Good morning. Our annual guide to the books that captured, delighted and informed us is back. More on that below, and a window into the work that goes into it, plus news on Black Friday and solar storms. But first:
Today’s headlines
- Alberta and Ottawa have agreed to a transformational energy accord, but British Columbia, environmentalists and some Indigenous leaders still have concerns
- Thirty-five years after a man was found guilty of murdering a 10-year-old girl, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled it a miscarriage of justice
- Netflix’s The Stringer documentary challenges the history of the famous “Napalm Girl” photograph
This year, we created an archive of Globe 100 recommended books from nearly three decades of lists.Illustration by Yiren Tang
Arts
How we make the Globe 100 books
My name is Judith Pereira and I’m the arts and books editor here at The Globe.
I’ve always been a reader. But in my early years, I wasn’t a collector. I couldn’t be: I spent my time toggling back and forth between my parents, who lived in Dubai, and my grandmother, who lived in what was then Bombay.
Books were not something I could lug along with me. But I read everything I could get a hold of – Indian comics featuring gods and goddesses, the Famous Five, Secret Seven, Five Find-Outers – and it was a thrill any time I was actually able to keep one. By the time I was 15, I had amassed a small library of my favourites. When we moved to Canada, I had to leave everything behind, which was one of the great tragedies of that upheaval.
Fast forward to 2019, I had built up my bookshelves with as many tomes as I could. What happened next would have been nearly impossible for me to imagine as a kid: I became The Globe’s books editor.
Judith Pereira's stacks of books. So many books.Supplied
I had no idea what I was in for. Sure, I had seen the desks of my predecessors, Martin Levin and Jack Kirchhoff, stacked with mountains of books, but I had thought they were mostly just disorganized.
Dear reader, they were not.
Each year, traditional publishers release about 500,000 books (and that doesn’t include the self-published ones). That first year, I would get sent 30 to 40 books a week. During some months, particularly in the fall, I could up receive up to 100. I didn’t even think to plan for The Globe 100, then in its 21st year. Come late October, I found myself racing to bookstores, scouring my lists, begging contributors and staffers to remember what they had read and loved.
Nowadays, I have a plan (and an Excel spreadsheet I start working on as soon as the new year begins). But compiling The Globe 100 is no less daunting. In early October, I gather 10 to 15 writers and editors from across the newsroom to eat pizza and talk books. I usually come armed with a preliminary longlist, but we add new books and drop others as the discussion becomes animated – and sometimes downright heated.
Illustration by Yiren Tang
In 2023, for instance, Prince Harry’s Spare – one of the year’s bestsellers – was knocked off the list after a long debate. If we had an audiobooks category (which we’re talking about, maybe for next year), we would have included it. But the printed version wasn’t nearly as compelling, so we left it off.
I also have publicists send me titles they think deserve a second look. Last year, Chloe Dalton’s Raising Hare made the list at the last minute. This year, I started reading Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume series in September, and Book III made the cut.
And since we are, after all, a Canadian publication dedicated to championing Canadian books, we make sure the most notable domestic reads get healthy representation on the list.
This year, we have also launched an interactive database of the past 28 years of The Globe 100. You can mark which titles you’ve read, which ones you want to read, create your own reading list and marvel at how much subject matter and cover design have changed since 1998. It’s a tremendous tool and I hope you’ll check it out.
Check out this year’s Globe 100 list and happy reading – and if you don’t hear from me, please check under the massive pile of books on my desk.
The Shot
‘We were in their space.’
Richard Pollard, a multigenerational carver living in Bella Coola, talks about his encounters with grizzly bears who co-exist in the valley, Nov. 24.Chad Hipolito/The Globe and Mail
A grizzly bear attack during a school field trip last week has been difficult to reconcile for an Indigenous community where bears hold spiritual significance. There is no record of an attack like this, but it is forcing the Nuxalk to rethink the way they co-exist with bears.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: The Quebec government has tabled a bill with broad new restrictions on religious practices, including banning prayer rooms in public institutions.
The House: Steven Guilbeault, a career environmentalist, resigned from the Liberal cabinet shortly after the energy deal between Ottawa and Alberta was announced.
Abroad: An Afghan national who was charged in the shooting of two National Guard members worked with CIA before coming to U.S., officials say.
Travel: In Turkey, Pope Leo warned political leaders about conflicts endangering humanity during his first foreign trip since becoming pontiff.
Lost: On Black Friday, businesses fear the Buy Canadian movement might collide with today’s harsh economic reality.
Found: Scientists have detected what they believe to be lightning on Mars by eavesdropping on the whirling wind recorded by NASA’s Perseverance rover.