LIFESTYLE

These are the books Indigo's CEO thinks you should snap up this winter

Published Tuesday, November 17, 2020 5:30PM EST

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TORONTO -- A woman who leaves her twin sister behind to craft a fake identity; a Muslim writer whose father cherishes the period of his life where he was Donald Trump’s doctor; the life of America’s first Black president, as told by the man himself — these are the stories sure to capture readers across Canada this winter, according to Heather Reisman, founder and CEO of Indigo.

As the holiday season approaches, many are looking for their next literary world to dive into, or to give as a gift to distract from 2020.

These are a few of Reisman’s favourite picks for your next book buy.

Top of her list is a book that only just hit the shelves: former U.S. president Barack Obama’s memoir, “A Promised Land.”

According to Reisman, it is gripping enough to keep her reading until 4 a.m.

“I’m only about a third of the way through, and it is phenomenal so far,” Reisman told CTV News Channel on Tuesday. “You just fall into his ability to tell his story against the backdrop of the world, against the backdrop of his presidency.

“He’s introspective, you can feel the kind of person he is, that we know him to be,” she said. “He puts incidents and events in context of his belief that the arc of history is long and that we are making progress.

“This is the book, this holiday season. If you’re going to read a biography, the Barack Obama biography is the book to read."

Canadian poet Rupi Kaur also made Reisman’s list with her third poetry collection, “home body”, which also was released Tuesday.

“I just love the way she writes,” Reisman said. “It’s just quite amazing how, in a couple of sentences — which, of course, is what makes poets special — she just conveys so much truth. And it just feels right for now.

“Literally, this is the book I would give to anybody and everybody,” she added.

When it came to fiction, Reisman had more than one standout novel for readers to dig into.

Brit Bennett’s bestselling “The Vanishing Half” was her “escape read” this year, she said.

“You just want to leave the world and just fall into a story that is just a fantastic story. This is “The Vanishing Half”,” Reisman said, adding that it was the number one pick for Indigo as a whole this year.

The book, told through multiple perspectives, centres around two twin sisters who are both light-skinned Black women, and the shattering reverberations throughout both of their lives when one twin decides to pass as a white woman, a decision that requires she leave behind her family and her true identity.

“It’s just absolutely an incredible story,” Reisman said. “Anybody who likes to read fiction of any kind is going to love this book.”

One of her other fiction recommendations is a genre-bending novel called “Homeland Elegies,” by Ayad Akhtar.

“This book landed on my desk unexpectedly,” Reisman said. “Nobody said to me to read it. This is the most unusual kind of book: it is a fiction which is actually a memoir and historical.”

The narrative within the book follows a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who is also named Ayad Akhtar, but the content is fiction — a fictionalized autobiography.

“It is essentially inspired by his life in the real sense, but it is a piece of fiction,” Reisman said. “And this is about the life of a young Muslim in post-911 America.

“You want to make this book the first book you read.”

Of course, Reisman isn’t the only person behind the book recommendations that Indigo puts out every year. She admitted that she hasn’t yet read “Moonflower Murders,” a suspense novel by Anthony Horowitz, but has been told by her team that it is a necessity for mystery lovers this year.

It features a twisting tale of intrigue that involves crime authors, disappearances and clues left behind in the pages of detective books themselves.

“My entire book team said ‘Moonflower Murders? That’s the book for anybody who likes mysteries.’,” Reisman said.

Some of the books that Reisman is highlighting do deal with the important topics of 2020. She recommends two books that deal with racism, one an in-depth non-fiction for adults, and one written for teenagers.

“Caste” by Pulitzer Prize-winner Isabel Wilkerson, is “the book to read if you want to actually understand racism in America,” Reisman said.

It is an examination of the unspoken caste system in America that has affected countless lives throughout the country’s history and today.

“You must read this book,” Reisman said. “Everybody must read “Caste.””

Three years after Ibram X. Kendi put out his groundbreaking book, “Stamped From The Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America,” he’s joined forces with Jason Reynolds to put out a “remix” of the book for teenagers, called “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, And You.”

“This is a teen book that excavates the whole issue of racism in a way that is completely approachable,” Reisman said. She recommended this book last June as well. "It is a spectacularly good read."

The pandemic also rears its head in some of Reisman’s 2020 recommendations.

One book, Fareed Zakaria’s “Ten Lessons For A Post-Pandemic World,” promises some concrete answers in an uncertain time.

“I was at dinner with some good friends, one of whom I respect enormously, and he said ‘How could anybody have a view on the post-pandemic world already?’” Reisman said.

“This book, it doesn’t start with the pandemic. What it does is it looks at critical trends happening in the world and how the pandemic has accelerated. Let me just say, for a non-fiction reader who wants to understand what’s happening and where we’re going — “Ten Lessons For A Post-Pandemic World.” It’s great.”

On the other side of the spectrum, Tomos Robert addresses the pandemic through a picture book for children, which has its beginning as a poem performed on his YouTube channel in a video with more than six million views.

“This book is so beautiful,” Reisman said, praising both the words and the illustrations. “If you’ve got a four-year-old, five-year-old, six-year-old, I’m just telling you, give [them] this book.

“It essentially talks about the world we’re living through right now and where we’re going, in a way for children [to understand].”

The full list of Reisman’s top picks also includes a new cookbook by Ina Garten, a picture book written by a prima ballerina, and an award-winning graphic novel about a kid trying to fit in at a new school where diversity is low — plenty of variety for all of your reading needs this winter.