Season’s Readings

The rise and fall of General Electric, the toxicity of hockey culture, a shocking South Carolina double murder, and a delightful tale of a stuffed bunny lost in a washing machine. Do these stories all have the makings of some light holiday reading? No. But while they're not all light, they are all good reads and among the eclectic book recommendations from our guests on the last episode of Verdicts & Voices of 2025. 

Whether your literary tastes lean towards heart-pumping thrillers or heartwarming tales that kids and adults can enjoy reading together, these bookworm lawyers have you covered, sharing titles related to their areas of practice. Here’s the round-up.

Politics/culture

Adam Dodek, a University of Ottawa professor, constitutional expert and author of Heenan Blaikie: The Making and Unmaking of a Great Canadian Law Firm, recommends: 

The Coutts Diaries: Power, Politics, and Pierre Trudeau 1973-1981 is an edited collection of the diaries of Jim Coutts, who served as the former prime minister’s principal secretary from 1975 to 1980. “The book that everyone here in Ottawa is talking about, and I couldn't put down. Jim Coutts was probably the most feared man in Ottawa during that time… It is just really gripping in terms of what went on inside politics, and also the personal element of life in politics. If you're interested in politics at all, you will absolutely love it.”

We Breed Lions: Confronting Canada's Troubled Hockey Culture by Rick Westhead is an examination of the dark side of Canada’s hockey culture. “It starts with the sexual assault trial in London involving multiple players from Canada's [2018] junior hockey team, but it goes so much deeper into really the toxic culture in our national sport, and what needs to be done to change that.”

Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson. “It really takes you inside the Biden presidency and lays bare, I think, what we all saw with our own eyes - President Biden's cognitive and physical decline. It really delves into the cover-up by those around him and the complicity in the press, including Jake Tapper himself at CNN and others who didn't want to expose the cognitive decline. From a constitutional point of view, it's really concerning. From a political point of view, it's shocking and concerning, and from a human point of view, it's just really sad.”

Mystery/thrillers 

Erin Cowling, a freelance lawyer and the author of The Modern Freelance Lawyer: A Guide to the Business, Ethics, and Evolution of Freelance Legal Work, recommends: 

The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty by Valerie Bauerlein is about the headline-making case of the South Carolina lawyer convicted in 2023 of murdering his wife and son two years earlier. “The part that I like about it is the story behind the Murdoch family. This family was like a legal dynasty in this area of South Carolina. There’s been a member of the Murdoch family who's been a judicial circuit solicitor, basically a district attorney, elected official since the 1800s… so this family held this kind of legal power and influence over everyone in the community. Because of this, they became kind of untouchable, and they got away with so much, from scandals, abuses of power, and crimes. It all comes to a head with Alex murdering his wife and son.”

The Black Wolf by Louise Penny is the 20th mystery in the Inspector Gamache series set in Quebec. “Originally, the series started out as kind of a cozy mystery, but the last two books are more of a political thriller, and they touch on points that are very in the news today, like American Canadian tensions.”

Listen For the Lie by Amy Tintera is a fast-paced thriller about a true-crime podcast that investigates an unsolved murder. “This takes place in Texas and California, where the main character wakes up covered in blood, and her best friend is murdered, but she has no memory of what happened. The police don't have enough evidence; they kind of clear her of the murder, but everyone in the small town thinks she's done it. She leaves town, moves to California, starts a new life. But then this true crime podcast comes along (and) starts digging into what happened, so her whole life is kind of back on display.” 

Corporate/Financial

Jacob Kojfman, a commercial technology lawyer at the Co-operators Group Ltd, recommends: 

Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon by William D. Cohan captures the dramatic history of General Electric, with a special focus on the years when Jack Welch led the company. “General Electric used to be a darling of the stock market. It was a giant conglomerate, and now I think sometimes it's still struggling for survival when I see some news headlines. The whole book and the whole Jack Welch era remind me of the biblical phrase, ‘Beware of false prophets,’ because he's always been touted as this great leader. He has MBA schools named after him. The book actually paints a very different picture.”

1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History—and How It Shattered a Nation by Andrew Ross Sorkin takes a deep dive into what led up to the stock market crash of 1929. “I think one of the key things is that, had [Sorkin] written it before 2008, the whole American economy may have been able to avoid some of the mistakes made. History is a great teacher if you're willing to learn from it. I'm not really sure that people did learn from 1929 …because we ended up in a much worse situation, I think, in 2008.”

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi with Tahl Raz, is a how-to guide for building strong relationships. “[Ferrazzi] starts off with his own story. He's from a blue-collar family in Pennsylvania, he got a job at a golf course as a caddy, and from that, he was surrounded by people who were very well-off and had robust networks. By learning to provide value to them as a caddy and asking them for certain things, he was able to find opportunities beyond what he may have been limited by otherwise.”

Children/young adults 

Shelley Hounsell, K.C., a family lawyer at Pressé Mason in Halifax, recommends: 

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems is an award-winning illustrated children’s book about a bunny accidentally tossed in with the laundry at a laundromat. “I laughed out loud when I bought this one. Through the series of pictures and sketches, [main character Trixie] tries to communicate with her dad that she lost Knuffle Bunny. My favourite line in the whole book is ‘Trixie bawled. She went boneless.’ The first time I read it, I cried laughing because I'd never heard it phrased as boneless before. When your child goes flat out on the ground in front of you, all you get is an arm up in the air or flat out like there's no bones left.”

Virginia Wolf, written by Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault, is a Canadian book about young painter Vanessa cheering up her sister Virginia. It’s loosely based on the real-life relationship between Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell. “I take from this story that it's okay to have a grumpy day and wake up like a wolf. And it's okay to be, not rude, but express your feelings with other people in your family and who you are comfortable with, because that's who we are as human beings. We need to be able to feel comfortable expressing ourselves, but we can also accept when somebody is trying to turn us around. It shows a little bit about moderating feelings and how to get yourself out of a grumpy mood, and how to enjoy the company of others.”

Ann and Seamus, written by Kevin Major and illustrated by David Blackwood, is a novel written in poetry about Ann Harvey and her courageous feat of rescuing 163 shipwrecked sailors in Newfoundland in 1828. "It's a true story, and if you look at the time, and the cold, and the harshness, and the internal, as well as physical strength that it would have required of her to be able to help her dad save the lives that they did, it's incredible. And then weaved in between, there is a little bit of a love story… It's about love of family and support of family.”