book nook
Book Nook: Reads on Latin American history
October 4, 2026Latin American Heritage Month is a fitting time to revisit and remember the political struggle, authoritarianism, and foreign intervention that gripped most of Latin America during the 20th century. The following books offer entry points into that turbulent century, each grounded in a different country’s political journey. However, even controversial books should be read before we criticize. Salman Rushdie was criticized by the Islamic community for the satirical depiction of religious themes in a later book, but I believe the recommended book still deserves a read for his exploration of Nicaragua during a turbulent time. Similarly, Che Guevara was complicit…
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Book Nook: The superb speculative fiction of China Miéville
September 13, 2026An ocean of soil, inhabited by mammoth creatures. A vanished squid in formaldehyde. A man in a bottle. Aliens driven mad by miscommunication. The end of the world. Sitting in a comfortable chair with a cup of tea, I enjoy…
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Exploring queerness across Southeast Asia
August 3, 2026“Queer Asia does not have a great history; it has never found an institutional home in the region.” This quote is one of the last sentences in Queer Southeast Asia: An Afterword, in a section about finding hope through the…
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Book Nook: Independent West Africa: tradition, modernization, and identity in a post-colonial Africa
June 7, 2026In West Africa in the 1960s, the literary scene in the newly independent nations stretching from Senegal to Nigeria was booming. Writers such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Léopold Sédar Senghor defined not just the literary landscape of the…
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Political reads: The Last Honest Man by James Risen
June 7, 2026Pulitzer prize-winning journalist James Risen captures the consequential life of Senator Frank Church in his aptly-titled book: The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia and the Kennedys — and One Senator’s Fight to Save Democracy. Church, who…
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Four book recommendations for Disability Pride Month
July 24, 2025knot body by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch knot body is a collection of poems, short stories, and letters that address various themes, along with how people with disabilities are treated unjustly by capitalist and discriminatory systems. For instance, in one…
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Book Nook: Quiet books for loud times
July 10, 2025Revery: A Year of Bees by Jenna Butler This book feels like a long exhale. Set on an off-grid farm in Alberta, it follows Butler’s journey as a beekeeper. In the gentle rhythm of tending to hives, Butler unearths something…
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Book Nook: Young adult queer book recommendations
July 1, 2025One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston If you’re a sci-fi fanatic and a hopeless romantic, this book was written just for you. It’s about a lonely and walled-off 23-year-old girl, August Landry, who moves to New York. There, she meets…
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The Book Nook: 100 years of literature on Black liberation
March 10, 2025Content warning: this piece centres around racial segregation and systemic oppression. Over the past century, Black writers have produced some of the most impactful works of non-fiction examining race, prejudice, and oppression. The three books chosen were all published nearly…
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Book Nook: Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow series
January 30, 2025Content warning: brief mentions of murder and war. Those familiar with Chinese history are probably no stranger to Empress Wu Zetian, the only legitimate empress of The Middle Kingdom. But, did you know there is a connection between Zetian and…
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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.
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For promotional inquiries: [email protected]
Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.
For advertising inquiries: [email protected]
For promotional inquiries: [email protected]