It seems I am overdue for this annual tradition. The last time I shared a list of my favourite reads was January 2024, which makes this one about eight months late. Fortunately, the Ottawa Public Library no longer charges for being late, so I will borrow that same leniency for myself here.
Once again, I have gathered ten books that stood out over the past year and a half. They span history, politics, philosophy, literature, and even a return to the horror of my teenage years. Some made me laugh, some made me pause for days in reflection, and one in particular reshaped the way I think about the world. Each one left a mark on me, and I hope they might spark something for you as well.
Health for All: A Doctor’s Prescription for a Healthier Canada
By: Jane Philpott
Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada
Publication Date: April 25, 2023
Dr. Jane Philpott, former federal Minister of Health and now Dean of Health Sciences at Queen’s University, brings both a physician’s heart and a policymaker’s insight to this thoughtful book. Health for All is part memoir, part policy roadmap, and part rallying cry for a system that delivers on the promise of universal care.
What moved me most were the profoundly personal passages where Philpott speaks about her family and her faith. These stories ground her policy arguments in lived experience, reminding us that health care is ultimately about people, their hopes, hardships, and dignity. Her honesty and compassion shine through every page, making this book as much a reflection on humanity as it is on health reform.
The Razor’s Edge
By: W. Somerset Maugham
Publisher: First published by Doubleday, Doran & Company
Publication Date: 1944
A good friend gave me this book many years ago, and for reasons I cannot quite explain, it sat on my shelf until recently. I am glad I finally opened it. Maugham’s novel follows Larry Darrell, a World War I veteran who rejects conventional success in search of meaning, weaving together themes of love, loss, philosophy, and spiritual awakening.
What struck me most is how timeless the story feels. Even though it was written more than 80 years ago, the tension between material ambition and the search for deeper purpose is as relevant today as ever. Reading it felt like a reminder that sometimes books find us at exactly the right moment, even if it takes years before we turn the first page.
Capital Chronicles: Democracy, Power and the Making of Canada’s Capital
By: Rick Henderson
Publisher: McGill-Queen’s University Press
Publication Date: October 15, 2022
Rick Henderson’s Capital Chronicles is a rich exploration of how Ottawa came to be shaped politically, architecturally, and culturally as Canada’s capital. Through archival stories and careful analysis, Henderson shows how decisions made in boardrooms and backrooms influenced the city’s evolution and its role on the national stage.
As someone who calls Ottawa home, I found the book especially compelling. It is more than just local history. It is a study of how power, politics, and place intertwine. Henderson captures both the grandeur and the contradictions of the capital, reminding us that cities are as much about the people who inhabit them as they are about the institutions they host.
The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War
By: Craig Whitlock
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: August 31, 2021
Craig Whitlock, an investigative journalist at The Washington Post, lays bare the hidden story of America’s longest war. Drawing on confidential interviews and internal government documents, The Afghanistan Papers reveals how U.S. officials repeatedly misled the public about progress in Afghanistan, even as the reality on the ground told a very different story.
I want to thank Matt Luloff for the recommendation. What I found most powerful about this book was the sense of honesty it forced onto the record. It is not an easy read, but it is an important one. The testimonies and documents expose how a lack of clarity, shifting strategies, and political pressure can sustain a war without purpose for two decades. It made me think deeply about accountability, truth, and the consequences of decisions made far from the people most affected.
Bronze Age Mindset
By: Bronze Age Pervert
Publisher: Self-published
Publication Date: June 2018
This is a difficult book to categorize. Written under the pseudonym “Bronze Age Pervert,” Bronze Age Mindset has made significant waves in certain circles, particularly among libertarians and internet subcultures. Those familiar with it sometimes use a kind of coded language to identify themselves as part of the community that engages with its teachings.
The book is messy, vulgar, and at times deliberately provocative, yet it undeniably makes contemporary society pause. By evoking another era when gender roles, hierarchy, and social structures were very different, it challenges the defenders of mainstream perspectives to reflect on what has been lost and what has been gained. While not a book I would universally recommend, I found it an important reminder that even uncomfortable ideas can serve as mirrors for our present moment.
1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed
By: Eric H. Cline
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication Date: March 2, 2014
Eric Cline’s 1177 B.C. explores the dramatic fall of the Late Bronze Age civilizations, from the Mycenaeans and Egyptians to the Hittites and Babylonians. Using archaeological evidence and historical sources, Cline traces how a combination of climate change, earthquakes, invasions, and the breakdown of trade networks triggered a systemic collapse across the Eastern Mediterranean.
What fascinated me most was how interconnected these ancient societies were, and how quickly their networks unraveled once external shocks began to cascade. Reading this book inevitably makes one reflect on the fragility of our own global systems. The parallels to modern times are striking, and the reminder that even the most advanced civilizations can falter feels particularly timely.
The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism
By: John Gray
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication Date: May 2, 2023
John Gray has long been one of the most challenging and original political philosophers of our time, and The New Leviathans is, in my view, his most striking work yet. In this book, Gray argues that the liberal project has reached its limits, and that we are entering a new age shaped by powerful states, shifting moral frameworks, and a return to older patterns of domination and survival.
This was my favourite book of the last year and a half. I found myself both unsettled and enthralled by Gray’s analysis. His comparisons between contemporary powers and earlier historical empires are sharp and provocative, and he forces the reader to question assumptions about progress, democracy, and the future of global order. More than any other book on this list, it has lingered in my mind, reshaping how I think about politics and the trajectory of our world.
“Liberal civilization is not the destiny of humankind, but a moment in history that is passing before our eyes.”
How Proust Can Change Your Life
By: Alain de Botton
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Publication Date: May 1997
Alain de Botton has a gift for taking philosophy and literature and making them both practical and entertaining. In How Proust Can Change Your Life, he uses Marcel Proust’s writings and eccentricities as a springboard to reflect on how we live, think, and love. It is at once biography, philosophy, and self-help, but delivered with wit and charm.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read that had me laughing out loud at times, and at other times, reflecting for days on Proust’s sharp observations about human nature. One lesson that stayed with me was his insistence on paying close attention to the ordinary, the belief that even the most mundane experiences can be transformed by noticing their detail and texture. Another was his conviction that true insights often arrive slowly, and that patience with ourselves and others is part of living well. Few books manage to combine humour and depth so seamlessly. It reminded me that wisdom does not always need to be solemn, and that laughter itself can be a gateway into deeper understanding.
You Are the Universe: Discovering Your Cosmic Self and Why It Matters
By: Deepak Chopra and Menas Kafatos
Publisher: Harmony Books
Publication Date: February 7, 2017
In You Are the Universe, Deepak Chopra teams up with physicist Menas Kafatos to explore some of the biggest questions of existence: What is reality? Where did we come from? And what is our place in the cosmos? The book blends cosmology, quantum theory, and spirituality in an attempt to show that the universe and human consciousness are not separate, but deeply intertwined.
One of their key observations is that our perception is not a passive act. Instead, consciousness itself actively shapes the reality we experience. Time, space, and matter are not rigid structures outside of us, but arise through the interaction between observer and universe. I found myself alternately intrigued and challenged by this idea. At times it felt speculative, but in a way that was expansive rather than frivolous. Whether one agrees with their conclusions or not, the book is a bold reminder that science and spirituality can enrich one another, and that mystery remains at the heart of existence.
The Long Walk
By: Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman)
Publisher: Signet Books
Publication Date: July 1979
I was an avid Stephen King reader when I was younger, but for some reason this book escaped my list at the time. With the movie adaptation coming out soon, I thought it was the right moment to finally pick it up as a summer read. True to form, King (under his Bachman pseudonym) delivers a haunting and claustrophobic tale that reminded me why his stories gripped me so intensely as a teenager.
The premise is simple but devastating. One hundred boys must keep walking without stopping, under penalty of death, until only one remains. It is both a survival story and a dark allegory about endurance, power, and the human will. What stood out most for me was not only the tension of the march itself, but the way King uses it to strip life down to its rawest fears and desires. It was a chilling return to the kind of storytelling that first drew me into his world years ago.
As I finish this list, I am reminded again how varied and enriching reading can be. From political philosophy to ancient history, from health policy to speculative cosmology, each book opened a different window on the world. Together they challenged, unsettled, and inspired me, sometimes all at once.
I hope you find one or two here that spark your curiosity. And just as last year, I would love to hear your own recommendations. Which books have stayed with you? Which ones made you laugh, or made you think differently about life, history, or the world around you?
Here is to another year of reading, learning, and growing together — on time or otherwise.
