In honour of Truth and Reconciliation Day, I made a quick list of my top ten favourite books by Indigenous authors that have stuck with me after reading in the last few (maybe several?) years. Not really in order, and I know I’m leaving out many worthy books. These are the first ten that sprang to mind and gave me that frisson of, “oh, that book!”
Mostly fiction because that’s my jam, but all deeply true in that real Truth way. Some incredibly tough to read from an emotional/denial perspective, but all wonderfully written. Many offering passages so beautiful, or evocative, or thought-provoking, that I needed to reread them – sometimes aloud – and just sit with them on my mind.
I’d love to hear about your own favourites and recommendations.
Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese – Beautifully written (many pauses to savour) and one heckuva story.
ANYTHING by Eden Robinson - Monkey Beach is a fantastic standalone, and her Trickster novels are a delightful series.
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice – I’ve reread it a couple of times. Post-apocalyptic suspense; totally haunting.
Take Us to Your Chief: and Other Stories by Drew Hayden Taylor – Sci fi and fun!
Birdie by Tracey Lindberg – Absolutely gorgeous language.
Unreconciled by Jesse Wente – A memoir that feels like you’re spending time with a dear, no-BS get-a-grip friend. (Get-a-grip friend = someone who loves you enough to tell you the truth and respects you enough to expect you to deal with it.)
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga. Not surprisingly from the title, this is a hard read. Important.
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good. Fiction and also wrenchingly true. Have your tissues at the ready.
The Strangers by Katharena Vermette. And keep those tissues handy for this novel. It explores the bonds and burdens of family, generational trauma, and individual strength within the Stranger family.
The Night Watchman by Louise Erhdrich. Grabbed me right by the heart from the outset. Based on the life of the author’s grandfather.
And finally, one of my favourite poems. I came across it in an anthology in university, and it just imprinted on my mind and heart instantly. At the time, I understood it very personally as my grandfather had just died, and I realized when we all got together as a family, usually for a holiday meal, it really felt like he was there too just in the next room or about to come in. Now, I see the poem has a much bigger scope as well, across multiple generations and a cultural heritage under imminent threat. Simple and beautiful, yet it says so much.
Round Dance by Sarain Stump
Don’t break this circle
Before the song is over
Because all of our people
Even the ones long gone
Are holding hands.
