Forster’s Book Garden recommends summer reads from local and international authors

By Zachary Roman

The summer is a great time to finally read that book you've been meaning to get to.

If you don't have a book you've been meaning to tackle, you're in luck: the Citizen caught up with Donna Forster of Forster's Book Garden in Bolton to chat about what's new in the world of words this summer.

For children in the 8 to 12-years-old age range, Forster recommends the Blue Crescent Moon series by local author Lisa Tasca Oatway.

Books in this series feature fictional characters having an adventure during a real historical event. Lots of research goes into the books and Forster said they're a fun way to learn about history.

One of Oatway's books, The Dinosaur Encounter, takes place in Alberta, and another, The Harbour Explosion, takes place in Nova Scotia.

Forster said Oatway plans to make books set in each of Canada's provinces and territories.

Another local recommendation from Forster is Chasing Greatness.

This non-fiction book is by Olympic coach Barrie Shepley, who lives in Caledon.

Forster said the brand-new book has an uplifting message. Shepley is currently holding a contest on his book's website, chasinggreatness.ca. Anyone who purchases the book before July 29 can be entered to win autographed items from Olympians Simon Whitfield, Christine Sinclair, and Andre De Grasse.

On the non-local side of things, Forster said British author Ruth Ware's new book, The It Girl, is a must-read mystery.

“You've got this one woman who was a student at Oxford (and) her old roommate was murdered 10 years ago… she saw a guy leaving and she told the police,” said Forster. “This guy's been in prison for years and he's just died, but she's always had this kind of nagging doubt that, you know, maybe it wasn't him.”

Then, the woman finds out about some contradictory evidence in the murder case from a reporter, and takes it upon herself to solve the mystery. Forster said readers will be going back and forth with who they think did it in this page-turning tale.

“Mysteries are written as page-turners so they're great for summer,” said Forster.

With that in mind, she recommended another mystery novel to Caledon readers for this summer: The Marlow Murder Club.

Forster explained in this book, which is to become a series, three women who seemingly have nothing to do with each other come together through a series of events to solve a murder. She said the book is not too heavy, while still being a good mystery. She added it has great characters and is very character-driven.

A more unique recommendation is a book from Finnish author Antti Tuomainen called The Rabbit Factor.

The book's unlikely hero is an actuary who's not socially adept. When his brother dies, he inherits his theme park, and also his debt. Now, the same people who were after his brother are after him.

This novel is described as a dark thriller that's at the same time warmly funny with quirky characters that get into absurd situations. Forster said the book is soon going to be turned into a movie with Steve Carell in the lead role.