I don’t know about you, but Fall is when I get most excited about books. Sure beach reading has its pluses and who doesn’t love consuming delicious books with your feet in the sand, but this is the season I’ve been waiting for.

Sitting in a chair with a blanket across my legs, I’ve got two books on the go right now. And I am so excited to talk about them!

S.M. Freedman is coming on October 17 to talk about her suspenseful THE DAY SHE DIED. It is a book that explores the deep love of childhood friendship and what it means when you feel your life falling apart.

From Dundurn Press:

“After a traumatic head injury, Eve questions every memory and motive in this mind-bending psychological thriller. Eve Gold’s birthdays are killers, and her twenty-seventh proves to be no different. But for the up-and-coming Vancouver artist, facing death isn’t the real shock — it’s what comes after. Recovering from a near-fatal accident, Eve is determined to return to the life she’s always wanted: a successful artistic career, marriage to the man who once broke her heart, and another chance at motherhood. But brain damage leaves her forgetful, confused, and tortured by repressed memories of a deeply troubled childhood, where her innocence was stolen one lie — and one suspicious death — at a time. As the dark, twisted pages unfold, Eve must choose between clinging to the lies that helped her survive her childhood and unearthing the secrets she buried long ago.”

On October 24, Jessica Moore returns to Junction reads with her narrative poetry in THE WHOLE SINGING OCEAN. We don’t normally include poetry in our readings, but Jessica’s prosaic memoir is exceptional on so many levels.

From Harbour Publishing (Nightwood Editions):

“Part long poem, part investigation, this true story begins with a whale encounter and then dives into the affair of the École en bateau, a French countercultural school aboard a boat. The École was based on the ideals of ’68, but also twisted ideas about child psychology, Foucault’s philosophy and an abolition of the separation between adults and children. As more troubling details are revealed, the text touches on memory, trauma and environmental grief, ultimately leading to buried echoes from the author’s own life and family history. At the dark heart of The Whole Singing Ocean is the question: How is it possible to hold two things—rapture and pain—at once?“