Today I have decided to add a new feature to Can't Stop Reading. I know you are thinking, but Bookstore Girl, what kind of a feature could possibly improve the wonder that is this blog? Well, I'll tell you. I am going to start a weekly-ish column called Ask Bookstore Girl, in which I will answer book recommendation related questions. I'll use a combination of questions I answer at work and email requests.

Today's question comes from a woman who came in to the store yesterday. First off, this woman is obviously silly, as she told me she had come on a trip and not brought any books with her. Seriously. Who does that? Someone who loved Ann-Marie MacDonald's Fall on Your Knees, and wants a Canadian fiction recommendation.


Now first off, Canadian fiction is not my specialty. Shut up Robyn, I know you are laughing at me. That is the understatement of the year. However, it is my job to be up on books, so I read a lot of reviews of Canadian fiction. Even so, it is easier to recommend a book that you have read, and enjoyed, so I started out with Crow Lake by Mary Lawson. Despite being set in a small town in Ontario, and being a family drama, I actually enjoyed this when I read it a few years ago. Hmm, says the book-free traveller, unenthusiastically.

Next suggestion, Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. This one has made a big splash in Canlit this year. Being nominated for several important awards, as well as being a finalist in the CBC's Canada Reads. Its about a young First Nation's man who goes off to fight in the First World War. But no, you see, it's a man book, and our traveller likes to read about the interior lives of women.


I've got it! The Birth House by Ami McKay! Oops, this story about a midwife's apprentice in the early part of twentieth century Nova Scotia is still in hardcover.

Aha! The Magician's Beautiful Assistant and Other Stories by Rachel Wyatt. Various quite short stories that made me laugh out loud (my favourite remains Dear Mr. Shariff). Sold!