follows three men in three eras trying to decode an ancient Portuguese crucifix. Out now.
The High Mountains of Portugal

Yann Martel
The Life of Pi author’s latest magical acid trip follows three men in three eras trying to decode an ancient Portuguese crucifix. Out now.

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The 14 books you have to read this spring
Eligible
by Curtis Sittenfeld
All of Sittenfeld’s novels have an arch Jane Austenite bite to them. It’s fitting, then, that her newest is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. April 19.
Eligible

Curtis Sittenfeld All of Sittenfeld’s novels have an arch Jane Austenite bite to them. It’s fitting, then, that her newest is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. April 19.

The 14 books you have to read this spring
The Nest
by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
HarperCollins snatched up Sweeney’s debut in a seven-figure deal. It’s a wry farce about siblings fighting to save their trust fund. March 22.
The Nest

Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney HarperCollins snatched up Sweeney’s debut in a seven-figure deal. It’s a wry farce about siblings fighting to save their trust fund. March 22.

The 14 books you have to read this spring
The Naturalist
by Alissa York
The Giller-nominated historical fictionist charts the journey of an amateur Victorian scientist romping through the Amazon with his father’s widow. April 12.
The Naturalist

Alissa York The Giller-nominated historical fictionist charts the journey of an amateur Victorian scientist romping through the Amazon with his father’s widow. April 12.

 

Three rising writers to keep an eye on

The 14 books you have to read this spring
Mona Awad
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, Awad’s sparklingly witty series of vignettes, follows a young woman grappling with size and self-worth in Mississauga. Out now.
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl

Mona Awad Awad’s sparklingly witty series of vignettes follows a young woman grappling with size and self-worth in Mississauga. Out now.

The 14 books you have to read this spring
Andrew F Sullivan
Sullivan worked in a meat department and liquor warehouse before hitting the literary big time. His debut novel, Waste, is a gory gut punch about two friends who hit a lion with their car. March 15.

Waste

Andrew F Sullivan Sullivan worked in a meat department and liquor warehouse before hitting the literary big time. His debut novel is a gory gut punch about two friends who hit a lion with their car. Out now.

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The 14 books you have to read this spring
Amy Stuart
A new year, a new thriller about a mysterious woman on the run. This time it’s Stuart’s Still Mine, about a femme fatale who shows up in a dreary mining town where a young girl has gone missing. March 1.

Still Mine

Amy Stuart A new year, a new thriller about a mysterious woman on the run. This time it’s Stuart’s book, about a femme fatale who shows up in a dreary mining town where a young girl has gone missing. Out now.

 

Three sweet and surprisingly sophisticated YA novels

Flannery
Flannery

Lisa Moore As a kid, Moore wrote fairy tales and mailed them off to a pen pal. She channels that magical energy into a charming fable about a teen girl who creates her own love potion for her high school business class—only to hear rumours that it might really work. May 1.

On-The-Shores-of-Darkness-There-Is-Light
On the Shores of Darkness, There is Light

Cordelia Strube Strube is the dark horse favourite to succeed Alice Munro as a chronicler of melancholy stories about young girls. Her new heroine, Harriet, is a precocious artist who runs errands for seniors in her ramshackle apartment building, hoping to save enough money to run away to Algonquin Park. April 12.

Saving-Montgomery-Sole
Saving Montgomery Sole

Mariko Tamaki Race, spirituality and sexuality swirl together in Tamaki’s quirky new novel, about the daughter of a lesbian couple who believes astrology and mysticism will solve all her angsty teenage problems. April 19.

More from our spring books guide

Why this bookstore sells just 10 titles at a time—and why it works
Culture

Why this bookstore sells just 10 titles at a time—and why it works

Martha Sharpe, founder of the indie shop Flying Books, on the future of small-batch bookselling

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Correction
March 16, 2016

A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that the daughter in Mariko Tamaki’s novel is adopted.

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