My Summer Bookclub Bingo Reads 2026
The College community also held its Summer Bookclub Bingo again this year—organized with care and creativity by our Caven Library staff. We’re so grateful for their leadership in creating a fun, reflective, and community-building reading challenge each summer!
Yes, I was able to achieve the FULL CARD - well before the deadline too (humble brag - what can I say, I love to read… it is my hobby!) As an avid reader, I was grateful for the prompting that encouraged me to read books in genres I don’t typically dabble in.
Some surprising highlights were: Katrina Onstad’s Stay Where I Can See You and Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare. I will say that almost all of the books on my list were engaging and interesting.
The only one I struggled with was Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory - it is high on many book lists and had been on my “Want to Read” for many years - maybe it was my mood but I found it a hard slog. With so many good ones to choose from, if I was forced to pick a few MUST READS - I’d say Ma-Nee Chacaby’s A Two-Spirit Journey and Chanel Miller’s Know My Name. Both are difficult reads as they deal with significant traumatic events in both of the authors lives. But I think are essential to bear witness to and be inspired by their resilience.
(Special Note: Shout out to Team PCC - both Dr. Stuart Macdonald’s Tradition and Tension and Rev. Matthew Brough’s Del Ryder and the Crystal Seed were excellent in their own particular genres.)
Did you know?
The Caven Library offers borrowing privileges to Knox alumni, PCC ministers, diaconal ministers, and lay leaders, and even mails books anywhere in Canada! Alumni can also access Atla for Alumni, a rich database of theology and religion journals, at no cost. For more on borrowing, in-library database use, and how to sign up for Atla access, visit the Caven Library page on the Knox website.
John Borthwick's Reads for Summer 2025
A book with a red cover: Dark Matter, Blake Crouch
A “mind-blowing” (Entertainment Weekly) speculative thriller about an ordinary man who awakens in a world inexplicably different from the reality he thought he knew—from the author of Upgrade, Recursion, and the Wayward Pines trilogy
“Are you happy with your life?”
Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the kidnapper knocks him unconscious.
Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.
Before a man he’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”
In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college professor but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.
Is it this life or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how will Jason make it back to the family he loves? Buy it Here
A book published in 2024: A First Rate Madness, S. Nassir Ghaemi
Historians have long puzzled over the apparent mental instability of great and terrible leaders alike: Napoleon, Lincoln, Churchill, Hitler, and others. In A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center, offers a myth-shattering exploration of the powerful connections between mental illness and leadership and sets forth a controversial, compelling thesis: The very qualities that mark those with mood disorders also make for the best leaders in times of crisis. From the importance of Lincoln's "depressive realism" to the lackluster leadership of exceedingly sane men as Neville Chamberlain, A First-Rate Madness overturns many of our most cherished perceptions about greatness and the mind. Buy it Here
A book with connection to Knox: Tradition and Tension, Stuart Macdonald
In 1945 the Presbyterian Church was one of Canada’s largest and most culturally influential churches. This impressive standing, in the aftermath of a depression and a global war and just twenty years after much of its membership had departed to form the United Church of Canada, was a mark of the Presbyterian Church’s resilience and resourcefulness. Yet the denomination’s greatest challenges lay in the decades that followed.
Tradition and Tension explores the history of the Presbyterian Church in Canada from 1945 to 1985. In the first half of this period, the church vigorously built new congregations in the suburbs, revitalized existing congregations, and took part in the religious revival of the 1950s. It opened its doors to new ethnic communities, updated its forms of worship, and revised its structures to permit the ordination of women. These renewal efforts were not without controversy within the church, however. Amid the cultural aftershocks of the 1960s, and as membership growth stalled, arguments about who was responsible for the church’s waning influence widened the rift between modernizers and traditionalists. Their common vision was lost.
The place of religion in Canadian society changed dramatically in the postwar period. Tradition and Tension examines how the Presbyterian Church consciously sought to reflect these changes – and how it was transformed and even overwhelmed by them. Buy it Here
A book set in the future: Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. Buy it Here
A book that involves music: If I Stay, Gayle Forman
Everything can change in an instant. For Mia, the day started like any other, surrounded by a loving family, an adoring boyfriend, and a bright future filled with music and infinite possibilities. What she never expected is the choice before her now. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an uncertain future, Mia has to contemplate everything she holds dear and make a choice: to go or to stay. Adapted into a major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time. Buy it Here
A book that has been made into a movie: Wicked, Gregory Maguire
In this classic tale of good and evil, what if we weren't told the whole story?
Long before Dorothy follows the yellow brick road and triumphs over the Wicked Witch of the West, a little girl with emerald-green skin is born in the land of Oz.
Elphaba grows up to be smart and prickly, a lonely outsider with an extraordinary talent for magic. Arriving at university, she dares to believe she might finally fit in.
But Oz isn't the haven she'd dreamed of. Some of its citizens are in grave danger, and Elphaba is determined to protect them from the Wizard's power.
And when the world declares her a wicked witch, Elphaba takes matters into her own hands...
This is the original novel by Gregory Maguire, first published in 1995. It is a reimagined prequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and contains adult content. Buy it Here
A book by an LGBTQI2S+ author: The House of the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune
A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.
When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.
But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.
An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place―and realizing that family is yours. Buy it Here
A book with an environmental theme: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Elizabeth Kolbert
Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the Sixth Extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us.
In The Sixth Extinction, two-time winner of the National Magazine Award and New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert draws on the work of scores of researchers in half a dozen disciplines, accompanying many of them into the field: geologists who study deep ocean cores, botanists who follow the tree line as it climbs up the Andes, marine biologists who dive off the Great Barrier Reef. She introduces us to a dozen species, some already gone, others facing extinction, including the Panamian golden frog, staghorn coral, the great auk, and the Sumatran rhino. Through these stories, Kolbert provides a moving account of the disappearances occurring all around us and traces the evolution of extinction as concept, from its first articulation by Georges Cuvier in revolutionary Paris up through the present day. In the ten years since the book was originally published, evidence of the Sixth Extinction has continued to mount, making its message more urgent than ever.
The Sixth Extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy; as Kolbert observes, it compels us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human. Buy it Here
A book with an animal as the main character: The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo
Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other's lives. What happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out.
From the master storyteller who brought us BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE comes another classic, a fairy tale full of quirky, unforgettable characters, with twenty-four stunning black-and-white illustrations by Timothy Basil Ering. This paperback edition pays tribute to the book's classicdesign, featuring a rough front and elegant gold stamping. Buy it Here
A book set in the country (or province) of your birth: Overlooked, James T. Robertson
An honest assessment of the spiritual ground we inhabit begins by acknowledging the criticisms many Canadians have about the church are valid. We have to see that the church’s traditional treatment of women, our inability to calmly address the shifting moral norms of our society, our pandering, or our obsession with certain church models and church language has worked against us. We have to admit Christianity has been used as a tool of oppression.
Each generation in this land from the 1500s and on has dealt with the perceived lack of Christian influence over this place. The who, what, when, where, and why are different but the outcomes and responses were noticeably similar. Even in a country as young as Canada, there have always been those who lamented and feared the loss of time-tested Christianity…make no mistake, when it comes to the struggles of declining Christianity, Canada has been here before. Buy it Here
A collection of short stories: The Under Dog and Other Stories, Agatha Christie
A beautiful heiress has been found dead on a train. A playboy has been stabbed through the heart during a costume ball. An elderly woman suspects that she is being slowly poisoned to death. A prince fears for his reputation when his fiancée is embroiled in another man's murder. A forgotten recluse makes headlines after he is shot in the head.
Who but Agatha Christie could concoct such canny crimes? Who but Belgian detective Hercule Poirot could possibly solve them? It's a challenge to be met—in a triumph of detection.
Buy it Here
A YA (young adult) novel: Del Ryder and the Crystal Seed, Matthew Brough
Darkness is spreading across mystic Azdia. Soon, all of life will stop glowing with light. Soon, the trees will no longer spring to life. Even the mighty feldroes will cease to roam the forests. Already, many lumens, the shape-shifting caretakers of Azdia, have lost faith in their provider and protector, the mysterious Mr. Thicket. The only hope for the creatures of Azdia are the awaited chosen ones sent from another world called Earth.
Del Ryder, an ordinary eleven year old girl with something to prove and looking for a place to belong, leads her three best friends through the magic portal into Azdia. There they meet Crimson, a lumen full of hope, who believes Del and her friends are the ones they have been waiting for. Unwilling to accept their destiny, the children still manage to enlist Crimson’s help in what becomes a fight for their own survival. Held hostage by living trees, battered by storms, and caught in a stampede of feldroes, the darkness of Azdia blocks them at every stage of their adventure. But Del and her friends persevere, following the clues of a cryptic riddle, in the hope that it leads them home. Buy it Here
A book that involves time travel: The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
The Time Machine is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895 and written as a frame narrative. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively forward or backward through time. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle or device.
The Time Machine has been adapted into three feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions and many comic book adaptations. It has also indirectly inspired many more works of fiction in many media productions.
A book published the year you finished high school: The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf
The bestselling classic that redefined our view of the relationship between beauty and female identity. In today's world, women have more power, legal recognition, and professional success than ever before. Alongside the evident progress of the women's movement, however, writer and journalist Naomi Wolf is troubled by a different kind of social control, which, she argues, may prove just as restrictive as the traditional image of homemaker and wife. It's the beauty myth, an obsession with physical perfection that traps the modern woman in an endless spiral of hope, self-consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfill society's impossible definition of "the flawless beauty."
A book set in a place you would like to visit: Sweetland, Michael Crummey
For twelve generations the inhabitants of a remote island in Newfoundland have lived and died together. Now, in the second decade of the 21st century, they are facing resettlement, and each has been offered a generous compensation package to leave. But the money is offered with a proviso: everyone has to go.
But Moses Sweetland chooses to stay alone. Motivated in part by a sense of history and belonging, haunted by memories of the short and lonely time he spent away from his home as a younger man, and concerned that his somewhat eccentric great-nephew will wilt on the mainland, Moses refuses to leave. But in the face of determined, sometimes violent, opposition from his family and his friends, Sweetland is eventually swayed to sign on to the government's plan. Then a tragic accident prompts him to fake his own death and stay on the deserted island. As he manages a desperately diminishing food supply, and battles against the ravages of weather, Sweetland finds himself in the company of the vibrant ghosts of the former islanders, whose porch lights still seem to turn on at night. Buy it Here
A biography or autobiography of a woman: Notorious RBG, Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg never asked for fame—she has only tried to make the world a little better and a little freer.
But nearly a half-century into her career, something funny happened to the octogenarian: she won the internet. Across America, people who weren’t even born when Ginsburg first made her name as a feminist pioneer are tattooing themselves with her face, setting her famously searing dissents to music, and making viral videos in tribute.
Notorious RBG, inspired by the Tumblr that amused the Justice herself and brought to you by its founder and an award-winning feminist journalist, is more than just a love letter. It draws on intimate access to Ginsburg's family members, close friends, colleagues, and clerks, as well an interview with the Justice herself. An original hybrid of reported narrative, annotated dissents, rare archival photos and documents, and illustrations, the book tells a never-before-told story of an unusual and transformative woman who transcends generational divides. As the country struggles with the unfinished business of gender equality and civil rights, Ginsburg stands as a testament to how far we can come with a little chutzpah. Buy it Here
A novel that has at least one clergy character: The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
During a vicious persecution of the clergy in Mexico, a worldly priest, the 'whisky priest', is on the run. With the police closing in, his routes of escape are being shut off, his chances getting fewer. But compassion and humanity force him along the road to his destiny, reluctant to abandon those who need him, and those he cares for.
A book translated from another language: The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.
A book in a genre you would not usually choose (Romance): The Flatshare, Beth O'Leary
Tiffy and Leon share an apartment. Tiffy and Leon have never met.
After a bad breakup, Tiffy Moore needs a place to live. Fast. And cheap. But the apartments in her budget have her wondering if astonishingly colored mold on the walls counts as art.
Desperation makes her open minded, so she answers an ad for a flatshare. Leon, a night shift worker, will take the apartment during the day, and Tiffy can have it nights and weekends. He’ll only ever be there when she’s at the office. In fact, they’ll never even have to meet.
Buy it Here
A book recommended by a colleague: Costly Grace, Rob Schenck
Rob Schenck has been at the intersection of evangelical Christianity and conservative politics for his entire career. Attacked by partisans on both sides of the aisle, he has been called a "right-wing hate monger," the "ultimate D.C. power-broker," a "traitor," and a "turncoat."
As a teenager in the 1970s, Schenck converted from nominal Judaism to born-again Christianity and found his calling in public ministry. In the 1980s, he became an activist leader of the most extreme wing of the anti-abortion movement and entered the political mainstream inside the Beltway's religious right, brazenly mixing ministry with Republican political activism to advance his movement's crusade in the culture wars.
But after a deep reckoning with the texts of both Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Bible itself, revisiting the lessons Jesus imparted and regaining an understanding of the essence of the gospel, Schenck had an epiphany: he realized that he had strayed from his deepest convictions—that all are worthy of love, acceptance, and forgiveness, and should be free to live outside human judgment and exclusion. Reaffirming his core spiritual beliefs, Schenck today works to liberate the evangelical community from a politicized gospel, and to urge partisan conservatives to move beyond social battles and forsake the politics of hate, fear, and violence.
In this moving and inspiring memoir, Schenck reflects on his path to God, his unconscious abandonment of Christian principles in the face of fame and influence, and, ultimately, his return to the abiding beliefs that guide him in his work and ministry in Washington today. Costly Grace is a fascinating, sometimes shocking, and redemptive account of one man's life in faith and politics. Buy it Here
A book of poetry: A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood: The Poetry of Mister Rogers, Fred Rogers
For the first time ever, 75 beloved songs from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and The Children's Corner are collected in this charmingly illustrated treasury, sure to be cherished by generations of children as well as the millions of adults who grew up with Mister Rogers.
It’s you I like.
It’s not the things you wear,
It’s not the way you do your hair—
But it’s you I like.
From funny to sweet, silly to sincere, the lyrics of Mister Rogers explore such universal topics as feelings, new siblings, everyday life, imagination, and more. Through these songs—as well as endearing puppets and honest conversations—Mister Rogers instilled in his young viewers the values of kindness, self-awareness, and self-esteem. But most of all, he taught children that they are loved, just as they are. Perfect for bedtime, sing-along, or quiet time alone, this beautiful book of meaningful poetry is for every child—including the child inside of every one of us. Buy it Here
A book from the Canada Reads 2025 Finalists: A Two-Spirit Journey, Ma-Nee Chacaby
From her early, often harrowing memories of life and abuse in a remote Ojibwa community, Ma-Nee Chacaby's extraordinary story is one of enduring and ultimately overcoming the social and economic legacies of colonialism.
As a child, Chacaby learned spiritual and cultural traditions from her Cree grandmother and trapping, hunting, and bush survival skills from her Ojibwa stepfather. She also suffered physical and sexual violence, and in her teen years became an alcoholic herself. At twenty, Chacaby took her children and, fleeing an abusive marriage, moved to Thunder Bay. Despite the abuse, racism, and indifference she often found there, Chacaby marshalled the strength and supports to help herself and others.
Over the following decades, she achieved sobriety, trained and worked as an alcoholism counsellor, raised her children and fostered many others, learned to live with visual impairment, and came out as a lesbian. In 2013, Chacaby led the first gay pride parade in Thunder Bay.
Ma-Nee Chacaby has emerged from hardship grounded in faith, compassion, and humour. Her memoir provides unprecedented insights into the challenges still faced by many Indigenous people. Buy it Here
A book by a BIPOC author: Know My Name, Chanel Miller
Universally acclaimed, rapturously reviewed, and an instant New York Times bestseller, Chanel Miller's breathtaking memoir "gives readers the privilege of knowing her not just as Emily Doe, but as Chanel Miller the writer, the artist, the survivor, the fighter." (The Wrap). Her story of trauma and transcendence illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicting a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shining with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life.
Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic. Buy it Here
A book set in Toronto (in any era): Stay Where I Can See You, Katrina Onstad
The Kaplan family has just won 10 million dollars in the lottery. But haven’t they always been lucky? Gwen thought so. She’s carefully curated a perfect suburban existence with a loving husband and two children. For over a decade, she’s been a stay-at-home mom, devoted to giving her kids the quiet, protected adolescence she didn’t have. But the surprise windfall suddenly upends the family, allowing them all to dream a little bigger and catapulting them back to the city that Gwen fled years ago.
As the Kaplans navigate the notoriety that the lottery brings and try to adjust to their new lives in the upper class—Seth launches a dubious start-up, Maddie falls headfirst in love at her elite prep school—a tightly held secret is unlocked. Along with the truth come long-buried memories from Gwen’s troubled youth, forcing her to confront her painful past and threatening to unravel the incredibly tight bond between her and Maddie. Her meticulously constructed identity as the good wife and mother begins to crack. And when their changed circumstances place her family under threat, Gwen must wake up from her domestic slumber.
For readers of Meg Wolitzer, Liane Moriarty and Zoe Whittall, Katrina Onstad’s new novel explores whether our most intimate relationships can survive our most unforgivable actions. Stay Where I Can See You is a penetrating story about the pendulum swing of fortune, the ferocity of mother–daughter devotion and the stories we tell—and withhold—because of love. Buy it Here