What's Making Us Happy

Coconut by Kopano Matlwa - The excellent debut novel about "growing up black in white South African suburbs, where the cost of fitting in can be your very identity." A great read.

Bossypants by Tina Fey - So funny. Fey discusses the hardships of life in the entertainment business and the gender politics of comedy.

The Master Switch by Tim Wu - Wu's book deals with the progress from open information networks to monopolistic, closed empires. From the telephone to radio to the Internet, Wu shows how current technological, economic, and political factors will cause drastic consequences for innovation and free expression.

Another Story Reads 2011 Winner!

The results are in!

The winner of Another Story Reads 2011 is Ivan E. Coyote's Missed Her.

Thanks to all who participated and we look forward to the next competition!

Another Story Reads

Another Story will be entering into a friendly competition to select our favourite Canadian novel!We’re asking you, our customers, to read with us and vote for your favourite Canadian title. Over the next couple of weeks each of us will be promoting our book through either a written or video pitch. Help promote and defend your favourite title by joining the discussion on our Facebook page.

All nominated books will be available in-store for a 15% discount for the duration of the competition. Voting will be begin March 1st either through email or in-store ballot. Everyone who votes is entered in a draw for a $25 gift certificate. We'll announce the winner on March 19th.

Here are the selections:

Caleb - Missed Her by Ivan E. Coyote
Kara - What We All Long For by Dionne Brand
Alex - All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman
Jessica - Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall
Tanya - Lemon by Cordelia Strube
Penny - Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
Sheila - Etienne's Alphabet by James King
Ryan - Little Brother by Cory Doctrow

Click here to see our pitches!

Kara's Selection

Tanya's Selection

“One of these days the tech world’s going to short-circuit and we’ll be surrounded by computer geeks who won’t know how to grow food or make soap or talk to people”

-Lemon

I hereby nominate Lemon by Cordelia Strube for Another Story Reads 2011. Topical, yet timeless, Lemon raises important questions about our world, formed through the critical observations of a modern day teenager, named Lemon.

Lemon appears to be a typically cynical adolescent, engaging with her world through “sick topics” as she calls them; however, we soon begin to feel the power and meaningfulness her critical-of-everything attitude. A beautifully strong-minded, strong-willed outsider, Lemon’s negativity is intelligent and relevant and she never links it to her complicated socio-familial “situation.”

This book follows Lemon’s struggle to create her identity in an overwhelmingly violent, sexual, unfair world; yet it remains lighthearted, even comical at times and is consistently moving and thought provoking. Strube awakens the teenage experience, vividly portraying the apathy, confusion and rebellion; however, in the hands of Lemon, these common teenage characteristics are laden with thoughtfulness, empathy and maturity.

Lemon truly cares about the world and the innocent people in it, which is why she is fixated on “sick topics” which are essentially any form of injustice happening to anyone, anywhere, at any point in time. She shuns technology, oversexed teenage culture and the notion of fitting in. The only “texts” in Lemon’s life are the classics.

In direct opposition to typical teenage apathy and self-centeredness, Lemon volunteers in the cancer ward of a children’s hospital, where she connects more to the children than to her peers or family. It is here that Lemon finds the most meaning in her life, and the most challenge, and it is where we see Lemon’s strength and compassion the clearest.

A thoughtful, fun, and nostalgic read, Lemon provides much needed, culturally relevant insight into the modern teenage experience. Through Lemon’s adolescent life, we are inspired to revisit the fundamental questions of how we fit into the world around us, and who we want to be.

Jessica's Selection

Forget Holden Caulfield.

Zoe Whittall’s first novel Bottle Rocket Hearts debuts Eve, a 19 year-old from Dorval as she comes out and comes of age in Montreal during the mid-nineties at the height of the Quebec referendum. Her world is populated by feminists, activists, strippers, party monsters and free spirits, and is all set to Portishead’s Dummy. Her attitude and outlook are utterly unmistakable and unforgiving, and through her Whittall shows us what growing up really looks like, sans Salinger’s pretense and pretension.

While Eve’s world is gritty and ‘adult’, she remains childlike (stating that she learned everything she knows about sex from Degrassi Junior High which she “watched in badly dubbed French on a black and white TV that only got one channel”), if not prudish and is constantly scandalized by the exploits of her peers. She meets people who confront her with polarities-- queer and straight, English and French, adolescent and adult-- though she seems to be comforted by these contradictions rather than confused.

Eve is a charming and endearing character—she is headstrong, tenacious and bittersweet-- and like a true bildungsroman, Bottle Rocket Hearts sees her changed by the end, capable of cutting through the chaos of her life to make a decision that proves her maturity. Like Eve, readers too will be changed, and perhaps find a bit of her in themselves. It is a license to indulge in nostalgia for those beyond their 20s and simultaneously a road map to finding oneself for those who still are.

Caleb's Selection

Alex's Selection

Penny's Selection

Come Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant

This is a little treasure tucked away on our bookshop shelf.

Jessica Grant’s debut novel follows the formative years of Audrey Flowers, owner of an immortal mouse, opinionated tortoise and the family nickname, ‘Oddly’. Audrey certainly has a unique outlook on life. She shares a rare innocence and unflagging optimism that engages the reader from the very first page;

"In the cockpit the pilots are having a good time. Boy are they. Coffee cups have to be put down. They are really laughing. One puts a hand on the other’s shoulder. Then the one with the hand leans over and kisses the other’s cheek. A quick impulsive happy peck.

A fellow passenger joins me at the terminal. Hey, I tell her. Our pilots just kissed.

No response.

I’m thinking that kiss bodes well for our safety."

This strength of character is put to the test by the death of Audrey’s father and all the family secrets this event unearths. Our heroine must navigate a personal journey north to Newfoundland, a place of discomforting neighbours and disappearing pets. Audrey’s efforts are impressive. She does not stop at solving ancestral scandals. Instead, she disarms airport security staff, confronts crabby intellectuals and captivates an equally odd Christmas light engineer called Cliff.

This is a tale that delights and inspires without effort. The plot moves at fresh pace throughout shared narration with the century-old tortoise, Winnifred. I chuckled out loud, wanted my very own aquatic friend and was left every bit as warm as Cliff’s defective Christmas light sets.

Don’t miss Come Thou Tortoise!

Ryan's Selection

Cory Doctrow's Little Brother is a book about the issues that people will face in the 21st century; Privacy, security, government control, and knowing your rights in a digital world. Written for a young adult audience, Doctrow doesn't dumb down the technical jargon, instead explaining the ideas, like hacking the xbox, and why they're important to our citizen rights.

That's it. Short and sweet. Read online if you want to know more.