RSJ Review Recap
Over the past year, we have been thrilled at the many books published by RSJ faculty and alumni. For the last RSJ newsletter of 2019, we decided to highlight books we reviewed this year, including our special summer “Book Club” where we took a look back at books published previously.
Before the Lights Go Out by Sean Fitz-Gerald (RSJ ‘00) (external link)
Canadian hockey is approaching a state of crisis. It's become more expensive, more exclusive, and effectively off-limits to huge swaths of the potential sports-loving population. Youth registration numbers are stagnant; efforts to appeal to new Canadians are often grim at best; the game, increasingly, does not resemble the country of which it's for so long been an integral part.
Sophie Chong (RSJ ‘21) spoke to Fitz-Gerald for the RSJ newsletter in November.
Had It Coming: What's Fair in the Age of #MeToo? by Robyn Doolittle (RSJ ‘06) (external link)
For nearly two years, Globe and Mail reporter Robyn Doolittle investigated how Canadian police handle sexual assault cases. Her findings were shocking: across the country, in big cities and small towns, the system was dismissing a high number of allegations as "unfounded." A police officer would simply view the claim as baseless and no investigation would follow. Of the 26,500 reported cases of sexual assault in 2015, only 1,400 resulted in convictions.
Had it Coming picks up where “Unfounded” left off.
Cassandra Alzate (RSJ ‘19) talked to Doolittle for the RSJ newsletter in October.
Love You To Pieces by Marsha Barber
In RSJ faculty member Marsha Barber’s third poetry book, she explored themes of love and loss, life and death, and the deep connections that bind us all.
Sophie Chong covered Barber’s book launch for the RSJ newsletter in September.
Chop Suey Nation by Ann Hui (RSJ ‘10) (external link)
In 2016, Globe and Mail reporter Ann Hui drove across Canada, from Victoria to Fogo Island, to write about small-town Chinese restaurants and the families who run them. It was only after the story was published that she discovered her own family could have been included—her parents had run their own Chinese restaurant, The Legion Cafe, before she was born. This discovery, and the realization that there was so much of her own history she didn’t yet know, set her on a time-sensitive mission: to understand how, after generations living in a poverty-stricken area of Guangdong, China, her family had somehow wound up in Canada.
Headline: Murder by April Lindgren (external link)
When Pia Keyne, a feisty political reporter, becomes entertainment editor at a large urban newspaper, she finds herself embroiled in the vicious murder of a high-profile politician. Pia quickly uncovers sexual overtones to the killing, as well as a possible cover-up of Nazi stolen art. The ink might just run red when Pia's involvement draws the attention of the murderer. And will she be putting her life at risk? Or just her heart?
The Lucky Ones: Our Stories of Adopting Children from China by Ann Rauhala (external link)
“What a lucky girl!” Everybody who has adopted a daughter from China has heard that one. And every parent has said, or thought, in reply: “No, we’re the lucky ones.” This anthology sets out to explain why people who have adopted children from China feel as though they’ve won the lottery.
Making National News: A History of Canadian Press by Gene Allen (external link)
For almost a century, Canadian newspapers, radio and television stations, and now internet news sites have depended on the Canadian Press news agency for most of their Canadian (and, through its international alliances) foreign news. This book provides the first-ever scholarly history of CP, as well as the most wide-ranging historical treatment of twentieth-century Canadian journalism published to date.
The Portia Adams Adventure Series by Angela Misri (external link)
The first book of the series, Jewel of the Thames (external link) , is set against the background of 1930s England, it introduces 19-year-old Portia Adams, a budding detective with an interesting — and somewhat mysterious — heritage.
In the second book, Thrice Burned (external link) , Portia is still reeling from finding out that her guardian, Mrs. Jones, is actually her grandmother as well as the infamous Irene Adler, making Sherlock Holmes her grandfather. As a diversion, Portia throws herself into work and continues to consult with Scotland Yard on hard-to-crack cases.
Her third book, No Matter How Improbable (external link) , was published in March 2016. Being Sherlock Holmes’s granddaughter is getting to be a little much for Portia. She decides to escape the rabid London press by chasing a case all the way to Italy. When she returns, it seems the media frenzy has, finally, run its course — but now she’s got bigger things to worry about.
Daniela Olariu (RSJ ‘17) spoke to instructor Misri about writing a YA series.
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waub Rice (RSJ ‘02) (external link)
With winter looming, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark. Cut off, people become passive and confused. Panic builds as the food supply dwindles. While the band council and a pocket of community members struggle to maintain order, an unexpected visitor arrives, escaping the crumbling society to the south. Soon after, others follow.
Ania Bessonov (RSJ ’18) spoke to Rice about the book in December 2018.
If you know of an alum whose book we missed this year, please get in touch so we can feature their work in a future newsletter! Email: office.journalism@torontomu.ca
