As tariffs and trade policies evolve under the Trump administration, many book enthusiasts are considering a switch from Amazon’s Kindle to Kobo, a Canadian e-reader that offers a fantastic alternative for those eager to support local businesses. If you’re among the readers making this transition, you’ve got a treasure trove of captivating Canadian literature waiting for you. Here, we spotlight some of the best local books to dive into on your new Kobo device, suggested to us by Rachel Law, Category Manager at Indigo.
Must-read local books for your new Kobo e-reader
1. Watch Out For Her by Samantha M. Bailey
Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey is a psychological thriller that delves into themes of trust, voyeurism, and obsession. The story follows Sarah Goldman, a mother who has recently moved across the country with her family to escape a troubling past involving their former babysitter, Holly Monroe. Although the babysitting arrangement initially seemed perfect, Sarah’s mistrust led her to keep a close eye on Holly, ultimately revealing shocking secrets that compelled her to flee.
In their new suburban neighbourhood, known for its vigilant community, Sarah discovers hidden cameras in her new home. This unsettling discovery forces her to confront the possibility that her past has followed her and raises the question of who might be watching her now. The novel weaves a tense, spine-tingling narrative as Sarah must remain ever-vigilant to protect her family.
Overall, Watch Out for Her is a gripping, page-turning novel that explores the lengths a mother will go to for her family’s safety, set against the backdrop of an era where surveillance and obsession blur the lines of privacy and security. Find it on your kobo!
2. Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez
Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez is a compelling and empathetic novel set in a culturally diverse and economically challenged neighborhood east of Toronto. The book portrays the daily struggles and resilience of its inhabitants as they navigate issues such as poverty, drugs, crime, and urban decay.
The novel is told through multiple perspectives, including a black artist harassed by the police, a West Indian restaurant owner managing her business, and a Muslim school worker witnessing the effects of poverty on children’s education. Additionally, it highlights the lives of several children who face systemic failures, including the challenges of dealing with mental illness in the family, homelessness, and neglect.
Through these intertwined stories, Scarborough offers a raw and genuine look at a community under pressure yet determined to maintain its dignity and spirit. Catherine Hernandez, drawing from her own experiences, provides a vivid and heartfelt depiction of a neighbourhood and its residents striving to rise above their circumstances. Find it on your kobo!
3. Denison Avenue by Christina Wong
Denison Avenue by Christina Wong, with illustrations by Daniel Innes, is a poignant and evocative story that combines visual art and fiction. The book explores themes of gentrification, aging, grief, and the challenges faced by vulnerable Chinese Canadian elders.
The story centres on Wong Cho Sum, an elderly widow living in Toronto’s gentrifying Chinatown-Kensington Market neighbourhood. After the sudden loss of her husband, Cho Sum begins collecting bottles and cans. This activity helps her cope with her grief and loneliness and gives her days a sense of purpose. As she walks through the city, she encounters new friends, faces classism and racism, and learns to navigate her life as a widow in a rapidly changing community.
Denison Avenue is a heartfelt meditation on the struggles and resilience of aging individuals in big cities, particularly within the Chinese Canadian community. The book’s integration of ink artwork and the endangered Toisan dialect adds rich layers to the narrative, making it an unforgettable exploration of identity, loss, and adaptation. Find it on your kobo!
4. Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls by Kai Cheng Thom
Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls by Kai Cheng Thom is a transformative and intimate collection of lyrical love letters. This work offers a pathway toward compassion, forgiveness, and self-acceptance, and is described as “required reading” by Glennon Doyle.
Kai Cheng Thom, who grew up as a Chinese Canadian transgender girl, has worn many hats in her life—activist, psychotherapist, conflict mediator, and spiritual healer. She has always been committed to the revolutionary belief in the intrinsic sacredness of every human being, regardless of their actions or attitudes. Despite this deeply held conviction, she found herself grappling with a crisis of faith, overwhelmed by the cruelty and negativity that people displayed toward one another.
In response to this personal and spiritual upheaval, Kai Cheng channeled her emotions into writing. The result was a collection of pieces that serve as prayers, spells, and poems—though the distinctions between these forms are deliberately blurred. These letters reach out to the marginalised, the flawed, and even those who perpetrate harm, encompassing a wide array of humanity that includes outcasts, well-meaning but misguided individuals, and even bigots and transphobes. Her writings affirm the dignity and worth of all, creating a blueprint for rediscovering love for humanity.
Falling Back in Love with Being Human is a heartfelt guide that encourages readers to embrace justice, hope, love, and healing, even in the face of deep-seated societal ills and personal despair. This collection stands as a testament to the power of empathy and the possibility of finding beauty and worth in every person. Find it on your kobo!
5. Shut Up You’re Pretty by Téa Mutonji
Shut Up You’re Pretty by Téa Mutonji is a compelling debut story collection that delves into the complexities of identity, femininity, and cultural heritage. Through a series of sharply observed narratives, Mutonji captures the multifaceted experiences of her characters, often blurring the lines between longing and the choices they make.
The stories in this collection cover a range of poignant and relatable scenarios: a woman grapples with her Congolese traditions at a family wedding; a teenage girl searches for happiness in a pack of cigarettes; a mother reconnects with her daughter over their mutual interest in fish; and a young woman makes a bold decision to shave her head in the waiting room of an abortion clinic. Each story is imbued with a blend of pathos and humour, offering a unique perspective on the involuntary aspects of the narrator’s life.
Shut Up You’re Pretty interrogates moments where femininity and identity are both questioned and imposed upon the characters. As the first book published under the VS. Books imprint—a series curated and edited by writer-musician Vivek Shraya, featuring new and emerging Indigenous or Black writers, or writers of colour—this collection highlights Téa Mutonji’s distinctive voice and offers a fresh exploration of themes surrounding womanhood and cultural identity. Find it on your kobo!
6. Indigenous Toronto: Stories That Carry This Place, edited by Denise Bolduc, Mnawaate Gordon-Corbiere, and Rebeka Tabobondung
Indigenous Toronto: Stories That Carry This Place, edited by Denise Bolduc, Mnawaate Gordon-Corbiere, and Rebeka Tabobondung, is a profound anthology that brings to light the rich Indigenous history and culture of Toronto, spanning 12,000 years.
The collection features diverse perspectives from Indigenous elders, scholars, journalists, artists, activists, and historians, providing insights into various aspects such as art, food, health, and more. It navigates between the themes of cultural erasure and continuity, underscoring the enduring presence and contributions of Indigenous peoples in a city often perceived through a colonial lens.
Prominent contributors include political scientist Hayden King, historian Alan Corbiere, musician Elaine Bomberry, artist Duke Redbird, playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, educator Kerry Potts, writer/journalist Paul Seesequasis, and former Mississaugas of the New Credit chief Carolyn King. These voices create a comprehensive narrative that acknowledges Toronto’s Indigenous past, celebrates its present, and envisions its future, revealing the city as a longstanding meeting place long before European settlement.
Indigenous Toronto not only educates its readers about the Indigenous roots of a major North American city but also honours the vibrant cultures that continue to shape it today. Find it on your kobo!
7. The Toronto Book of the Dead by Adam Bunch
The Toronto Book of the Dead by Adam Bunch explores Toronto’s history through the stories of its most fascinating and shadowy deaths.
With morbid tales of war and plague, duels and executions, suicides and séances, Toronto’s past is filled with stories whose endings were anything but peaceful. The Toronto Book of the Dead delves into these: from ancient First Nations burial mounds to the grisly murder of Toronto’s first lighthouse keeper; from the rise and fall of the city’s greatest Victorian baseball star to the final days of the world’s most notorious anarchist.
Toronto has witnessed countless lives lived and lost as it grew from a muddy little frontier town into a booming metropolis of concrete and glass. The Toronto Book of the Dead tells the tale of the ever-changing city through the lives and deaths of those who made it their final resting place. Find it on your kobo!
8. Stroll by Shawn Micallef
Stroll by Shawn Micallef contemplates the ‘Toronto look’, a juxtaposition of glass skyscrapers, Victorian homes, and Brutalist apartment buildings against the city’s natural features like leafy ravines. This creates a cityscape of contrasts, whose architectural uniqueness can only be understood through its history and current functionality.
For decades, Shawn Micallef has been examining Toronto’s streetscapes through his psychogeographic reportages. These detailed observations bring Toronto’s buildings and streets to life, offering insights into how they are used and how they are evolving over time.
“Stroll” celebrates the details of Toronto—both the subtle and the grand—at the pace of a walk. By doing so, it helps readers get to know the city’s diverse neighbourhoods better, taking them from iconic landmarks like the CN Tower and Pearson Airport to overlooked areas like the corners of Scarborough and the end of the Leslie Street Spit in Lake Ontario. Find it on your kobo!
9. Dayspring by Anthony Oliveira
Dayspring by Anthony Oliveira is a groundbreaking debut that defies conventional genre boundaries, blending reimagined biblical narratives with a contemporary coming-of-age tale, all interconnected across the expanse of time.
At its core, Dayspring explores the powerful and tumultuous nature of love as depicted in sacred texts—where love often destroys, consumes, and leaves chaos in its wake. Oliveira breathes life into the story of the beloved disciple of Christ, offering a rich, poetic, and profound account of their relationship, set against the backdrop of the days leading up to the crucifixion.
With a style that melds the sacred and the profane, explicit desire and poetic form, Dayspring presents electric stories filled with passion, grief, destruction, and survival. It re-examines iconic figures from scripture and history, all while casting a reflective gaze on modern life’s challenges.
In the spirit of Anne Carson and Madeline Miller, Oliveira’s work seamlessly integrates fiction, memoir, and verse, creating an immersive and mesmerising narrative. Dayspring rises as a stunning piece of literature that finds beauty in the most cataclysmic moments and bliss within apocalyptic events. Find it on your kobo!
10. Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang
In Julie Chan Is Dead, Liann Zhang crafts a thrilling, high-stakes debut that dives into the shadows lurking behind the glamorous façade of social media stardom. This razor-sharp narrative follows the dramatic transformation of Julie Chan, a supermarket cashier, who steps into the life of her deceased twin sister, Chloe VanHuusen, an influential social media personality.
Julie’s life is a stark contrast to that of Chloe’s; while Chloe basked in luxury, influence, and millions of followers, Julie’s existence was average at best. Separated in their youth, the twins led divergent lives, reuniting briefly for a touching, viral moment orchestrated by Chloe. When Julie finds Chloe’s body under suspicious circumstances, she grabs the opportunity to assume her sister’s identity, immersing herself in Chloe’s opulent world.
Adapting to the role of Chloe is easier than Julie anticipated, but she quickly learns that Chloe’s life wasn’t as flawless as it appeared. As Julie navigates the privileged and competitive influencer environment, she becomes embroiled in the dark secrets and dangers that surround it.
The tension escalates during a weeklong retreat with Chloe’s influencer friends on a secluded island, where Julie’s façade begins to fracture. With threats closing in and mysteries unraveling, Julie uncovers the dark forces that might have contributed to her sister’s early death, all the while fearing she might end up sharing Chloe’s fate.
Julie Chan Is Dead promises an electrically charged exploration of identity, deception, and the perilous allure of fame, keeping readers hooked as Julie endeavours to survive and uncover the truth behind her sister’s demise. Find it on your kobo!
If you are looking to buy a kobo e-readers and make the switch, check out their website.
