It’s a common New Year’s Resolution: "I want to read more."
If that’s the case, McNally Robinson Booksellers has you covered with a fresh slate of books to start the new year. Co-owner Chris Hall joined Nolan Kehler on Morning Light to share more about them for the show’s “What to Read” segment, which airs on the first Friday of every month.
The Word of Dog by Mark Rowlands
“Anyone who spent any time with a dog knows that they have a real talent for appreciating the good things in life,” Hall chuckled. “There’s nothing more satisfying than a good run, and nothing comes more naturally than showing affection to their companions.”
“Rowlands is a philosopher, and he explores the ideas that philosophers think about what it means to live a good life. He argues that we can learn a lot just by observing our canine friends. He looks at questions like personal fulfillment and meaning and suggests that while dogs may not be able to answer our questions exactly, it's possible to see hints of what a better life might look like just by watching what they how they live their lives.”
Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough
"Usually when we think of Vikings, you're thinking of warriors leaping from long ships and intent on rampaging the local populace,” Hall explains. While that’s historically true, Barraclough shows that there’s more to the Viking experience than pillaging and plundering. "They were equally adept as a people at settling and farming, and they built these amazing cultures of continuity and purpose. This is a history that takes a wider swath of the Nordic peoples of medieval times that includes more talk about women and the domestic sphere. It talks about farmers, writers, travelers and artisans.”
“Its history is about a lot more than the warriors and politicians.”
We Do Not Part by Han Kang
A recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Kang is starting 2025 with a brand-new novel, making it a perfect time to give her writing a try.
"This novel tells a story about a young woman named Kyungha whose friend ends up in the hospital after an accident, and Kyong is at task to traveling to this friend's home,” explains Hall. “She lives on an island in order to look after a beloved pet, a white bird called Ama. But as she travels, a terrible snow storm hits, and there's lots of questions that start whether she will arrive safely, whether the pet will survive and literally whether or not Kyungah gets hopelessly lost.”
“Kang's novels, they always have an element of confusion or ambiguousness to them,” Hall elaborates. “We are often inside the characters' minds when they don't really know what's going on, or they're not in control of what is happening. It can take some work to read her, but I find it really rewarding that sometimes the books that expect the most out of us have the most give back."
Juice by Tim Winton
“I discovered Tim Winton when he made the Booker Prize shortlist in 2002,” Hall recounts as he shares about his previous run-ins with the western Australian author’s work. “He's very good at writing about the land – both big perspectives like landscapes and describing the pieces of the land. It's very evocative, but also right down to the details.”
Winton’s new novel is set in Australia’s very distant future, where extreme climate change has forced people to live below ground to escape the summer’s heat. “The world has turned into a series of battles and negotiations for scarce resources and power,” shares Hall. “There's also a lot of resentment and anger towards ancestors that allowed the world to become this way. It reminded me a little bit of the Mad Max movies.”
For the Love of a Son by Scott Oake
Hall’s final title is a tale many Winnipeggers are familiar with: acclaimed sports broadcaster and recent Order of Canada investee Scott Oake and the loss of his son Bruce to opioid addiction back in 2011. “This book is about his relationship with Bruce and also how he and his wife and his other son, Darcy, coped with the loss,” explains Hall. “But instead of allowing it to break them, the family has instead turned that worst day of their lives into a way to help the thousands of Canadians who are struggling with addiction.”
"We kind of know the story, but this allows us a lot farther into the story.”
In addition to these five titles, Chris Hall briefly touched on his two favourite books of 2024, The Horse: A Galloping History of Humanity by Timothy C. Winegard and Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson. All of these books can be found at McNally Robinson’s two Winnipeg locations in the Grant Park Shopping Centre and at The Forks.