No vacation is truly successful without remembering a memorable read. Here is what has interested or amused me in the past year. See if you’ll get as much pleasure out of it as I did. I present them out of order.
Robinson in Beijing (Urban Comics). Excellent comic book account of the installation of the only French-speaking freelancer in China, Éric Meyer, at the dawn of the tragic events of Tian’anmen. Superbly illustrated by Aude Massot, the album is the first in a series. We look forward to others.
Manners. From the cannibal left to the vandal right (Lux). Despite a sometimes somewhat obscure language and an excessive pessimism on democracy, the indispensable Alain Deneault offers here a salutary left-wing critique of the excesses of wokism. To be read with a strong espresso.
The horizon of events (Leméac). On the same subject as mores, but in fiction. Those expecting a denunciation of wokism in college will be delighted by the start of Biz’s latest book, but disenchanted by the end. For the rest, an incisive, caustic pen.
The myths of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 (The gunner). This book by Pío Moa, a bestseller in Spain and the target of violent controversy, offers an astonishing rereading of the Spanish Civil War and places the responsibility for the conflict on the revolutionary left, from abundant sources and, in my opinion, convincing.
Parallel Lives (Boreal). The separatist reader will come away troubled by this story of a Quebec that has become sovereign by losing its soul. Despite an imperfect secondary plot, we have a good time with a lover of Quebec, Benoît Côté, who does not lack imagination.
The era of the tyrant individual. The End of a Common World (Paperback). Éric Sadin offers an essential reflection on innovations, technological and otherwise, which encourage individualism and which weaken social ties. Too unequivocal, yes, but very often brilliant and quite terrifying.
5060. The carnage in our CHSLDs (Boréal). A gem of investigative journalism, mastery of storytelling, humanism. Gabrielle Duchaine, Katia Gagnon and Ariane Lacoursière are rendering an immense service to our knowledge of the greatest drama in our recent history. A much more readable book than the coroner’s report on the same subject!
The four musketeers of Quebec (Septentrion). Why didn’t the Quiet Revolution take place in 1936, when the conditions for its takeoff were met? The Quebec historian with the evocative name, Alexandre Dumas, recounts the rise of four reformers from Quebec City who allowed Maurice Duplessis to take power, only to betray them and their hopes immediately. All that’s missing is a traumatic warning, at the start, for the leader’s supporters.
The great stampede (Quebec America). Intense, caustic, saucy. In this politico-polar story, friend Pierre Tourangeau stages a resourceful journalist who inhales an intrigue such as the author knew how to unearth when he was one of the most nosy journalists in Quebec. Very refreshing.
Oil. Decline is near (Threshold). This informed and clear little book by Matthieu Auzanneau, written with Hortense Chauvin, explains how our exit from oil will be more rock’n’roll than expected. Supply is falling, demand, at best, remains stable, so costs will explode even if tomorrow the guns go silent in Ukraine. One more reason to go all-electric.
Guy Rocher. The sociologist of Quebec (Quebec America). How can a single man have such a decisive impact on the evolution of a society? Guy Rocher’s contribution is immense, like the work of his biographer, Pierre Duchesne.
A free choice? English CEGEPs and international students (French Quebec Movement). It’s worse than you think. Frédéric Lacroix skilfully dissects in this little book the past and future decline of French in CEGEPs and universities and shows how Quebec has completely lost control of its immigration.
Quebec. Turning points in a national history (North). Eight pivotal moments in history, dismantled with precision and nuance by historian Éric Bédard. From the Tadoussac tobacconist and the alliance between Champlain and the Aboriginal peoples to the adoption of Bill 101, passing through the King’s Daughters and their certificates of good morals, we come out of this reading better equipped to resist clichés and shortcuts.
He already saw himself! Aznavour and Quebec (La Presse). You can love Charles Aznavour without knowing all he owes, and all he has given, to Quebec. But when we know it, we love it even more. Mario Girard tells this story with clarity and skill. To read while listening to the great Charles.
The digital barbarians (Ecosociety). Alain Saulnier carefully dismantles the negligence of Quebec and Canada in recent years in the face of GAFAM and pleads for a response that should be embodied in Quebec by the requirement of true “cultural sovereignty”.
Save the city. Montréal project and the challenge of transforming a modern metropolis (Ecosociety). Much more than anything you ever wanted to know about Projet Montréal, from Richard Bergeron to Valérie Plante, the book by Daniel Sanger, ex-advisor (and fan) of Luc Ferrandez, is not lacking in flavor. No fan of municipal politics should be without it.
Rene Levesque. Something like a big man (Marrow graphic). An excellent overview of the life of René Lévesque, this comic book is very uneven graphically, but offers several captivating episodes. A good introduction for your teenager, a good evocation for your boomers.
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