15 books to devour in the winter of 2023
Intriguing collections
Former journalist Serge Labrosse gathers the mess of life short stories with different themes — betrayal, love… dogs! — and in a very direct tone. (Lévesque editor, January)
IN The silence of the embers, his first collection, Alec Serra-Wagneur was inspired by the idea of going on a trip. The author, an accomplished walker, was a finalist in the Prix de la Nouvelle Radio-Canada. (House on fire, February)
Finally, with Red dragonflyChih-Ying Lay offers 10 short stories written from the perspective of a young gay scientist, which allows him to portray, in the background, the social tensions in Taiwan. (Hashtag, mars)
Electrifying first times
A touching story Look at Montauk, Sophie Dora Swan, is about a woman who takes care of her mother in the last moments of her life. (The People, January)
AND love novel not Amélie Dumoulin’s first book (Fé M Fé, among others), this is his first foray into adult fiction. Through her diary, the author describes her everyday life with her late friend, whose three orphaned children she adopted. Closer to a story that makes you smile than a drama, this book will be welcome in the heart of the winter gray! (Quebec America, January)
Safe values for all tastes
When the holidays return, Daniel Pennac will launch as expected Terminus Malaussène, the eighth and final novel in the Malaussene series. (Gallimard, January)
On the American side, author Colson Whitehead (who has already won two Pulitzer Prizes for his previous novels) offers a dive into Harlem in the 60s with Harlem shuffle. (Albin Michel, January)
The author of spy novels John le Carré died more than two years ago, and now we can finally read The spy who loved books, a small pamphlet set specifically in a bookstore in Suffolk. (Prague, January)
For his third novel, Hotlines, the Lebanese author Dimitri Nasrallah could count on the writer Daniel Grenier for an effective translation of the story of a mother who leaves Beirut with her only son to settle in Montreal. The novel in its original version is already on the preliminary list for the Giller Prize. (The People, February)
French version of the novel Strangersby Métis author Katherene Vermette, continues the story that began with Dashed line (winner of Fight of the Books 2018), where a young woman suffers a violent attack that causes an uproar throughout the community. The title of the translation is not fixed, but we know that the work was translated by Quebec author Mélissa Verreault, winner of the 2022 Governor General’s Literary Award (in translation). (Quebec America, March)
The author of detective novels, Jacques Côté, looked this time at the world of biker criminals and the mafia American Requiem, where two brothers, one who is involved in organized crime and the other who follows criminals, will have to face each other in an unprecedented war. (Flammarion Quebec, February)
Free electrons for curious readers
our part of the night by Argentinian author Mariana Enriquez, has more than 800 pages, but still wowed the Booksellers’ Prize jury last year. A Gothic-inspired family fresco that you can discover in pocket format. (Viola, January)
There are also high expectations for the French version of the comic whose original was a finalist, in the category of novels and short stories, for the Governor’s Literary Awards 2021. fictional father, by Joe Ollmann, is about a failed painter whose father, a cartoonist, became famous. (Watermelon, January)
The second opus of Valérie Jessica Laporte, asymmetric, brings the heartwarming protagonist to life Unrecognizable, the story of escape from the point of view of this little autistic child. The same young girl, now a pre-teen, overcomes many challenges every day. (Free Expression, March)
Novel Son of a con mantranslation of the first volume of the fantastic trilogy of the aboriginal novelist Eden Robinson, narrates the difficult journey of a a young man, from a dysfunctional family, who begins to have visions in which a crow appears… that speaks. If you are curious, the TV series inspired by this work is available on Extra de Tou.tv. (vlb, March)
