In this 1is January, it’s time to close a chapter to open a brand new, and hopefully sweet, one. But before turning the page, let’s take a look at some works published in 2024 that we suggest you add to your library.
• Also read: Here are the team’s 2024 TV favorites
Juice press
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Juice Squeezer, written by Valerie Chevalier et Matthieu Simardrecounts the epistolary exchange over a period of a year between Pauline and Hugo. The latter, father of little Noah, simply sends a letter to Santa Claus. And it’s Pauline, who volunteers as an elf in December, who answers him. AuxFrom the first exchanges, an interest is created between these two adults. The latter will give him her personal postal address to allow the continuity of their writings beyond the North Pole. Sometimes funny, sometimes touching, sometimes sad, sometimes seductive, their correspondence evolves, creating a sincere relationship which, we hope, over the course of 202 pages, will go beyond the paper.
Almost virgin
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At the young age of 15, Josée Blanchette enters CEGEP and, like most teenagers, dreams of independence. She enrolls in an anti-philosophy course, given by an intelligent and charismatic teacher named R. Despite the thirty years that separate them, they will experience a hidden, then open relationship, which will last a total of five years. Years later, the columnist and author at Duty goes from the feeling of having been “the chosen one” to that of having been the “symptom of an illness”. One of the symptoms of an illness. All this because in 2018, Josée learned, while reading the newspaper, that this man had served 18 months in prison for sexually touching a 9-year-old girl. This observation made her delve back into their writings and the photos, which she kept, with a completely different pair of eyes.
In my blood
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The host Rebecca Makonnen dives without restraint into his family history in this 232-page autobiography that can be read in one go. What is family? Does it stop at blood ties? If the answer is no, is it no when it concerns us? In this first novel, the one who does not call herself an author – but who could do so – sought to pay homage to her parents. And the more her writing process progresses, the more she will find answers about their past and her origins that she would not have suspected.
Balconies
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The author Marianne Brisebois published at the beginning of the year the touching novel Balconieswhich tells the story of Xavier, who wanders on his Montreal balcony – or rather Eli’s – and whose life goes in circles. He now lives with the endearing Eli, who pays the rent in exchange for watering the plants, since being a florist, greenery, he has some in his beautiful apartment and trips, thanks to his golden inheritance, he has some do. These two young adults, who are the opposites of each other in many ways, are more alike than one suspects, and above all, they complement each other by helping each other repair what has been broken in each. two. Throughout the pages, we explore toxic masculinity and dark ideas, but also the little joys of life, like the fresh air of a balcony and friendship.
I ask you to close your eyes and imagine a quiet place
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In this second novel, the author Michelle Lapierre-Dallaire immerses us in a declaration of love for his mother. But be careful… This declaration of love can only exist by also reporting what was explosive and problematic between them. Although raw and sometimes difficult to read, his unfiltered words can certainly serve as a little cotton wool for those whose past is synonymous with trauma and whose identity has been defined over time.
Like a long tank crash
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You may know Joel Martel for his jokes on the Internet. In this first novel, you will recognize his uniqueness, but you will also meet his touching pen. This is because a few hours before the death of his father, Jici – a whole character that we get to know throughout the story -, the author remembers all the losses of his life, the big ones and the small ones, trying to make sense of the losses. Like a long tank crash can certainly smooth out the bumps in the road, or at least make you feel less alone.
Becoming Margot: Fragments of a false memory
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Touching and moving read, Becoming Margot: Fragments of a false memory retraces the two years when Marika Lhoumeau visited Roger, his father suffering from dementia, at the CHSLD. One fine day, the latter no longer recognizes her and starts calling her Margot, referring to a friend from his youth. Marika therefore slips into the skin of this woman she does not know, which allows her to have access to memories of her father, but also to get closer to him, in a certain way. A very human book on a subject that shakes and touches many people.
The birth of a mother
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Mélanie Boulay demonstrates spectacular vulnerability in this book where she testifies to her reality as a mother of two boys, with the ups and downs that this entails. There is no doubt that her words, accompanied by illustrations drawn by the singer, must resonate with many, but you do not have to be a mother yourself to feel all the strength, resilience and love behind her experience.
