I am participating in National Blog Posting Month, NaBloPoMo, where I will be posting every day in the month of November
Recently Dani, from Postcards from the Mothership, wrote a post about CBC Radio’s Canada Reads. Canada Reads has existed since 2002, and this year the program has compiled the Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade. The list was put together by votes from “Canadians around the world”. Further voting by the public will reduce the list down to ten, and then the panel of five will then choose one of these top ten books to champion to the end, and to determine the book that all of Canada can read at the same time.
I like to read, and I like to read Canadian books too, and so I jumped on the chance to post a relatively easy post during National Blog Posting Month. I used the same convention that Dani used.
Books in bold: I have read
Books in bold and underlined: I have read and recommend.
Books with a * : I plan to read in the next year.
My total is 13 out of 40. So are you in? I would love to hear which ones you have read and loved.
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall
Clara Callan by Richard B. Wright
Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
Conceit by Mary Novik
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
Drive-by Saviours by Chris Benjamin
Elle by Douglas Glover
Essex County by Jeff Lemire
Far to Go by Alison Pick*
February by Lisa Moore*
Galore by Michael Crummey
Heave by Christy Ann Conlin
Inside by Kenneth J. Harvey
Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill
Moody Food by Ray Robertson
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
Room by Emma Donoghue*
Shelf Monkey by Corey Redekop
Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb
The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis*
The Birth House by Ami McKay
The Bishop’s Man by Linden MacIntyre
The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Fallen by Stephen Finucan
The Girls Who Saw Everything by Sean Dixon
The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe
The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart
The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood*
Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
Twenty-Six by Leo McKay Jr.
Unless by Carol Shields
When I first read that list, I didn't clue into the fact that it was the top 40 books of the *decade*, and was starting to get grouchy about all of the Canadiana that was missing. I would recommend Lullabies for Little Criminals (out of the ones I have read). As for missing books/authors…I can't believe that Barbara Gowdy didn't make the list! I am sure she has written *something* in the last decade!
I am embarassed at how few I have read. Next on my list: The Birth House
Thanks for playing along Finola! You've continued the trend — every single person who has played along has read and recommended The Birth House. I'm heading to the library site next to request it!
And speaking of libraries, it must have been a while since I've clicked through but I LOVE your site theme!! Love love love it, and would have used it myself if I were still on blogger. Nice! 🙂
Jen, You are absolutely right and I should have mentioned that these are only books from the last decade.
I will look up Lullabies and thanks for the recommendation. As for Barbara Gowdy, I only ever read her elephant book and was never interested in reading her again. Are her other books better?
Sara, I'm sure you won't be disappointed in The Birth House. Let me know…
Dani, Yes, definitely read the Birth House. And thanks for your sweet words 🙂
Joseph Boyden's two books on here were good, I would recommend them even if they aren't the most accessible. Once they got going I liked them.
It would appear you didn't recommend Life of Pi. I'm a guy and liked it, but I understand that it isn't for everyone.