Keep It Fictional

May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada. Here at Keep It Fictional we want to take the opportunity to express our thanks for all the opportunities to read books written by authors of Asian descent. Thank you for your great contribution to literature. Books mentioned on this episode: A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin, I Went To See My Father by Shin Kyung-sook, translated by Anton Hur, The Dwe...

We finish off talking about our anticipated reads of May to August 2023, and bid farewell to Mark, one of our dear book friends. Thank you, Mark, for all your thought-provoking book recommendations in the past year. We will try to carry the torch by raising awareness of lesser known, translated works from around the world. Books mentioned on this episode: Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas, Ink...

Your TBR is about to get longer! This and next week, we will tell you about 25 very on-brand upcoming releases we are looking forward to reading. Books mentioned on this episode: The Stronghold by Dino Buzzati and translated by Lawrence Venuti, The Book that Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence, The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera, Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See, Crooked Man...

Today's episode is all about giving a shoutout to those books that were nominated for an award, didn't win, but should have, in our opinion. Get ready for epic road trips, missing bodies, alternative realities, and true crime podcasts. Books mentioned on this episode: Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer, The Trees by Percival Everett, The Tatami Galaxy by Tomihiko Morimi, translated by Emily...

The tables have turned! This week, instead of recommending books we have read and loved, we had to read books someone else has recommended to us. These books include a melancholic read with not much happening, a thrift shop with eccentric customers, a queen who doesn't want to die, and a detective taking witness statements from ghosts. Are the Keep It Fictional librarians good at taking recomm...

We discovered that one of our book friends loves a good betrayal, thankfully only in books and not in real life. Join us this week as we try to figure out who will be the traitor among our books. Books mentioned this week: The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson, Among Thieves by M.J. Kuhn, The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud, and Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks b...

Get ready to feel all the emotions with our poetry and novel-in-verse recommendations. Books mentioned in this episode: Deep Wheel Orcadia by Harry Josephine Giles, A Really Good Brown Girl by Marilyn Dumont, The Tradition by Jericho Brown, and Cluster by Souvankham Thammavongsa.

What should be a pleasant episode about spring and plants and fungi turns out to be stuff of nightmare for one of our book friends. Books mentioned on this episode: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari, This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron, The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, and A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the Wes...

Find out what our Keep It Fictional librarians think of this year's CBC Canada Reads' contenders: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Greenwood by Michael Christie, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah, and Ducks by Kate Beaton. The debate will take place from March 27 to 30. Let's see if we have guessed the right winner.

What kind of superpowers would you want? How about the ones our characters have in the books we read for this week's episode? Shapeshifting, immortality, ability to fly, superstrength, and...Math? Books mentioned on this episode: Wildseed by Octavia E. Butler, Faith by Julie Murphy, Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson, Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang, and Dreadnaught by April Daniels.

March is National Small Press Month. We want to give a shout out to all the amazing small publishers out there that make our book world so much richer and more interesting! Thank you. We encourage you to pick up a book from a small press this month, and every month of the year. Books mentioned in this episode: The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste (Algonquin), Dislocations by Sylvia Molloy (Charco Press)...

We say goodbye and good luck to Gabriel, one of our book friends who has been with the Port Moody Public Library for the last year. Thank you for all the book (and video game) recommendations, Gabriel. Books mentioned on this episode: Bioshock: Rapture by John Shirley, Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Vicious by V.E. Schwab, Minecraft: The Dragon by Ni...

This week (February 19 - 25, 2023) is Freedom to Read Week in Canada. Our Keep It Fictional librarians are here to talk about banned books that people don't want you to get your hands on. Show your support and commitment to freedom to read by picking up and reading a banned book. Books mentioned on this episode: More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera, All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson, All Am...

Our librarians recommend fantastic reads by Black authors for every month of the year. Books mentioned on this episode: Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi, The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr, We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin, What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J. A. Chancy, and Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia.

Get ready for some earworms! In today's Keep It Fictional Book Chat, Corene, Fiona, Mark, and Virginia talk about books that have the same titles as songs. Also on the episode, a revelation that blew Corene's mind. 20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa, You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo, Girl in a Coma by Douglas Coupland, and She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen.

This episode provides some incentives for our librarians to pick up a book by an author they have always meant to read. And with Sadie back, a topic that hurts Corene's brain resurfaces: buying series. Books mentioned on this episode: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, Ravelstein by Saul Bellow, Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany, and Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer.

Are you a fan of books with multiple perspectives? Corene, Fiona, Mark, and Virginia have recommendations for you in today's Keep It Fictional Book Chat. Romance, Frankenstein retelling, swimming pools, and reality shows are on the menu today. Books mentioned on this episode: The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka, Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Tsai, What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jimenez, and Love...

The Keep It Fictional librarians challenge themselves to read a loooong book. Are you a fan of a doorstopper? What is the longest book you've read?  Books mentioned on this episode: Books mentioned on this episode: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (different translations available), Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez and translated by Megan McDowell, Lady Joker by Kaoru Takamura and translat...

In case your To-Be-Read (TBR) list is not long enough already, we have more books to suggest to you. Fiona, Gabriel, and Mark talk about the books coming out from January to April that they are looking forward to reading. Memoirs, mysteries, haunted houses, shogi, guerilla gardening group, and more. Let us know what books you are excited to read! Books mentioned on this episode: Stravaging "Strang...

Happy New Year, book lovers! 2023 is here, and Corene and Virginia are putting together their lists of upcoming books to read. This season's lineup includes murder, more murder, mysterious suitcase, French elf, anxious robot vacuum, dark academia, and chicken soup. Books mentioned on this episode:  Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson The Bandit Queens by Parini Shro...

We continue counting down to our top five favourite books of 2022. Books mentioned on this episode: Internet for the People by Ben Tarnoff, Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi, translated by David Boyd and Lucy North, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz, How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis, Blue Period (Series) by Tsubasa Yamaguchi, Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk, The Spea...

We count down to our top five favourite books of 2022 and thank all the authors who have given us wonderful stories all year long. Books mentioned on this episode: Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh, Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield, Squire by Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh, What World is This? by Judith Butler, Haven by Emma Donoghue, Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, Death on Gokumon Island by Se...

As Fiona said, we often read for comfort, but for this episode, we all have to step out of our comfort zone to read a genre we usually don't read. What would be outside your wheelhouse that you'd like to give it a try? Books mentioned on this episode: 77 Fragments of a Familiar Ruin: Poems by Thomas King, The Lady Killer by Masako Togawa, God's Country by Percival Everett, and Waking the Witch: Re...

Our assignment for this episode is to read a book by an author with a first name that appears on the list of most popular baby names of the year we were born. We ended up with a Daniel, a David, a Jennifer, and a Juan. What books may be on your list?  Books mentioned on this episode: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop and translated by Anna Moschovakis, The Gen...

Is there such a thing as a perfect crime? The locked room mystery books we read for today's episodes tried to create one, but could you crack the case before the book ends? Books mentioned on this episode: Reprieve by James Han Mattson, One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus, Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen, Malice by Keigo Higashino, translated by Alexander O. Smith with Elye Alexander, and The...