Sixteen books that helped put 2025 in perspective
What our literary output offers is not a vision of perfectibility but an attempt to reckon with our world in all its contradiction, ambiguity, and fractiousness.
“A life of constant displacement”: Maggie Helwig compels readers to empathize with an unhoused community in her hear searing book Encampment
Helwig displays an almost preternatural empathy and a willingness to meet people where they are.
Sexual healing: Bloomberg investigative journalist Ellen Huet’s book chronicles the rise and fall of OneTaste, a centre for “orgasmic meditation”
Huet is hesitant to reduce OneTaste to the simple category of a cult, notwithstanding the use of that word in her subtitle.
“How brave can I be?”: Two books focus on the campaign of silencing directed toward pro-Palestinian voices in Canada
The ranks of Canadian protesters who have been punished for speaking out about the slaughter in Gaza are extensive.
“They were in a kind of trance”: David Cayley on the Covid pandemic, the need for questioning, and where the CBC went wrong
"Questioning which is true questioning is only possible for people who have some excellence of intelligence, character, and formation."
My definition is this: Self-proclaimed word nerd Stefan Fatsis examines the importance of the Merriam-Webster dictionary to U.S. society and culture
Some of the words Fatsis was successful in getting into the dictionary include "alt-right," "dogpile," "microaggression," and "overserve."
Cory Doctorow examines how the internet got so awful in his latest anti-establishment manifesto
Doctorow's notion of enshittification has much going for it: it's irreverent, broadly applicable, and memorable.
Fear factor: Behavioural scientist Coltan Scrivner explains why horror may be good for us in Morbidly Curious
Scrivner suggests that people have a certain "sweet spot" when it comes to how frightened they like to be.
Trad wives and demon children: Eleanor Johnson examines the ways in which 1970s horror films dovetailed with 2nd wave feminism
Rosemary's Baby provides an entrée for Johnson to discuss five other films she collects under the umbrella of what she refers to as "domestic horror."
Severed arms and spontaneous combustion: Eighteen horror writers address what draws them to the genre
Some authors take the remit quite literally, while others approach the task more elliptically.