Recommended Reads from the Fairview Public Library
By Zane Moffatt-Toews
There are countless reasons why two strangers may connect, but one common reason that has connected all ages is the commonality of stories. As a child, discovering a classmate reads and loves the same book series as you, an immediate conversation and connection occur.
The ability to speak passionately about the characters, what will happen next, and why each of you enjoys the series as much as you do creates a connection. This does not go away with childhood; if anything, it intensifies.
Reading doesn’t only form friendships, but entire communities. Your local book club, online review communities, and specific fan clubs for different series or genres are just a few examples of how this traditionally solitary activity can bring people together. It may be the fact that each person reading the book will interpret the pages differently and see it from a different viewpoint than the next, and we as humans have a desire to understand one another through these insights.
Literature allows us to step into the shoes of others, while communities give us a space to discuss these stories, breaking down divides and fostering a deeper understanding.
The books that follow explore themes of connection, resilience, belonging, and community. Several also offer a distinctly Albertan perspective, whether through local history, landscapes, food, neighbourhoods, or the people who call this province home.
Eat Alberta First: A Year of Local Recipes from where the Prairies Meet the Mountains
By Karen Anderson
Eat Alberta First is an award-winning Canadian cookbook and locavore manifesto. It features 90 recipes highlighting local ingredients like bison, beef, root vegetables, honey, and red fife wheat. This book also includes forage guides, pantry stocking tips, and beautiful photography. Organized into six uniquely Alberta seasons, such as “The Long Dark and Deep Winter”.
Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast
By John Vaillant
Fire Weather is a gripping, investigative, and sometimes terrifying account of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire. It blends thrilling survival stories with deep dives into climate science and the fossil fuel industry. Vaillant often describes the fire as a living, breathing predator, and this book illustrates how fire has evolved in the 21st century to hunt, consume synthetic building materials, and strategize in ways that overpower traditional firefighting methods.
Little Yellow House: Finding Community in a Changing Neighbourhood
By Carissa Halton
Little Yellow House by Carissa Halton is an essay collection/memoir exploring urban revitalization, inner-city living, and the power of community. Halton and her family move to Edmonton’s Alberta Avenue, a neighbourhood with a tough reputation, where they discover profound beauty and connection through their diverse neighbours.
The Prepper’s Pantry: Nutritional Bulk Food Prepping to Maintain a Healthy Diet and a Strong Immune System to Survive Any Crisis
By Ted Riley
Ted Riley is a survivalist, educator, and experienced homesteader. In this book, Riley offers a comprehensive guide to preparing for not just surviving an emergency, but thriving. Riley emphasizes the importance of immunity in crisis situations and lost skills previous generations had down to an art, and how you can pick up these techniques once again.
The Road to Woodstock
By Michael Lang
The Road to Woodstock is a 2009 behind-the-scenes memoir by festival co-creator Michael Lang and Holly George Warren. It details the inception, organization, and cultural impact of the historic 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair, tracing the logistical hurdles, counterculture dynamics, and financial realities of the event. This narrative is enhanced by firsthand anecdotes from performers like Jimi Hendrix and Santana, as well as key players in the making of Woodstock.
Tilly and the Crazy Eights
By Monique Gray Smith
This heartwarming, poignant novel is about eight Indigenous Elders who embark on a bucket list road trip across North America. Driven and guided by the titular protagonist, the group – who dub themselves “the Crazy Eights” – travel from the Pacific Northwest to the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque. The text explores themes of healing, intergenerational trauma, resilience, and the unifying power of love. Smith heavily emphasizes that joy, love, laughter, and cultural connection are potent medicines that can mend broken hearts and help communities move forward from historical oppression.
How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community
By Mia Birdsong
In How We Show Up, Birdsong shows that what separates us isn’t only the ever-present injustices built around race, class, gender, values, and beliefs, but also our denial of our interdependence and need for belonging. In response to the fear and discomfort we feel, we have built walls, and instead of leaning on one another, we find ourselves leaning on concrete. Through research, interviews, and stories of lived experiences, “How We Show Up returns us to our inherent connectedness where we find strength, safety, and support in vulnerability and generosity, in asking for help, and in being accountable” (Birdsong). This book challenges us to question what we have been socialized to believe about what it means to be successful and instead, look at what we long for.
Bad Bad Girl
By Gish Jen
This genre-bending fictionalized memoir explores a fraught mother-daughter relationship. Spanning from 1920s Shanghai to modern-day America, the book is Jen’s frank, emotionally raw attempt to understand her late mother’s harshness as well as the lasting impact of generational trauma.
The Bookshop on the Corner
By Jenny Colgan
The Bookshop on the Corner follows Nina Redmond, an introverted librarian who abruptly loses her job and relocates to a remote Scottish village, buying a bread van that she then turns into a mobile bookstore to serve this new community. Nina acts as a literary matchmaker, finding the perfect book for someone as a way to heal, connect, and enrich their lives. Set against the backdrop of real-world UK library closures, Nina’s mobile shop bridges the geographical service gap, transforming her from a displaced urban worker into an integral, valued member of a close-knit rural community.
Zane Moffatt-Toews
Zane has worked at the Fairview Public Library for a total of eight years, beginning as a high school student volunteer and finding her passion and place to belong in the library world. She is currently taking her Library Information Technician Diploma through Mohawk College. She has a passion for finding the right book for the right person at the right time and suggesting your next perfect read is something she takes particular pride in. She notes how truly lucky she is to be able to work in her favorite childhood place and is living her dream surrounded by books and book lovers. She is ultimately incredibly grateful to be able to fulfill these passions in her hometown surrounded by family, friends, and her miniature dachshund, Spike.