The Recommend: Squatters, Classics, Stories, and Violence
Research shows that most of the books we read are the result of one thing: someone we know, trust, and/or admire tells us it's great. That's why we run this series, The Recommend, where readers, writers, reviewers, bloggers, and others tell us about a book they'd recommend to a good friend ... and why.
This week we're pleased to present the picks of writers Becky Blake (Proof I Was Here), Kathy Page (Dear Evelyn), Sally Cooper (With My Back to the World), Missy Marston (Bad Ideas), and Rabindranath Maharaj (Fatboy Fall Down).
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Becky Blake recommends Down to This: Squalor and Splendour in a Big-City Shantytown
While researching my novel about squatters and street-involved folks, I read Genet and Orwell’s accounts of living on the street. Then I stumbled on Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall’s Down to This: Squalor and Splendour in a Big-City Shantytown. This nonfiction book is set in Tent City, a squatted community that existed on Toronto’s Lakeshore Boulevard from the late 90s …
