JENNIFER’S READING LIST
Books Worth Reading
Every writer is shaped by the books they love. These are stories that have stayed with me—books that challenged, comforted, inspired, and reminded me why stories matter.
WHY THESE BOOKS MATTER
A Library of Stories That Stay With You
Reading has always been at the heart of my writing life. These are books I’ve returned to in memory long after turning the final page. Whether through unforgettable characters, beautiful prose, or profound emotional truth, each has influenced how I think about storytelling.
I hope you’ll discover something here that speaks to you too.
Fake It So Real
By Susan Sanford Blades
REVIEW
Fake It So Real will break your heart and give you hope all at the same time. There is a place in the world for Gwen, if only she can find it – and don’t tell her where it should be because that will make her look somewhere else. She is not up to the job of motherhood that life and sex have foisted upon her and Susan Sanford Blades does not sugarcoat the realities. Damian is even less fit for parenthood, and he gets out as fast as possible. Poor schleppy Shepps is left to pick up the pieces until he has to leave, too. And then there are the daughters, Sara and Meg, two sweet and angry girls who become women and have children of their own. How do you learn to be a mother, a daughter, a human, when there are no guard rails or instruction manuals?
FAVOuRITE QUOTE
“How do you learn to be a mother, a daughter, a human, when there are no guard rails or instruction manuals?”
Suddenly Light
by Nina Dunic
REVIEW
Suddenly Light is one of those books that makes you want to sit quietly for a little while after finishing. There is an ache in these stories of loneliness, grief, and sometimes fruitless interactions. At the same time, the characters, including (or maybe especially) the dog, reveal their humanity, their desire for connection. The characters understand their need, even when they cannot name it. The dog, patient, implacable, endures the dominion of humans, but when he can, he turns his face to the wind, he gazes out over land, he sleeps rough in the wilderness.
The stories are made up of moments. Moments crystallized and hung before dissolving into the next.
FAVOuRITE QUOTE
“Suddenly Light is one of those books that makes you want to sit quietly for a little while after finishing.”
Rufous and Calliope
by Sarah Louise Butler
REVIEW
From the opening Halloween scene, where untethered children from an unparented family are able to blend in to get treats, Rufous and Calliope leads you into a world of intense experience. The descriptions of the fort, the forest, the experiences of loss and failing recollection.
Each memory lights up like a spark before burning out and falling away. Reading this book is like walking through the forest with Rufous, seeing what he sees, hearing what he hears, feeling all of it – wonder, cold, fear, doggedness, patchy hanging on, losing the trail then finding it again – a last desperate attempt to have it all make sense – or at least to reach the people and the place where it all began.
Rufous and Calliope folds you into a vivid dream of meaning, hope, and loss.
A friend who read it said, “A novel that I simply could not put down—I started reading it yesterday morning. What an incredible story and writer. I feel completely unmoored.”
FAVORITE QUOTE
“Reading this book is like walking through the forest with Rufous, seeing what he sees, hearing what he hears, feeling all of it.”
The Other Shore
by Rebecca Campbell
REVIEW
Like a shared-death experience, this book left me acutely aware of the interconnectedness of all things. These stories are rich and fecund, with the natural world stretching into the vastness of our minds and of space – all rotted logs and cedar scent, darkly-lit highways, the first light on the shore, ocean breezes and ocean depths.
The stories pulsed, like a radio beacon in the universe. Dizzying and spooky, I was carried away.
FAVOuRITE QUOTE
“Like a shared-death experience, this book left me acutely aware of the interconnectedness of all things.”
For the Love of a Son
by Scott Oake with Michael Hingston
REVIEW
We do not suffer alone. All of us who know the anguish of addiction in our families can also know that we are not alone. Addiction is taking the lives of so many young people – on a ‘state of emergency’ level. And yet, most families continue to struggle alone, locked in shame and grief.
The grief that Scott Oake and his family suffered at the loss of their son, Bruce, is palpable on the page. Their openness is a generosity, an outstretched hand.
The story of the conceiving and building of the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre is compelling reading, and a triumph in both the execution and the telling.
FAVOuRITE QUOTE
“Their openness is a generosity, an outstretched hand.”
More Books to Discover
I’m always discovering stories that challenge, inspire, and stay with me long after the final page. I’ll continue adding recommendations as my reading list grows.
Literary Fiction
The Bee Sting — Paul Murray
The Covenant of Water — Verghese
The Great Believers — Rebecca Makkai
Stories of Place & Belonging
Greenwood — Michael Christie
Moon of the Crusted Snow — Waubgeshig
The Overstory — Richard Powers
Memoirs & Non-Fiction
The Outrun — Amy Liptrot
Braiding Sweetgrass — Robin Wall
On Writing — Stephen King
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