by Jackie LaPlante –
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
Jonathan Haidt
With a PhD in social psychology, Jonathan Haidt is well positioned to explore the social changes wrought by teenagers’ exposure to technology. He cites research pointing to marked increases of depression, anxiety and suicide in teenagers after 2007, the year that smartphones become readily available. He describes how childhood has moved from play-based to phone-based, making youth risk-averse and less confident in their relationships and learning. His suggestions for a remedy are bold and require a global drive to offer our children a healthier childhood.
How to Age Disgracefully
Clare Pooley
When a seniors’ social club decides to fight city council over the planned closure of a local daycare, unorthodox – and amusing – tactics are employed and the carefully concealed pasts of several club members are revealed. U.K. author Clare Pooley is the master of creating bonds between generations in a manner that is heart-warming but not cloying. Signature British humour and a touch of the madcap make this a fun spring read.
The Sun Walks Down
Fiona McFarlane
In 1883, in the South Australian outback, a six-year-old boy goes missing in a dust storm. Townspeople, itinerant travellers, artists, immigrants and local Aboriginal people unite in a disjointed search that reflects the town’s varied social stratas. Over the course of seven eerily red sunsets, the vagaries of an isolated community and family tensions are explored via the mythologies of native and non-native people and the constant influence of nature and art.
Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman
Lucy Worsley
Lucy Worsley, known for her popular BBC historical documentaries, brings what has been described as her “plummy-chummy” tone to her writing. Covering Christie’s life chronologically, Worsley overturns the myth of the author as simple housewife. Athletic, attractive and open-minded toward romantic relationships, Christie was a barometer of the changing social climate of the era. Real-life anecdotes are linked to their appearances in her books, and may inspire a reading or re-reading of the classic mystery novels.\
Good Material
Dolly Alderton
Andy is a 35-year-old still-struggling comedian when his girlfriend of three years (10 months and 29 days) breaks up with him. He is devastated and spends the following months binge-drinking, couch-surfing and occasionally doing some stand-up, but mostly wondering what the heck happened. Alderton uses her modern, self-deprecating humour to create a stumbling yet lovable character who, despite the initial blow of his break-up, unwittingly hits his comedic and social stride.
Bury the Lead
Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti
Cat Conway returns to her childhood town in Ontario, having been fired from her big-city newspaper job. Expecting only to lick her wounds as reporter at the town’s paper, she is surprised when the lead actor at the renowned playhouse is murdered and she is chosen to follow the story. Set against the backdrop of (likely) Stratford and filled with snippets of theatre life, the action is well-paced and characters are empathetic, modern and engaging.
Wasteland
Oliver Franklin-Wallis
Subtitled “The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future,” Franklin-Wallis does a thorough job of investigating multiple types of waste, from sewage to nuclear, all of it vast in quantity. Interviews with garbage pickers and anti-waste campaigners highlight misinformation regarding the eventual fate of both our refuse and many of our carefully recycled remnants. This is an eye-opening look at an ages-old and rapidly increasing human problem.
