Welcome to McGill Reads, our annual celebration of stories, ideas and the people across our community who bring them to life. What began as a modest experiment 13 years ago has grown into a holiday tradition: a resource for readers who savour sentences, who fall in love with characters or who simply enjoy the quiet company of a good book.
Each edition of McGill Reads is shaped by the voices of our contributors, a wonderful mix of students, staff, faculty and alumni. They have different histories, different tastes and different ways of engaging with the world, yet they share a common impulse: to highlight the books that moved them, challenged them or accompanied them through the year. Their submissions range from warm mini-essays to quick to short, crystalline notes – sometimes just a handful of words that say everything.
Behind the scenes, assembling this list is its own small adventure. There are titles to track down, links to gather and artwork to pair with the entries. Each submission feels like a window into someone’s reading life. Taken together, they form a portrait of a community that is curious, generous and engaged.
Thank you to everyone who shared a title, a thought or a glimpse into their reading habits. And to all our readers, we wish you love, warmth and plenty of time to get lost in something wonderful this holiday season.
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“I’ve just re-joined McGill this past fall as the Conferences and Special Events Co-ordinator at Max Bell, and McGill Reads issue is one of the things I’m most excited to be back for,” wrote Chantay Alexander.
Alexander’s praise for McGill Reads is not the reason why her submission was chosen to lead off the 2025 edition. Absolutely not. Really.
Alexander also has high praise for Beware of Pity, by Austrian author Stefan Zweig.
“The novel follows a cavalry officer in the early 20th century, who makes social blunder after social blunder upon meeting the disabled daughter of an aristocrat and inviting her to dance. The novel is poetic, emotional and at times, funny,” said Alexander. “What I enjoyed most about Zweig’s prose is the heightened emotion evident in each interaction between the officer and the young girl. The officer clearly has positive intentions, yet he seems to constantly misstep. His pity for the girl evolves into a palpable anxiety that taints any rational decision-making skills he may have possessed.”
Other titles Alexander is either reading or planning to read over the holidays include:
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, by Lorrie Moore
Butter, by Asako Yuzuki
The Private Lives of Trees, by Alejandro Zambra
The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
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Sara Marcil-Johnson, Student Affairs Co-ordinator, McGill School of Social Work, will tackle three books over the break:
Que notre joie demeure, by Kev Lambert. “I will be seeing the play version at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in late March,” wrote Marcil-Johnson.
Tant que le café est encore chaud, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. “This book looks light and fun.”
Kent Monkman: History is Painted by the Victors, edited by John P. Lukavic and Léuli Eshrāghi. “This book accompanies the current exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on until March 2026. I will be seeing it more than once.”
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We always take it as a good sign when book professionals participate in McGill Reads, which is why we’re thrilled to welcome Sandy Hervieux, Head Librarian at the Nahum Gelber Law Library, to our humble enterprise.
Hervieux recommends the following three titles:
Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang. “Two PhD students travel to hell to save their supervisor,” said Hervieux.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, by V.E. Schwab. “A fresh take on vampires and an exploration of hunger.”
The Everlasting, by Alix. E. Harrow. “A lady-knight on a genre-defying quest and a reflection on how myths and legends can be used for nationalism.”
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McGill Reads regular Carola Weil, Dean of Continuing Studies, dropped us a quick note to say she is currently reading The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, by Jack El-Hai, which was the basis for the film Nuremberg.
“The book is well written and a captivating read, just as the film was,” said Weil.
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Having taken part in a recent writer’s residency at the Banff Centre, Meaghan Thurston, Director Research Communications and Marketing, said she had to buy an extra suitcase on her return – just to bring home a slew of new books, especially for her children.
One of the books Thurston recommends is My Sister the Apple Tree: A Refugee Story of Hope and Resistance, by Jordan Scott and Jamal Saeed, illustrated by Zahra Marwan.
“This is a beautiful and deeply touching story about love, loss and family roots, based on the real experience of a child forced to flee their home,” she said.
“I’ll be gifting the delightful Ya-Ya and the Dan Tats by Camellia Koo, illustrated by Phoebe Xiao, to someone with a sweet tooth,” wrote Thurston. “Because sibling rivalry has a way of popping up during all that holiday togetherness, I am going to keep Ready, Set, Mango! by Tamla T. Young, illustrated by Raz Latif, on standby.”
Thurston says if she can steal a few quiet moments over the holidays, she will finish Arundhati Roy’s memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me.
“It’s not exactly light reading, but I’m fascinated by what shaped such an extraordinary author.”
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Jay Sobey, U2 Education, plans to read Everything Is Tuberculosis, by John Green.
“It covers the history of the disease, how it impacted so many things throughout history and how it’s still a problem today,” said Sobey. “I know, a nice light read.”
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Even though he was called out by name in our McGill Reads call for submissions telling people they could only submit three titles, Chris Buddle, Associate Provost (Teaching and Academic Planning), still found a way to bend the rules.
However, seeing how he is the only person who has contributed to each McGill Reads since its inception in 2013, we figured we should cut him some slack.
“I will cheat a bit and argue three titles are actually one! Frederik Bachman’s Beartown trilogy is a set I hope to read in the new year,” said Buddle. “I recently read his My Friends, a recommendation from Angela Campbell. So amazing.”
Buddle has been reading Mary Oliver’s poetry of late, and he’s planning to re-read Why I Wake Early.
“I found it on my bookshelf the other day and can’t wait to crack the spine again. Her poems bring lightness and joy to the world,” said Buddle.
“A friend of mine just gave me a natural history book called The Snow Geese, by William Fiennes. I have long been in awe of these magnificent birds (and try to catch a sighting of their migrations as they move through Quebec). They are one of nature’s wonders. This book promises to further solidly that opinion!”
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A McGill Reads newbie last year, Anna Maria Del Col is back again this year.
“This holiday season, I’m going to tackle the sixth and final volume of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time (I’ve been stretching this reading project over six years),” said Del Col, Marketing Manager, McGill-Queen’s University Press.
“After that, I plan to dig into the manuscript for one of our forthcoming MQUP books, the much-anticipated Canada in the Age of Rum, by Allan Greer, professor emeritus of history at McGill. This short book, publishing in March 2026, explores how rum became a critical commodity and an integral part of the social life of early Canada.”
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“I’m looking forward to seeing everyone else’s suggestions, so I have enough books to weigh me down while I’m on vacation,” wrote Elena Bennett, Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Science. For her part, Bennett has two books on her To Read list and one recommendation for others.
Bennett is looking to read:
Why We Swim, by Bonnie Tsui.
“As an avid open-water swimmer, I’m looking forward to diving into this book about the many reasons we swim and the benefits of swimming,” said Bennett.
A Natural History of Empty Lots, by Christopher Brown.
“I’ve been enjoying his weekly Field Notes newsletter for a long time now, so I’m excited to dig into this book that is billed as a memoir about the feral edge lands of abandoned lands where ‘nature and city intersect’ in Austin, Texas,” said Bennett. “He’s known for his award-winning science fiction, but I’m interest in this one because I’m curious about how we define nature and what happens when we think a place is wild, or when we think it is not.”
She highly recommends The North Woods, by Daniel Mason.
“Have you ever read a book where the land, a little house that sits on it, and the woods that surround the house, are effectively the main character? I love the idea of place and home, and this book, rather than treating place as ‘where the story happens’ treats place as the central character of the story that unfolds over hundreds of years.”
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Regular contributor Sarah Delisle, Senior Change Management Advisor, got her submission in just under the wire.
“Dandelion, by Jamie Chai Yun Liew is my last Canada Reads short list read of the year,” said Delisle. “It is the story of a young woman retracing the mystery of her mother’s disappearance when she was 11 and delves into themes of identity, belonging, motherhood and mental illness.”
Next of Delisle’s reading list is Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less, by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz.
“A colleague recently shared this with me and I’m looking forward to some new ideas about clear and purposeful communication.”
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Michel Rhéaume, Solutions Architect, IT Services, has a trio of books lined up for the holidays.
The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown. “I’ve read most of his books because I love the subject of symbology that he focuses on.”
Rhéaume will also read a copy of Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast that he picked up in Paris last summer at the bookstore Shakespeare and Company.
“In the new year, I’d like to get into Rock Guitar Uncaged, by Joseph Alexander, to improve my guitar playing,” he said.
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Fourth-year Education student Kristine Glorioso recommends Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy, both by Jean Webster.
“After watching the ’90s anime adaptation of Daddy-Long-Legs, I decided to read the books and I really enjoyed them! They’re both unique as they’re in epistolary format, but they told a great story of love, friendship and wittiness,” wrote Glorioso. “I love Judy Abbott so much. Highly recommended!”
Glorioso is also planning on reading the Bible during the break, specifically the four gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John).
“I love reading different perspectives of the Lord Jesus Christ’s life. Since it’s the Christmas season, I ought to read the reason why we celebrate it,” she said.
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Ready to see what the McGill community obsessed over this year? Find inspiration in the Libraries’ listing of the most searched and borrowed resources for 2025.
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“While it’s not a relaxing holiday read, Sarah Wynn-Williams Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism, offers a fascinating look into the inner workings of Facebook (now Meta),” wrote Karen Oberer, Sustainability Officer, McGill Office of Sustainability.
“The author’s account of her experiences while working at the company are balanced between the hilarious and the horrifying, leaving the reader with the disturbing impression that tech companies have absolutely no understanding or interest in their employees’ or their customers’ well-being. A must-read if you want an entertaining-yet-critical behind-the-scenes look at one of the world’s most influential corporations.”
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Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning student, Sean Goldfarb (B.Sc.’18, M.Sc.’23) and his mother Janice Goldfarb (B.Sc.’82, M.Sc.’89) are longtime members of the McGill Reads family.
Sean’s three books include:
As a Driven Leaf, by Milton Steinberg.
“Like most of my friends my age, I find myself getting more spiritual/religious as I get older. Judaism calls me, but to be a Jew means to live a certain way; Judaism is a way of life that is very much marked by sacred time,” wrote Sean.
“This means giving up a lot of Western habits and pastimes that I have. Ultimately my conflict is about the attraction to Western, modern life and the tradition of Jewish practice. As a Driven Leaf is about a Talmudic scholar who struggles to reconcile Jewish tradition with the glamour of Roman-Hellenistic culture, very much on topic for this issue I and many of my contemporaries share.”
The Boys from Brazil, by Ira Levin.
“A suspense thriller about a Nazi-hunter who discovers a plot to bring forth the Fourth Reich and a new Hitler. I’ve seen this title on my childhood home’s bookshelf for many years and found its title very good, chilling in its simplicity. Something draws me towards it. Levin is a renowned writer, penning such classics as Rosemary’s Baby, so this promises to be an interesting read.”
Eleni, by Nicholas Gage.
“It’s a book about an investigative journalist travelling to Greece to discover the circumstances and perpetrators of his heroic mother’s death,” said Sean. “She saved him and his sisters from abduction by guerrilla fighters who were sending kids beyond the Iron Curtain during the Greek Civil War. I picked this book up from the discard shelf at Dawson while I was a student there. It spoke to me, but I never read it.”
Janice’s picks include:
The Diamond Eye, by Kate Quinn.
“It’s a true story of one of a few female snipers who fought for the allies in the Second World War,” said Janice. “Storytelling is moving as we get to know the main character, a young Russian woman, who fights not only against the Nazis, but also against her own personal battles. The main character’s resilience resonated deeply with me.”
The Weight of Ink, by Rachel Kadish.
“There are two parallel stories, one in present-day the other in the 1600s that centres around the two main characters. Despite living in different centuries, their stories seem to overlap and take the reader on an introspective journey,” wrote Janice. “I started the book but haven’t yet reached the end. However, I have been enjoying the intricacies of writing in two different time periods in such detail and describing the personal lives that had similarities despite living in a different era.”
North of Normal, by Cea Sunrise Person.
“This is a woman’s insightful memoir of her dysfunctional family and how she survived it. I haven’t read it yet, but look forward to learning about the steps and decision process the main character took to escape her growing up life to enter a different world.”
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Regular contributor Jan Bottomer, Career Advising Team Lead, Career Planning Service, has used recommendations from others to build her reading list.
“The Feeling of Iron, by Giaime Alonge, was a birthday gift from my brother,” she said, noting that he has “excellent fiction taste.”
The novel follows two Holocaust survivors on a decades-long quest for vengeance, moving from wartime East Prussia to the Honduran jungle in the 1980s.
Bottomer is also excited for Fredrik Backman’s newest novel, My Friends, which came “highly recommended by my favourite Vancouver bookseller.”
With its dual timelines and focus on the power of friendship and art, she says it promises the trademark Backman blend of humour, heartbreak and hope.
And finally, she’s making space for a classic. After years of encouragement from her mother, and with this year marking the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, Emma is officially at the top of her holiday reading pile.
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When she’s not helping organize Convocation and the University’s exam periods, Heidi Emami loves a good read, and 2025 proved to be a fruitful year.
“I made a conscious effort to spend more time with books than on my phone, and it’s been really rewarding, said Emami, Associate Registrar. “Kazuo Ishiguro is one author I spent time with this year, and I highly recommend his Never Let Me Go. I didn’t know much about it, found it intriguing and reflective and it stayed with me for quite a while after I finished it.”
During the holiday break, Emami hopes to read Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun.
“Another book I’m excited to read is Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love, by Andrew Shaffer. My mom recently translated this book from English to Persian and she recommended it as a quick, fun and interesting read.”
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It’s just not McGill Reads without the input of Daniel McCabe, Communications Officer, University Advancement. One of McGill’s finest writers, McCabe has been telling our stories since James T. Kirk was just a cadet at Starfleet Academy.
“Like pretty much everyone, most of my reading takes place online nowadays,” said McCabe. “But every once in a while, remembering the world we once lived in, I’ll pop into a Multimags (of the few that are still around) and take pleasure in the vibrant covers on all the print magazines that are on display.”
Over the holidays, McCabe plans on reading Graydon Carter’s When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines.
“The Canadian-born Carter co-founded Spy before serving as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair for 25 years,” wrote McCabe. “I’m a little disappointed that Carter required a co-author to help him with the project (Dude, you’re an editor!), but the fact that it was James Fox, who collaborated with Keith Richards on the latter’s epic Life, bodes well.”
“The other book I’m looking forward to tackling is published by Drawn & Quarterly, a Montreal-based powerhouse in the world of graphic novels. Mimi Pond’s Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me is about six sisters from an aristocratic British family and their wildly divergent political allegiances during the 1930s – one was a committed Communist, another became a confidante of Adolf Hitler. According to The New York Times, the book ‘sprawls with spats, rifts, scandalous affairs and political intrigue.’ I’m up for all of that.”
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A big McGill Reads welcome to biology undergrad Meredith Midgett. Midgett recommends a trio of diverse reads:
Beartown, by Fredrik Backman.
“You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. At some point, you’ll probably pause and say, ‘I’ve never thought about it that way, but that’s the truest statement I’ve heard all year.’ It’s a story about life and people and relationships and love and hate and passion and vulnerability and loyalty masquerading as a book about a small-town hockey team. (TW for non-con),” wrote Midgett.
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle.
“Children’s literature is so underrated. This book is riveting from the first page to the last, and it manages to tell an astonishingly rich story in under 300 pages,” said Midgett. “Hang with some geniuses as they navigate dimensions accompanied by angels. (It makes sense when you’ve read it).”
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy.
“Famous for a reason. If you’re willing to commit to a slightly more ambitious reading project over winter break, this book will change your life. The characters are so real you’ll expect to meet them on the street.”
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A model of efficiency, Monika Skonieczny, Manager, Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design, submitted a bulleted list of suggestions in order of her preference.
- Playground, by Richard Powers. “Bewilderment is also an excellent novel by Powers,” said Skonieczny.
- Fresh Water for Flowers, by Valerie Perrin, translated from French Changer l’eau des fleurs.
- Hum, by Helen Phillips.
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Emily Love, Manager, Programs and Communications, International Student Services, suggests “three compelling memoirs on completely different topics.”
The Tell, by Amy Griffin: “an Oprah pick by a highly privileged woman who comes to terms with sexual abuse from her past,” said Love.
Agent Zigzag, by Ben Macintyre: “such a fun biography of a double agent/cad/criminal from Britain who lives the Nazi high life while spying on them for the Brits.”
I Shall Not Hate, by Izzeldin Abuelaish: “a memoir by a Palestinian (now Canadian) doctor who works in Israel and deals with the bombardment of his home and the death of his daughters.”
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Allison Gonsalves, Associate Professor, Department of Integrated Studies in Education lists the following books as her “best reads” of 2025:
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin. “I learned so much about the gaming world and fell in love with beautifully written characters and a lifetime of friendship. “
Two books by Catherine Newman (Sandwich and We All Want Impossible Things) “featuring real, strong and vulnerable female protagonists,” said Gonsalves.
“And finally, I am almost finished reading Olga Dies Dreaming, by Xochitl Gonzalez which has fully absorbed to the point where I am waking up at 4 a.m. to have a coffee and read before I have to go to work.”
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Stéphanie Laroche-Pierre, Assistant to the Chair, Department of Global and Public Health, is currently reading Rue Duplessis, by Jean-Philippe Pleau.
After that, Laroche-Pierre will tackle Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain or Disability Visibility, edited by Alice Wong.
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“I’m interested in catching up on some reading that makes me think (about something besides registration issues),” said Andrea Di Stefano, Manager, Registration, Programs and Degree Evaluation.
Di Stefano’s picks include:
Bhagavad Gita, by Veda Vyasa: “the religious classic of the Hindu tradition written about 2,000 years ago,” said Di Stefano. “One of the main messages that stuck so far is to do your work as a worship of God and be free from any attachment to results. I’m only partway through, but it has helped me with my relationship to work and taking myself less seriously.”
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, by Buckminster Fuller: “an interesting but heavy read and I’m committed to finishing it over the holidays.
A Course in Miracles, by Helen Schucman. “This is a recommendation; it took me three years to finish, but it was a wonderful ride.”
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Biljana Vasilevska, Senior Advisor, Programs, VP (Research and Innovation) has three recommendations for readers.
The Weight of Ink: A Novel, by Rachel Kadish. “This thickly written literary detective story brings together Shakespeare and his contemporary Dutch Jewish philosopher Spinoza, via modern-day historians who are granted rare access to forgotten letters and manuscripts,” wrote Vasilevska. “The Great Plague, pogroms, literary deceit, academic backstabbing and even love – this is the kind of book to luxuriate in reading when time stands still over the holidays.”
Over the holidays, Vasilevska will re-read Christian Bök’s The Xenotext: Book 1 before delving into The Xenotext: Book 2, which was released in 2025.
“Bök is an experimental poet who takes the form to its extremes, and this series bridges the worlds of genetics and poetry,” said Vasilevska. “They are not poems ‘about’ genetics (though there is some of that), but rather, making the poetry of science both two dimensional on the page, and four-dimensional, in real time, as bacteria are manipulated to carry traditional works of poetry in their code.”
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Crystal Noronha is a long-standing member of our McGill Reads community. This year, Noronha, Manager Student Affairs, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences, has two books lined up for the holidays.
“I enjoyed Still Alice, by Lisa Genova and started reading her other books. I will be reading Every Note Played, by the same author,” said Noronha. “This book focuses on a concert pianist’s struggle with ALS. If you enjoy human stories that intertwine with science and art, I think you will enjoy this book. It reminds you of the fragility of life.”
Next, Noronha will pick up If Only They Could Talk, by James Herriot (“a book I keep reading!”).
“This is a beautiful book chronicling the life of a country vet. Herriot has got an easy style. What’s not to love? The stories are funny, sad and insightful.”
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After a few years on the McGill Reads sidelines, Sacha Young, Governance Officer – Board of Governors, Secretariat, is back in the fold, and we couldn’t be happier.
“I cannot say that I will read everything on my list, but I have a few books piling up which seemed to scream ‘read me’,” she wrote.
“I am not an avid reader of biographies but decided to pick up Jian Chen’s Zhou Enlai: A Life. When I chose the book, I did not think about the significance of the person (the first premier of the People’s Republic of China); I was more curious to read about the lives who were a part of that pivotal period in Chinese history. Personally, reading more on the histories of peoples across the globe has become somewhat of a hunger. I guess it is my response to the animus politics closer to home.”
“My second choice for holiday reading is an older book, purchased in large part because it sits on Neil DeGrass Tyson’s bookshelf (for those who watch Tyson’s StarTalk on YouTube) – it was the cover that enticed me,” said Young. “The book, by Lynn Gamwell, is called Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History. I am delighted with purchase. The book looks at the practice of mathematics, the philosophies behind the mathematical concepts, and how these concepts have been translated into art. I have been ambling through Morris Kline’s books on Mathematical Thought and thought Gamwell’s book would be a delightful transition.”
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Anthea Seles, University Archivist, recommends the following for our readers:
Le chat qui sauvait les livres/The Cat Who Saved Books, by Sosuke Natsukawa.
“This is a heartwarming and touching story about loss, love and friendship,” wrote Seles. “It reminds me of Le Petit Prince, by Saint Exupéry, but with a cat guiding the main character, Rintaro Natsuki, through a series of adventures and worlds to save books, underlining the importance of books, along with their value and how they can transform a life.”
Detective Kindaichi Murder Series, by Seishi Yokomizo.
“Pushkin Press has been publishing translations of the popular Detective Kindaichi Murder Mystery series over the last several years,” said Seles. “Seishi Yokomizo is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Japanese murder mystery writers and it has been an absolute pleasure discovering his work!”
“The first and most notable is the Honjin Murders, one of the most famous of the locked room mysteries. But my favourite from the series so far is the Devil’s Flute Murders. Dark and ominous, it is a mystery which keeps you guessing all the way to the end as to who the murderer is.”
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Sofie Athanasia Tsatas vouches for three books as good reads.
“I highly recommend reading Heated Rivalry, by Rachel Reid. It is a beautiful and wholesome queer romance between two hockey rivals, and it was recently adapted into a TV show on Crave (by Montreal-born actor/director Jacob Tierney),” writes the Senior Reference Assistant and Cataloguing Editor at the Marvin Duchow Music Library. “I’m planning to re-read it (for the third time) during the holidays as a comfort read. 2025 was definitely my hockey romance era!”
Tsatas also recommends:
Loving Safoa, by Liz Wemakor. “This is a sapphic vampire romance steeped in Ghanaian storytelling and abolitionist themes. It’s short, but packs a beautiful punch!”
The Truth According to Ember, by Danica Nava. “It’s arguably one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. It has amazing Indigenous rep (the mc is Chickasaw), and the romance between Ember and Danuwoa was swoon-worthy, playful and lovely.”
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“For McGill Reads, may I shamelessly recommend my novel Key to the Highway, especially for blues fans, adventurers and readers of mythology,” asked Richard Andrews, Course Lecturer, School of Continuing Studies.
Of course you may, Richard. Consider it recommended!
“Some of my students attended the launch last year at Indigo to be reminded that their teachers were not always fusty old profs,” he wrote.
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Terence Coderre, Harold Griffith Professor in Anesthesia Research, suggests people pick up Antunites Unite, which he describes as “an award-winning dystopian allegory which has been compared to Animal Farm, 1984 and Brave New World, and is written by a McGill professor (pen name Terry Birdgenaw), and features bug characters.”
Antunites Unite is the final instalment of a trilogy that includes Antuna’s Story and The Rise and Fall of Antocracy.
We will leave it to you, faithful reader, to do your own Google search to find out who that McGill professor-turned-author is.
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And, finally, as per tradition, we end this year’s edition of McGill Reads with Bud Martin, McGill’s great man of mystery. Sadly, Bud has informed us that he will be retiring from McGill, and, in all honesty, this list – and this place – will never be the same without him. Happy trails, Bud.
The last word of the guy who always has the last word:
“Big thumbs up for Nina Simone’s Gum, by Warren Ellis,” wrote Bud. “On one level, it’s a simple, true story: Nina Simone walked on stage for one of her final concerts, stuck her chewing gum on the piano, played a transcendent set, then split – leaving a starstruck Ellis to swipe the used gum and wrap it in her discarded, sweat-soaked towel. But it’s really a charming exploration of fandom, the power of relics and how really engaging in the physical world can help us forge profound human connections.”
“But to be honest, these days I’m focused less on reading than writing. In a few weeks, I’ll be retiring from McGill after 20ish years to knuckle down and write the book that’s been rattling around my noggin for far too long,” he said.
“And who knows? With a bit of luck, maybe one December some kind McGill Reads contributor will recommend the smash bestseller But Can AI Do THIS?: Bud Martin’s Guide to Fighting the Future and Reclaiming Your Core Humanity by Busting Some Sweet Moves on the Dancefloor. A boy can dream! Hang on a sec. Since I’m going to be a professional writer and all, I’m just going to run a quick grammar check on what I’ve written so far. Okay, good, it’s clean. Where was I? Oh yeah: What a thrill it would be to one day see a McGill Reads contributor plug my own book, Maybe I Was Too Quick to Judge: Bud Martin’s Guide to Happily & Healthily Co-existing with Generative AI. Sorry, my phone keeps dinging. I just need to glance away from the laptop for a moment and check on that. Huh. Weird. False alarm. Annnnnnyway. Like I was saying, be sure to read Relax, We’ve Solved Your Bud Martin Problem: And If You’re Reading This, It’s Already Too Late for You, Too, by Skynet. Available for purchase right now, wherever you weak and ineffectual humans exchange generally agreed-upon units of account for goods and services. Use promo code X-RISK at checkout for an exclusive five per cent discount!”