Shortlist makes good summer reading
The Toronto Book Awards Committee comments on the merits of the nominated books which "...will make a wonderful summer reading list for everyone who is interested in the life of the city, and anyone who simply loves a great read."

"An entertaining look at a bygone era, Toronto in the 1930's....Chandleresque in its depiction of a small time criminal ring of immigrant pick pockets. The newly built Union Station features prominently in this fast moving yarn with its highly idiosyncratic style of language."

"Toronto is a vivid central character in this multi-layered novel that gives voice to the experiences of four young second-generation Torontonians as they struggle to make their way in the city. Brand explores themes of identity, displacement, desire, and loss with potent language that is both lyrical and precise. What We All Long For sparkles with the many rhythms and textures of the city - from the grit of its downtown alleyways to the driveways of Richmond Hill."

"Raymond and Hannah is a stunning novel debut for Stephen Marche. He tells a compelling love story that unfolds across geographic and cultural divides. Written in an innovative style, it is a story of our times: the relationship is carried out largely through e-mail correspondence. In addition to being a tale about two lovers, Raymond and Hannah is also a tale of two cities: Toronto and Jerusalem."

"Thirty-four Toronto writers, thinkers and dreamers contribute essays that describe a Toronto that might be - a utopian ideal with familiar landmarks. This brilliant anthology presents innovative and visionary takes on such local issues as the Island airport, a car-free Kensington Market, artist-run centres, bike routes, laneway housing, and the challenge of making the TTC truly The Better Way."

"Vassanji's Naipaulian language is like a sharp short knife that cuts through the superficial and gets to the heart and soul of the narrative; triumphs and failures; a resurrected darkness from another group of hardly noticed émigrés and their bygone lost world, even as they make their solid mark on Toronto's modern polyglot society."