February 4, 2021

Things to Read During the Big Game

One of my favourite things about how my life turned out is that I married somebody who cares about sports even less than I do, which means that I got to give him the big news that there was some kind of sports event this weekend, which I only know about because I keep receiving e-newsletters from food bloggers with subject heading GAME DAY EATS. (I was actually only able to parse out what the game in question was because I’d heard about the poet who was scheduled for the halftime show.)

And I honestly felt like perhaps I was the only blogger on earth whose content wasn’t Superbowl-adjacent (it IS the Superbowl, right? And Superbowl is a compound word? Or is it Super Bowl? I don’t know. I am going to choose to remain in ignorance. At least I know it’s about football, by which I mean the oblong, brown American kind, and so I’m feeling a little bit savvy.) Just because I don’t actually care about sports doesn’t mean I don’t want to be part of the action.

And so that end, I have put together a list of some of my favourite game-day literary experiences, books that are perfect to get lost in and you don’t even have to worry about the score.

Our Darkest Night, by Jennifer Robson

Butter Honey Pig Bread, by Francesca Ekwuyasi

And This is the Cure, by Annette Lapointe

Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson

Sometimes You Have to Lie, by Leslie Brody

Jack, by Marilynne Robinson

Little Threats, by Emily Schultz

The Push, by Ashley Audrain

If Sylvie Had Nine Lives, by Leona Theis

Field Notes From An Unintentional Birder, by Julia Zarankin

Brighten the Corner Where You Are, by Carol Bruneau