Add these books by Cottage Life contributors to your reading list

Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World

By Clive Thompson

From acclaimed tech writer Clive Thompson comes a brilliant anthropological reckoning with the most powerful tribe in the world today, computer programmers, in a book that interrogates who they are, how they think, what qualifies as greatness in their world, and what should give us pause.
—Penguin Random House

Clive Thompson confesses his cottage sins: Pride

This is how Canadian writer Clive Thompson goes wild at the cottage

The Spectacular

By Zoe Whittall

It’s taboo to regret motherhood. But what would happen if you did? Shifting perspectives and time periods, The Spectacular is a multi-generational story exploring sexuality, gender and the weight of reproductive freedoms, from the author of The Best Kind of People.—HarperCollins Canada

Zoe Whittall confesses her cottage sins: Lust

Nerve: A Personal Journey Through the Science of Fear

By Eva Holland

In 2015, Eva Holland was forced to confront her greatest fear when her mother had a stroke and suddenly passed away. After the shock and grief subsided, Holland began to examine the extent to which her many fears had limited her, and wondered whether or not it was possible to move past them.—Penguin Canada

Eva Holland confesses her cottage sins: Greed

Lessons from a bear attack

The Barren Grounds

By David A. Robertson

Morgan and Eli, two Indigenous children forced away from their families and communities, are brought together in a foster home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They each feel disconnected, from their culture and each other, and struggle to fit in at school and at their new home—until they find a secret place, walled off in an unfinished attic bedroom.—Puffin Canada

The difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation

The Day the World Stops Shopping

By J.B. MacKinnon

Consuming less is our best strategy for saving the planet—but can we do it? In this thoughtful and surprisingly optimistic book, journalist J. B. MacKinnon investigates how we may achieve a world without shopping.—Vintage Canada

Love letters to the cottage: On the pleasures of not changing a thing

Son of Elsewhere

By Elamin Abdelmahmoud

From one of the most beloved media personalities of his generation comes a one-of-a-kind reflection on Blackness, faith, language, pop culture, and the challenges and rewards of finding your way in the world.

Professional wrestling super fandom, Ontario’s endlessly unfurling 401 highway, late nights at the convenience store listening to heavy metal—for writer and podcast host Elamin Abdelmahmoud, these are the building blocks of a life. Son of Elsewhere charts that life in wise, funny, and moving reflections on the many threads that weave together into an identity.—McClelland & Stewart

Breaking the colour code of the Canadian cottage experience

Why napping at the cottage is rebellious

Baseball Life Advice: Loving the Game That Saved Me

By Stacey May Fowles

For Stacey May Fowles, the game of baseball is one of “long pauses punctuated by tiny miracles.” In this entertaining and thoughtful book, Fowles gives us a refreshingly candid and personal perspective on subjects ranging from bat flips to bandwagoners, from the romance of spring training to the politics of booing, from the necessity of taking a hard look at players’ injuries and mental health issues to finding solace at the ballpark.
—McClelland & Stewart

How a hundred-year-old baseball game became the heart of Bruce Beach

Praying to the West: How Muslims Shaped the Americas

By Omar Mouallem

In Praying to the West, Mouallem explores the unknown history of Islam across the Americas, traveling to thirteen unique mosques in search of an answer to how this religion has survived and thrived so far from the place of its origin. From California to Quebec, and from Brazil to Canada’s icy north, he meets the members of fascinating communities, all of whom provide different perspectives on what it means to be Muslim. Along this journey he comes to understand that Islam has played a fascinating role in how the Americas were shaped—from industrialization to the changing winds of politics. And he also discovers that there may be a place for Islam in his own life, particularly as a father, even if he will never be a true believer.
—Simon & Schuster

Omar Mouallem confesses his cottage sins: Envy

The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink

By Roy MacGregor and Kerry MacGregor

Lucas Finnigan eats, sleeps and breathes hockey. With his friends Edge, Swift and Crunch, Lucas plays on his hometown’s rink, dreaming of the day when he knows he’ll make the NHL. But lately money has been tight at home, and, after a major growth spurt, Lucas is forced to wear hand-me-down gear that doesn’t quite fit right. Now he’s not sure he’ll ever make it to the Hall of Fame like his hockey heroes.

And that’s not the only problem. With the community arena’s chiller on the fritz, and replacement parts too tough to come by, it looks like Lucas and his friends may be doomed to a season on a plastic rink—or worse, no hockey at all!

But with a magical discovery, and some help from one of hockey’s greatest players (who was a kid once, too!), their final skate might turn into their first great adventure…—HarperCollins

Roy MacGregor confesses his cottage sins: Wrath

Is the canoe the ultimate, ahem, pleasure-craft?

Moon of the Crusted Snow

By Waubgeshig Rice

With winter looming, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark. Cut off, people become passive and confused. Panic builds as the food supply dwindles. While the band council and a pocket of community members struggle to maintain order, an unexpected visitor arrives, escaping the crumbling society to the south. Soon after, others follow.

The community leadership loses its grip on power as the visitors manipulate the tired and hungry to take control of the reserve. Tensions rise and, as the months pass, so does the death toll due to sickness and despair. Frustrated by the building chaos, a group of young friends and their families turn to the land and Anishinaabe tradition in hopes of helping their community thrive again. Guided through the chaos by an unlikely leader named Evan Whitesky, they endeavor to restore order while grappling with a grave decision.—ECW Press

Waubgeshig Rice’s top reading picks for cottagers

The End of Craving: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of Eating Well

By Mark Schatzker

For the last fifty years, we have been fighting a losing war on food. We have cut fat, reduced carbs, eliminated sugar, and attempted every conceivable diet only to find that eighty-eight million American adults are prediabetic, more than a hundred million have high blood pressure, and nearly half now qualify as obese. The harder we try to control what we eat, the unhealthier we become. Why?

Mark Schatzker has spent his career traveling the world in search of the answer. Now, in The End of Craving, he poses the profound question: What if the key to nutrition and good health lies not in resisting the primal urge to eat but in understanding its purpose?—Simon & Schuster

Mark Schatzker confesses his cottage sins: Gluttony

The Residence

By Andrew Pyper

In this terrifying ghost story based on true events, the President’s late son haunts the White House, threatening all who live in it—and the divided America beyond its walls. From the bestselling author of The Homecoming.—Simon & Schuster

Life advice from a squirrel