{"id":4584,"date":"2010-10-28T13:22:22","date_gmt":"2010-10-28T18:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/?p=4584"},"modified":"2010-10-28T13:22:53","modified_gmt":"2010-10-28T18:22:53","slug":"canada-reads-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/2010\/10\/28\/canada-reads-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada Reads 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

B<\/span>ack in the day, I used to blog a lot about books. Way way back in the day, I used to consider myself somewhat of a fan, if not an authority, on Canadian Literature. So when I heard that CBC Radio was compiling a list of the Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade<\/a>, I knew it would make great blog fodder.<\/p>\n

And then I actually looked at the list, unveiled today, and realized that I have read exactly three of them. And for an embarrassing number of them, I had heard of neither the book nor the author. Eek. Clearly I am not spending enough time with Shelagh Rogers<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But, I was so excited to have a blog post that required (a) brain use and (b) no discussion of moving, unpacking or septic systems, that I’m going to charge ahead with this one anyway. In fact, I’m going to make a meme out of it! Remember memes<\/a>? They’re about as relevant as my knowledge of Canadian literature, apparently, as I can’t remember the last one I’ve seen. Let’s call this a celebration of the Canadian Blogosphere circa 2005, whaddya say?<\/p>\n

Ahem, anyway, here’s the list. If you want to play along, copy and paste it into your own blog. The ones in bold I’ve read. The ones in bold and underlined, I’d recommend. The ones with an asterisk are on my “I swear, I will read it before 2012” list.<\/p>\n

Ready?<\/p>\n

A Complicated Kindness<\/em> by Miriam Toews *<\/p>\n

Bottle Rocket Hearts<\/em> by Zoe Whittall<\/p>\n

Clara Callan<\/em> by Richard B. Wright<\/p>\n

Come, Thou Tortoise<\/em> by Jessica Grant<\/p>\n

Conceit <\/em>by Mary Novik<\/p>\n

Crow Lake<\/em> by Mary Lawson<\/p>\n

Drive-by Saviours<\/em> by Chris Benjamin<\/p>\n

Elle <\/em>by Douglas Glover<\/p>\n

Essex County<\/em> by Jeff Lemire<\/p>\n

Far to Go<\/em> by Alison Pick<\/p>\n

February <\/em>by Lisa Moore<\/p>\n

Galore <\/em>by Michael Crummey<\/p>\n

Heave <\/em>by Christy Ann Conlin<\/p>\n

Inside <\/em>by Kenneth J. Harvey<\/p>\n

Late Nights on Air <\/em>by Elizabeth Hay<\/p>\n

Life of Pi <\/em>by Yann Martel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lullabies for Little Criminals<\/em> by Heather O’Neill *<\/p>\n

Moody Food<\/em> by Ray Robertson<\/p>\n

Oryx and Crake<\/em> by Margaret Atwood<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n

Pattern Recognition<\/em> by William Gibson *<\/p>\n

Room <\/em>by Emma Donoghue<\/p>\n

Shelf Monkey<\/em> by Corey Redekop<\/p>\n

Skim <\/em>by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki<\/p>\n

Sweetness in the Belly <\/em>by Camilla Gibb<\/p>\n

The Best Laid Plans<\/em> by Terry Fallis *<\/p>\n

The Birth House<\/em> by Ami McKay<\/p>\n

The Bishop’s Man<\/em> by Linden MacIntyre<\/p>\n

The Bone Cage<\/em> by Angie Abdou<\/p>\n

The Book of Negroes<\/em> by Lawrence Hill<\/p>\n

The Day the Falls Stood Still<\/em> by Cathy Marie Buchanan<\/p>\n

The Fallen<\/em> by Stephen Finucan<\/p>\n

The Girls Who Saw Everything<\/em> by Sean Dixon *<\/p>\n

The Last Crossing<\/em> by Guy Vanderhaeghe<\/p>\n

The Stone Carvers<\/em> by Jane Urquhart<\/p>\n

The Way the Crow Flies<\/em> by Ann-Marie MacDonald<\/p>\n

The Year of the Flood<\/em> by Margaret Atwood<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n

Three Day Road<\/em> by Joseph Boyden *<\/p>\n

Through Black Spruce<\/em> by Joseph Boyden<\/p>\n

Twenty-Six<\/em> by Leo McKay Jr.<\/p>\n

Unless <\/em>by Carol Shields *<\/p>\n

Hmmm, not a single Douglas Coupland or Alice Munro? I suppose Will Ferguson is not exactly a novelist, but I am in the delicious depths of Beyond Belfast,<\/em> and loving it as much as I loved Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw<\/em> and Hitching Rides with Buddha<\/em>. Looks like my tenuous claim to a passing knowledge of Canadian literature is as dated as my taste in music.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Have you read any of these? Would you recommend them for CBC’s shortlist of the ten best Canadian novels of the decade? And do you think maybe it’s time for me to wade out of the wilderness and try something from this decade on my next trip to the library?<\/p>\n

If you decide to play along and post the list on your blog, be sure to leave a comment so I can come over and admire your taste in Canadian literature!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in the day, I used to blog a lot about books. Way way back in the day, I used to consider myself somewhat of a fan, if not an authority, on Canadian Literature. So when I heard that CBC Radio was compiling a list of the Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade, … Continue reading “Canada Reads 2011”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,23,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-canadianisms","category-memes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4584"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4586,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4584\/revisions\/4586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}