NOW’s most-read Book articles of 2011.
1. The Lost Dream: The Story of Mike Danton, David Frost, and a Broken Canadian Family Through the incredible story of Mike Danton, the NHL player who tried to have his agent killed, this book reveals the seedier side of our national game and the sexual abuse that appears to have become endemic in the world of sports. All the more relevant in the wake of the Penn State scandal.
2. Mark Twain minus the N-word Can you take political correctness taken too far? Susan G. Cole sure as hell thinks so. This column explores the damage done when you try to sanitize history.
3. The Trouble With Billionaires Linda McQuaig penned a book about the obscenely rich, and we loved it. In her review, Ellie Kirzner recalls her one and only brush with the Canadian super-rich and praises McQuaig’s ability to pinpoint the immorality of an economic system too many of us have grown to accept without question.
4. Literary awards get it right On any award night, there’s nothing more frustrating than watching the trophy go home with someone who clearly didn’t earn it. So we were rather pleased when the Griffen Poetry Prize and the Dayne Ogilvie Award went to writers who actually deserved them.
5. Trouble in the Camera Club: The best kind of book launch It was a punk launch for a punk book when Don Pyle released his new book of photography. We wish all literary events were as fun as this.
6. Meagre Manji Our critic was not impressed with Irshad Manji’s work, the Trouble with Islam Today. Is it ever a good idea to generalize that much about a complex culture?
7. The Sentimentalists In case you missed hearing about one of the most talked-about Canadian books of 2010, here’s your chance to catch up! We got past the flash and found a superbly constructed story told with skill.
8. The Water Man’s Daughter This was a book that was so close – and yet not quite there. But we loved the energy and promise of Emma Ruby-Saachs debut novel, despites its flaws.
9. Pages Bookstore going down Remember when we got to worry about bookstores being closed, instead of libraries? Good times.
10. Six Metres of Pavement Farzana Doctor’s tale of personal tragedy and growing up queer in an immigrant family was one of the highlights of the year, all the more so for being set at the familiar intersection of Dundas and Brock.
