Name All the Animals: A Memoir

Name All the Animals: A Memoir
By: Alison Smith
Simon & Schuster Canada; www.simonsayscanada.com

Alison Smith and her brother, Roy, were so close growing up that their mother referred to them by one name: Alroy. Her memoir traces the pain and denial her family goes through after Roy is killed in a car accident at the age of 18. Fifteen-year-old Smith explores her sexuality and hoards food for her brother in hopes he will return, her mother avoids discussing the tragedy and her father continues his daily 6:00 a.m. routine of blessing a still-sleeping Smith.

Read this if you: Like coming-of-age stories or tragedies.

Don't read this if you: Don't venture past the Chick Lit aisle at bookstores.

The mood you need to be in: Pensive, thoughtful, reflective.

Read it while you're: Alone with the phone ringer in the 'off' position, so that you can finish without interruption.

What you should be snacking on: Nothing. You'll be too busy reaching for some tissue.

The best part: Smith's brutally honest, crisp prose. She doesn't shy away from sharing family secrets or her vivid feelings about a taboo relationship.

Other books on your nightstand: Rescuing Patty Hearst by Virginia Holman, A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews, The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson.

In a nutshell: Don't make any plans for the day you pick up this book - you'll stay up late to find out how the Smith family puts their lives back together.

By: Christine Geddes