From my list on experiencing the Canadian city of Winnipeg if you can’t actually go there.
Why am I passionate about this?
I’m an author who’s published historical nonfiction, science fiction, and poetry—all genres that are represented in the five books I’ve recommended! I also lived in Winnipeg between 1993 and 2002 and loved being there. It’s a great city with lots of history, a thriving arts community, two beautiful rivers, lots of diverse cultures, and a determination to undo some of the wrongs that have happened there. (Admittedly, Winnipeg also gets to minus 40 in the winter and has a tad too many mosquitoes in the summer!). But it’s also where I met my amazing wife! ☺
Mark's book list on experiencing the Canadian city of Winnipeg if you can’t actually go there
Why did Mark love this book?
This book pulls together three things that I love in fiction: big ideas, compelling characters, and a plot that keeps you guessing.
The big ideas really are “big” ones: What’s the nature of consciousness? How do memories create or distort our sense of identity? And how does our physical biology as “creatures” determine our inner psychology?
As for the city of Winnipeg itself, the novel leverages it in all kinds of ways. One example: A riot after a Winnipeg Jets hockey game leads to such national violence that the US President calls for an invasion of Canada to “help” restore order.
And, in one of the novel’s prescient plot points, this US invasion prompts Vladimir Putin to plan his own attack (keep in mind that this book was published six years before Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine!).
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