I love reading people’s recommendations, and so, here’s a growing list of things I’ve enjoyed recently, or a long time ago, that I still think about. I’ve grouped them by interest or media type.

Writing

Podcasts

  • Longform - This podcast is no longer updated, but I’ve enjoyed it just as much by listening through its backlog as listening to it “fresh”.

  • In Writing with Hattie Crisell

books

  • A Swim in A Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

  • The usual list: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, OnWriting by Stephen King, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland, The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White.

  • Why We Write edited by Meredith Maran

  • Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

  • Working by Robert Caro

  • Startle and Illuminate: Carol Shields On Writing

  • The Actor’s Life by Jenna Fischer, in which lines like “Every artist has a different journey, and you’ll have to figure out yours - you’ll have to determine how much you can endure. Because the roadblocks, doubts, and insecurity are all part of living an artistic life.” (p 180) apply to writing and are encouraging to remember.

  • The Business of Being a Writer by Jane Friedman

  • Kant’s Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write by Claire Messud

Blogs

  • The Marginalian, specifically on the subject of writing: https://www.themarginalian.org/?s=writing

  • Austin Kleon https://austinkleon.com/

History

Granted, this is a rather general category and you can usually find books on any subject, so the following recommendations are ones that stand out as having been particularly enjoyable (well written, fascinating subject) or useful (I learned a lot). They’re in no particular order.

Canadian History

  • A National Crime by John S. Milloy

biography

  • Augustine of Hippo by Peter Brown

  • Hope Against Hope by Nadezdha Mandelstam

  • Agatha Christie by Lucy Worsley (great as an audiobook!)

  • Ron Chernow’s books - Titan and Grant

  • Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell

  • Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Adventure

  • The Worst Journey in the World, the graphic novel by Sarah Airriess

  • River of the Gods by Candice Millard

  • The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt by Andrea Wulf and Lillian Melcher

Memoire

  • Belonging by Nora Krug

  • Ces enfants de ma vie by Gabrielle Roy

Roman History

  • Mary Beard’s books SPQR and Emperor of Rome

Other

  • The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

Television

  • “How We Got to Now” with Steven Johnson (also a book)

Various

Old Age / dying / grief

  • Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

  • Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill

  • Essays After Eighty by Donald Hall

  • Lost and Found by Kathryn Schulz

Self-Help

  • Gretchen Rubin’s books The Happiness Project and Better Than Before

  • The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman

  • Quiet by Susan Cain

  • The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits

  • The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine N. Aron

  • I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam

  • How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

artistic / creative

  • Hold Still by Sally Mann

Cooking

  • How to Cook a Wolf by MFK Fisher

  • A Book of Mediterranean Food by Elizabeth David

Cookbooks

This list is a reflection of the books I’m especially fond of because they’re either the first ones I read and cooked from, or they shaped the way I learned to cook for my own little family.

  • Best Summer Weekends by Jane Rodmell

  • Anita Stewart’s Canada

  • How to Eat by Nigella Lawson

  • Ricardo Larivière’s books Ricardo: Meals for Every Occasion; Weekend Cooking

  • Ina Garten’s cookbooks

  • Deb Perelman - all her books and her whole generous website Smitten Kitchen

  • Canal House Cooks Everyday

  • Small Victories by Julia Turschen

  • The Joy of Cooking

  • The Food Network (books but also website)

  • How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

  • Start Here by Sohla El-Waylly

  • Company by Amy Thielen

  • Dorie Greenspan’s books Around My French Table and Dorie’s Cookies

  • Jenny Rosentrach’s books Dinner: The Playbook and Weekday Vegetarians and How to Celebrate Everything

  • Jamie Oliver’s books Jamie’s Comfort Food and Jamie’s Food Revolution

  • Dinner: Changing the Game by Melissa Clark

Fiction

I rarely read novels just for fun. Instead I read non-fiction, or I read classics. Still, there are some novels I thoroughly enjoyed…

  • Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

  • My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (and the rest of the series)

Podcasts

  • “In the Dark” (I really liked season 3)

  • “The Big Dig” by Ian Cross (website)

  • “Revisionist History” (I especially liked “King of Tears” from Season 2 about Country Music; but all seasons are illuminating.)

  • “Containers” an 8-part series by Alexis Madrigal, aired in 2017 (Apple)

  • “Serial” (of course, any season, all seaons)

  • “Closer Than They Appear” by Carvell Wallace (website)