This summer, participants in Richmond’s One Book Four Cities program have been reading Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion. If you enjoyed this novel about the lives and struggles of people who shaped Toronto, one-hundred years ago, here’s what to read next. One Book Four Cities is a project of Richmond’s Sister City Advisory Committee and the Richmond Public Library. Find out more at rpl.yourlibrary.ca/src.
The English Patient: A Novel by Michael Ondaatje
Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel revolves around four damaged people, thrown together in an Italian villa near the end of World War II. A nurse, a maimed thief, and a soldier are haunted by the riddle of the nameless, burned man who lies in an upstairs room.
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Fourteen-year-old Nathaniel, and his older sister, Rachel, stay behind in 1945 London when their parents move to Singapore, leaving them in the care of a mysterious, possibly criminal figure named ‘The Moth’. A dozen years later, Nathaniel begins putting together his recollection of this period with the facts. A novel about memory, lies, and family secrets.
Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje
Fact and fiction blur in Michael Ondaatje's beloved family memoir. Returning to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) 25 years after he left, Ondaatje sorts through the memories and legends of his upper-class parents' and grandparents' carefree yet doomed lifestyle, set against the lush landscape of a colonial empire in decline.
The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje
In the early 1950s in Ceylon, an eleven-year-old boy is put alone aboard a ship bound for England. As he and two other lone boys have adventures, roaming the decks and the holds, the activities of some fellow, shadowy passengers are revealed.
Barkskins by Annie Proulx
Two illiterate woodsmen faced with harsh working conditions in New France embark on very different paths, shaping their own destinies and those of their descendants. This epic novel of the deforestation of North America has been called Proulx’s masterwork.
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
As an older woman, Iris Chase looks back on the events and relationships of her childhood, youth and middle age. The book is set in the fictional Ontario town of Port Ticonderoga and in the Toronto of the 1930s and 1940s with the major events of Canadian history forming an important backdrop.
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
In this sweeping novel, Vancouver mathematician Marie searches for meaning while piecing together the tales of two generations of her family in China, from Mao’s Cultural Revolution to the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests.
Floating City: A Novel by Kerri Sakamoto
This novel follows Frankie Hanesaka from his boyhood floating home on the BC coast, to a mountain internment camp, to chasing his dreams in Toronto. A fairytale-like novel about ambition, the immigrant experience, and the costs of turning your back on your history.
How to Pronounce Knife: Stories by Souvankham Thammavongsa
A young man painting nails at the local salon. A woman plucking feathers at a chicken processing plant. A father who packs furniture for homes he'll never afford. This Giller prize-winning short story collection illuminates the hopes, disappointments, love affairs and acts of defiance of Lao immigrants to Canada.
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
In post-World War II Barcelona, a motherless boy named Daniel is given a rare book by his father. Seeking more works by the author, Daniel is shocked to learn he may have the last copy in existence. What begins as an innocent quest opens the door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets.
Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry
Set in 1970s India, bank clerk and family man Gustad is slowly drawn into a government deception involving threats, secrets, and large amounts of money. The novel follows Gustad's unravelling life during India's political turmoil under the leadership of Indira Gandhi.
For other popular reading suggestions check out Richmond Public Library's Web site at www.yourlibrary.ca/books-we-like.
Haidee Parker O’Brien is a librarian at the Brighouse branch of the Richmond Public Library.
