A pile of books – beloved underdogs all –
recommended by writers polled by Partisan magazine. I'm honoured to have been one.
My selection,
Margaret Millar's An Air That Kills, won't come as much of a surprise to regular readers. You know how I'm always going on about her writing. If not
An Air That Kills it would've been
Vanish in an Instant or
Wall of Eyes or
The Iron Gates or
Beast in View or… But no, with action alternating between Toronto and cottage country,
An Air That Kills makes most sense. Summer approaches. Besides, I think it's her best novel.
The
Partisan list, numbering thirteen, has some old favourites; I see others deserving reconsideration. I'll be reading them all over the next few months – including the four I don't know at all.
How come no one told me about Jonathan Goldstein's novel?
Anyway, here's the list. I'm presenting it in order of publication for no other reason than it places my selection first, but you'd do better to read
the actual Partisan piece.
An Air That Kills – Margaret Millar
Recommended by Brian Busby
From a Seaside Town – Norman Levine
Recommended by Nathan Whitlock
Pandora – Sylvia Fraser
Recommended by Mark Sampson
Dancing Nightly in the Tavern – Mark Anthony Jarman
Recommended by Elisabeth de Mariaffi
Onyx John – Trevor Ferguson
Recommended by Andrew Hood
The Republic of Love – Carol Shields
Recommended by Joel Yanofsky
Wigger – Lawrence Braithwaite
Recommended by Derek McCormack
Paradise, Piece by Piece – Molly Peacock
Recommended by Guillaume Morissette
Lenny Bruce is Dead – Jonathan Goldstein
Recommended by Ian McGillis
A Tourist’s Guide to Glengarry – Ian McGillis
Recommended by Andrew Steinmetz
HA! – Gordon Sheppard
Recommended by Dimitri Nasrallah
The Darren Effect – Libby Creelman
Recommended by Saleema Nawaz
Lighthouse Island – Paulette Jiles
Recommended by Michael Winter
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