CEO Lita’s Picks for Reading Challenge 2026

Theme: A book about a journey

Pick: The Tiger and the Cosmonaut

We have such amazing literary talent in Canada, so I picked a novel that was also longlisted for the 2025 Giller Prize, as the starting point for my 2026 reading journey. In The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, Casper, the son of immigrants, returns to his rural British Columbia hometown after his father is found wandering the forest, seemingly trapped in memories of the night Casper’s twin brother vanished decades earlier. As buried grief surfaces, the family must finally face what really happened. 

Genre: Literary Fiction

Borrow The Tiger and the Cosmonaut by Eddy Tan Boudel

Theme: A book that makes your heart skip a beat

Pick: Crying in H Mart

I rarely reread books because my TBR list is long and ever-growing. When I spotted Crying in H Mart on our Staff Picks booklist for this month, I decided to make an exception. This poignant and honest memoir traces a Korean-American woman’s coming of age through food, family, and the devastating loss of her mother. It’s a story about love and loss, and I am looking forward to rediscovering it this winter. 

Genre: Memoir

Borrow Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zaune

Theme: A book that makes you laugh out loud

Pick: Hair for Men

I started the year with a book set in British Columbia, so this month I head to the East Coast with this title by Michelle Winters. After a violent youth, a woman reinvents herself working at a men’s hair salon, discovering a strange kind of peace—until her past resurfaces in a most unexpected way. 

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Borrow Hair for Men by Michelle Winters

Theme: A book published at least 25 years ago

Pick: Their Eyes Were Watching God

This challenge is a great way to go back and find those books you’ve long been meaning to read, and this is one of those titles for me. Set in the 1930s American South, a determined Black woman searches for love and independence, even when her community disapproves of her choices. First published in 1937, and then out of print for nearly 30 years until 1978, this modern classic is a powerful story of resilience and self-discovery.

Genre: Classic Literary Fiction

Borrow Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Theme: A book with extraordinary or magic elements

Pick: Piranesi

Fantasy is not a genre I gravitate to, but I’m intrigued by this journey through a labyrinthine house and the themes of memory, identity, and the nature of reality itself. In Piranesi, a man lives alone in an endless, flooded house filled with statues, slowly uncovering that his reality may not be what it seems. This might be a challenging read for me, but I’m up for it!

Genre: Fantasy / Speculative Fiction

Borrow Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Theme: A book that explores identity and acceptance

Pick: Universality

This book was on the 2025 Booker Prize longlist. I’m intrigued by the story’s focus on words—what we say, how we say it, and what we really mean. An illegal rave, a near-fatal attack with a gold bar, and a journalist whose viral exposé may not be what it seems—Universality peels back the layers of modern media culture. It’s a gripping look at truth, manipulation, and the stories we choose to believe. 

Genre: Literary Mystery / Satire

Borrow Universality by Natasha Brown

Theme: A book with a number in the title

Pick: Station Eleven

I so enjoyed St. John Mandel’s novel Sea of Tranquility that I intended to read Station Eleven before watching the series, and have yet to do either. July’s theme offers the perfect opportunity. In Station Eleven, a famous actor dies onstage the same night a deadly pandemic begins, and the world quietly falls apart. Moving between past and future, this haunting novel follows a troupe of performers travelling through the ruins, keeping art alive when the world is gone. 

Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Literary Fiction

Borrow Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Theme: A book about a real person or event

Pick: Night

It’s so important not to forget our history. This powerful memoir by Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel was first published in 1958 and recounts a teenager’s survival in Nazi death camps with devastating clarity. More than history, it is a moral reckoning that demands to be read and remembered. Some books stay with you forever, and I expect this is one of them. 

Genre: Memoir / History

Borrow Night by Elie Wiesel

Theme: A book by an Indigenous author

Pick: If the Dead Belong Here

This year’s BPL Hidden Gems winner! I love stories that blend mystery with emotional depth, and this one does exactly that. When a little girl disappears, her sister’s vivid dreams hint that the family’s past holds dangerous secrets. 

Genre: Supernatural Mystery

Borrow If the Dead Belong Here by Carson Faust

Theme: A book that features a library

Pick: The Paris Library

The Paris Library combines three of my favourite things: libraries, Paris, and books based on true stories. Set in occupied Paris, librarians quietly join the Resistance, risking everything to protect readers and books. Decades later, a lonely teenager in Montana uncovers the story behind one woman’s guarded past, revealing courage in the most unexpected places. A story for anyone who believes libraries matter, it’s also an excellent read to celebrate Ontario Public Libraries Week!

Genre: Historical Fiction

Borrow The Paris Library by Janet Charles Skeslien

Theme: A book that sends shivers down your spine

Pick: King Sorrow

This title is popping up on several ‘best books of 2025’ lists. Again, it’s not my first choice of genre, but the imaginative plot is intriguing and seems well-suited to this deep fall month. When a college student is forced into stealing rare books, his desperate friends try to summon a dragon to fix things—and nothing goes as planned.

Genre: Dark Fantasy

Borrow King Sorrow by Joe Hill

Theme: An old favourite or a new discovery

Pick: The Berry Pickers

New to me but a favourite of many, I want to close out my 2026 reading challenge as it began, with an award-winning Canadian author. When a Mi’kmaq child disappears during blueberry-picking season, two families are forever altered. Spanning decades, this slow-burning story unravels a heartbreaking mystery about identity, loss, and the long reach of truth.

Genre: Literary Mystery

Borrow The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters