Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Canada's Greatest Books

My darling wife made my day by forwarding the best link today: Canada's 100 Greatest Books. The website is asking for submissions from Canadians to give their opinion about the best Canadian books: 
"For the next six months, we will be polling thousands of book lovers from coast-to-coast-to-coast, collecting votes and then critiquing the top 100 fiction and non-fiction works from our vast literary landscape."
It is a great project! I already submitted my top ten:

1. Barney's Version - Morecai Richler
2. The Diviners - Margaret Laurence
3. A Complicated Kindness - Miriam Toews
4. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
5. Through Black Spruce - Joseph Boyden
6. The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
7. The Wars - Timothy Findley
8. Life Of Pi - Yann Martel
9. Who Has Seen The Wind - W.O. Mitchell
10. Alligator - Lisa Moore

I have some sentimental favourites, like Oryx & Crake or Dance Me Outside, but I think this list is pretty solid - represents traditional and modern, male and female, and a cross-section of Canadian culture. The only thing missing is a B.C. author; my #11 would be The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy.

Anyhoo, I am pumped about the project, and so I sent my list off to canadas100greatestbooks@gmail.com and within five minutes I got a response!

hey gary - thanks for this - great picks and greatly appreciated!
love the lisa moore title.
stay close!
stephen

These guys are awesome. So submit a list of your favourite Canadian books - they need not be novels - and give this project a boost!

No comments: