CHALLENGE: 3rd Canadian Book Challenge

Happy Canada Day, and what a perfect time to sign up for the next version of the Canadian Book Challenge hosted by johnmutford at the Book Mine Set. I feel like I'm cheating by participating in this challenge, because these are all books I would read anyway. We have so many great authors and books here.

Don't you just love the retro Canadian flag in the button? The rules are the same as last year - from July 1st, 2009 through to Canada Day 2010, read 13 books. I am going free form here, and just reading any 13 books. A little peek around my house finds the following books that I own which, as always, I hope to read:

• Searching for Bobby Orr, Stephen Brunt July 6/09
  
• The View from Castle Rock, Alice Munro July 4/09
• The Lizard Cage, Karen Connolly July 13/09
  
• The Gargoyle, Andrew Davidson Aug 4/09
  
• Falling, Anne Simpson July 6/09
• The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor, Sally Armstrong Dec 12/09
  
• Clara Callen, Richard B Wright July 10/09 Giller Winner 2001
  
• Fifth Business, Robertson Davies Aug 11/09
  
• The Bishop's Man, Linden MacIntyre Aug 13/09
• No Time for Goodbye, Linwood Barclay Aug 27/09
• Souvenir of Canada, Douglas Coupland Sep 14/09
• Vinyl Cafe Diaries, Stuart McLean Dec 19
• Still Life, Louise Penny Aug 29/09
• The Jade Peony, Wayson Choi
• The Incident Report, Martha Baillie 01/27
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley 01/29
  
• Good to a Fault, Marina Endicott 12/28/09
  
• Dead Cold, Louise Penny 02/07
• Nellie McClung, Charlotte Gray 02/09
• Nikolski, Nicolas Dickner 02/19
  
• Deloume Road, Matthew Hooton 02/27
• The Book of Negroes, Lawrence Hill 03/08
  
• Through Black Spruce, Joseph Boyden 03/17
• The Age of Persuasion, Terry O'Reilly & Mike Tennant 05/30
• Generation A, Douglas Coupland 05/14
• Motorcycles & Sweetgrass, Drew Hayden Taylor 06/03
• The Cruellest Month, Louise Penny 06/13
  

• Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
• The Calling, Inger Ash Wolf
• The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, Wayne Johnston
• Lost Highway, David Adams Richards

Actual list may vary as per my whims.


Here's my wrap-up for last years challenge, books listed, and a small survey.



Books Read:
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
The Birth House by Ami McKay
Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
Exit Lines by Joan Barfoot
The Outlander by Gil Adamson
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
High Spirits by Robertson Davies
Too Close to Home - Linwood Barclay
Remembering the Bones - Frances Itani
plus a few I read after I completed the challenge
DeNiro's Game - Rawi Hage
A Celibate Season - Carol Shields and Blanche Howard
Fugitive Pieces - Anne Michaels

John says:
Before we leave, a few facts about the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge:
1. The most popular book was Andrew Davidson's The Gargoyle, followed by Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes and a three way tie for third between Brian Francis' Fruit, David Adams Richards' Mercy Among The Children and Steven Galloway's The Cellist of Sarajevo

2. But don't worry, the women authors were left out in the cold. The most popular author was Lucy Maud Montgomery, followed by Robert Munsch and Margaret Atwood who tied for 2nd, and again Andrew Davidson in 3rd.

3. Of the 100 participants, 44 completed the challenge (13 or more), while many of the rest put in valiant efforts

A few survey questions for the participants, if you wouldn't mind...
1. What was your least favourite book and most favourite read for the challenge?
I can't pick my favourite book - Before Green Gables, and Crow Lake were among my top ten reads last year, and I expect The Outlander and DeNiro's Game to make it this year's list. No Great Mischief and Mercy Among the Children were both excellent, touching my Maritimer soul.
Least favourite? I'd put A Complicated Kindness, The Stone Diaries, and Fugitive Pieces as books that underwhelmed me, mostly based on their buildup, prize winning status and the general raves from other reviewers.

2. Any authors or books you want to read more because of the challenge?
I certainly plan to read two of the most popular books from the challenge last year, The Gargoyle and The Book of Negroes this year.

3. Any comments or complaints about how to make the challenge better?
nope, I am happily signing up for more, and will do my part to promote Canadian literature.

BOOK: Remembering the Bones by Frances Itani

Remembering the Bones by Frances Itani, 283 pages

Dewey's Books; 2nd Canadian Book Challenge; What's in a Name: body part

I've just finished reading this sweet book, about Georgie, 88 year old widow, as she recounts her life lying in a ravine after her car rolled on the way to visit the Queen. Since I read this for Dewey's Book Challenge, I decided to head over to Dewey's to read her review, the one I'm sure I read a year ago that first intrigued me to Remembering the Bones. Oh dear. Dewey's review puts the book in a whole new light. Instead of pulling quotes from the book, I'm pulling quotes from Dewey's review:

Georgie is one of those characters that seem so real, you think of them for a long time after you finish reading, like old friends. Much like Dewey shared her life online and made us all feel like we knew her. I'm still having trouble in some ways defining the relationships with online friends, especially since we read about each other, almost like characters in a book.

My favorite thing about her is that when reminiscing, nearly all her thoughts are of the people in her life. Almost nothing else seems to matter at the end, and that’s how I feel every day, that life is about the people we love.

Georgie comes from a family of strong, long lived women, and the reader gets to know them all very well. Her family is small and close-knit and covers some spectacular times in history, the 20th century. It's the kind of book I like, where the families are ordinary and don't have tragic incidents, other than the everyday tragic events of birth, life, and death. I had the same feeling when I finished A Good House by Bonnie Burnard.

The times that loom large in Georgie’s memory, because they’re painful, or full of happiness, or simply unusual for Georgie, matter to the reader, in the same way that our own common griefs or joys matter to us.

Maybe it's too weird to read about a woman at the end of her life, recommended by Dewey who so recently died. It cheers the heart to know that Dewey enjoyed the book and could see the love from the book as reflected from her experience.

BOOK: The Outlander by Gil Adamson

The Outlander by Gil Adamson, 384 pages

2nd Canadian Book Challenge

The lady on the cover, a widow by her own hand (I love that phrase!) is being chased across the wild west of Canada in 1903 by her (ex) twin brothers in law. There certainly wasn't a lot of support for women in those days for marriage counselling or post-partum depression. Not a lot of options for women.

This is part adventure, part history of mining and the west, and a beautiful love story. The widow, who barely gets a name, spends most of the book learning about herself. An ignored child of her widowed father, married off to the first guy who comes along, and then isolated and treated like a slave, she never really had a moment to be herself, by herself, until she is on the lam and living in the wild. She meets some helpful men along the way.

I could see this done as a movie, with lots of suspense and action and a love story that I really enjoyed. The last sentence was the only part that disappointed me, but I'll read that the way I'd like to, and then it becomes a great book.

BOOK: No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod

No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod

2nd Canadian Book Challenge; IMPAC Dublin winner 2001

Some places are so ingrained into people, that even when they leave, they consider it home, until the end of their time. The Maritimes are like that, and MacLeod has written his love letter to Cape Breton in this novel.
"Later his body moved inland, but his great heart remained behind." When I think of all the people who have left here to go to Ontario, the Boston states, Fort McMurray, they are all still from Cape Breton or PEI and the goal is to get back here eventually. No matter where they roam, they try to return to where they left their heart.

This idea has been around since the old days, so even though Cape Breton is home, they came from Scotland originally, or from Prince Edward Island via Ireland. And although it has been hundreds of years, that connection to the homeland is still strong and the stories have stayed alive. Alexander MacDonald of Clan Red Calum, the narrator, knows the stories of his family, his clan, back to the battle of Culloden and the Plains of Abraham.

It's funny because this book uses the Clan idea, that they all come from the same person, Calum MacDonald, and they all know the same stories and have a clannish quality. I read a book last year, Mercy by Jodi Picoult that used the same family trait and it just didn't seen quite right to me. I'm not sure why I accepted it this time. It could just be the setting of the 1960s and 1970s made it seem more reasonable, as if the clans were still pretty clannish here in the Maritimes and it wouldn't work in present day Massachusetts.

So much of this book resonated with me. I've heard these stories, I know these people. The phrases, the way of talking, repeating the same phrases and cliches. The repetitive method of always describing someone the same way, that keeps their history attached to them like a barnacle. The way of giving a backhanded compliments. One of my favorite lines from the book was, "He might not be the kind of man you'd invite to sing and dance and do imitations at your party, but he is a good man nonetheless." I can picture that man perfectly.

This book is also about family and that connection. There is tragedy and heartbreak and sticking together because that's what families do - always look after your blood.

"All of us are better when we're loved."

BOOK: Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards

Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards, 417 pages

2nd Canadian Book Challenge; book awards: Giller Winner, 2000

Have you ever done the exercise in Moral Dilemmas called Alligator River?
"Once upon a time there was a woman named Abigail who was in love with a man named Gregory. Gregory lived on the shore of a river. Abigail lived on the opposite shore of the river. The river that separated the two lovers was teeming with alligators. Abigail wanted to cross the river to be with Gregory. Unfortunately, the bridge had been washed out in a flood. So she went to Sinbad, who had a boat, and asked him to take her across. He said he would be glad to if she would sleep with him. She promptly refused and went to a friend named Ivan to explain her plight. Ivan didn't want to get involved at all in the situation. Abigail felt her only alternative was to accept Sinbad's terms. Sinbad fulfilled his promise to Abigail and delivered her into the arms of Gregory. When Abigail told Gregory about her bargain with Sinbad, Gregory, who told her he always thought she was a nice girl, cast her aside with disdain. Heartsick and dejected, Abigail turned to Jonah with her tale of woe. Jonah, feeling sorry for Abigail, found Gregory and beat him up.
Please rank the characters from best (1) to worst (5).
Gregory ______ Abigail ______ Sinbad _____ Ivan _____ Jonah _____"

This book felt like this dilemma. So many people made, or didn't make, decisions that could be debated. There were many unlikeable people here, each with their own level of culpability in the life of Sidney Henderson, and then by extension, his family. Lyle Henderson, Sidney's son, narrates his family's story. The author takes some liberties with this point of view, because how could this character know so much about things that happened when he wasn't there? It did get explained a bit at the end how it could have occurred, but it bothered a bit during the reading.

Set on the Miramichi River of New Brunswick, Richards does a wonderful job of describing the life and location. The snow, all the time the snow, and the moods he described really moved me across the strait and into the 1970s and '80s. There are such big ideas and themes in this book, I cannot even begin to explain, but it is certainly a novel worthy of praise and discussion. Lyle was inconsistent, or maybe just conflicted, in his role in the family. His father, as a teen, made a vow never to harm another living soul and then lived his life in passivity. There are many religious overtones as Sidney really lived his life as Jesus would suggest. In these themes, the book reminded me of A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. The Catholic Church gets a big going over here, concerning the power a priest could have over a small community. Also gaining much scorn are academics who claim to speak for the poor and the oppressed.

Sidney believes that people who commit acts of evil will eventually get their punishment, but his son is not willing to wait for that result and became much more involved in the retribution against those who harmed his family. And there are bullies abound here, who see Sidney as weak and try to destroy him, and make him the blame of all their troubles. Why are bullies so threatened by people who are different from them? It was frustrating to read and see how so many people were so connected and willing to blame any one else for their misfortune.


Mercy, Fury, Love and Redemption are the section headings and my edition, bought used, had been notated throughout by an English teacher. I enjoyed reading what had been circled and trying to interpret his notes. The ending was a little fantastic but tied up the novel nicely, a bit of a change from the way things spiralled out of control for many years. A good book to start the year.

BOOK: Too Close to Home by Linwood Barclay

Too Close to Home by Linwood Barclay, 404 pages

Unread Author Challenge, Genre: thriller; 2nd Canadian

I love a good suspenseful thriller. I started this one yesterday, and since I had today off, I read all day. It was a real page turner, with twists and turns, some I could somewhat see or at least suspect, but still satisfying.

The prologue starts with Derek, the seventeen year old son of the narrator, sneaking into a neighbour's house in upstate New York, and then being present but hidden while the family is massacred at gunpoint. The ensuing investigation unearths secrets of all the people connected with the family. Murder investigations often leave many people feeling exposed, and as unexpected details get discovered, more than a murderer can be the result.

It's no fun to read a review of a book that derives its pleasure from suspense, so there will be no incriminating details here. The characters were realistic, facing moral dilemmas and not always making the right choices. But overall, I thought Derek and his family were more like people caught in an unusual situation and making decisions based on protecting their family. There are some comments on politics, academia, and ambition, but mostly it's a tight thriller that kept me entertained all day.

BOOK: High Spirits by Robertson Davies

High Spirits by Robertson Davies


RIP III, 2nd Canadian Book Challenge


Short Story Monday:

I finished the last four stories in the collection in time for the RIP III. I am not going to review the last bunch individually. All the stories follow similar patterns, including all being about 10 pages long.

This was a nice group of ghost stories. I liked the theme, that Davies reads a ghost story every year at the Massey College Christmas party. And an important college would only have famous ghosts visits. The overall tone is amusing and wry and a probably satirical. I'm glad I picked up this book for the RIP, and read my first Robertson Davies.

"The King Enjoys His Own Again"
"The Xerox in the Lost Room"
"Einstein and the Little Lord"
"Offer of Immortality"

also reviewed by melanie

BOOK: A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews, 246 pages

2nd Canadian Book Challenge; 2nds Challenge (I read A Boy of Good Breeding); Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction

Nomi Nickel, Mennonite girl, trying to deal with her family falling apart. Her mother and sister have left the town, and Nomi is left with her father in their small, ultra religious community. Not a lot happens here, just a very sad little girl with her thoughts.

I found reading this book was like listening to a song in a minor key - it was very depressing, and the tone just kept getting more and more ominous. It's a testament to the writing that I was made to feel that way, progressively sadder and sadder. Poor Nomi with usual teenage problems about self and place in the world, compounded by abandonment by her mother and only sibling, and trying to hold her father together and deal with her change of faith. Toews writes well, but I have heard mixed reviews of this book. It may have won the Canada Reads in 2006, but I preferred her other novel, A Boy of Good Breeding, a quirkier read.

BOOK: Exit Lines by Joan Barfoot

Exit Lines by Joan Barfoot

2nd Canadian Reading Challenge

What will life be like when you are old(er)? This is the story of four very different old people, because even though we say old, everyone is very different. The stereotype of the little old lady is not possible because unless we are all the same now, there is no way we all turn into the same little old lady. We recently buried a 98 year old grand aunt who could only be described as 'quite a lady'. I can only imagine what she must have been like as a young woman; her sharp tongue did not develop in her eighties when I first met her. In Exit Lines, Idyll Inn retirement home opens up, and four very different people meet and, against all logic, become friends. Then they undertake a risky mission.

Sylvia while independent now, was well off, and has an estranged daughter to whom she was never very maternal. She has always done what she wants, and knows how to talk to people to get her way or at the very least, intimidate them.

George was a shoe salesman, married with a daughter who has moved away. His recent stroke has taken away his independence, and his wife, who has Alzheimer's, is in another facility. Because his speech is very limited, he can't talk about another resident with whom he shares a past.

Greta moved with Dolph from Germany after the war. They had three loving daughters before a tragic accident leaves Greta widowed. She manages to raise her family and work and learn English somewhat. Although she sounds like a fighter, she's pretty bland.

Ruth was a child protection worker, and daughter of two Jews who survived the war. She found love late, and then is widowed as well.

There is a light, humorous tone to the book, but some serious issues of old age, including diseases, loneliness, family responsibilities, and death are dealt with. Each of the characters is nicely done with distinct traits and back story. The characters have some connections in their past and then in the present have to deal with a euthanasia dilemma. I found this a very interesting aspect of the book and liked how Barfoot showed the different sides and opinions. As we each get closer to old age, these questions are more likely to come up.

BOOK: The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence

The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence

2nd Canadian Book Challenge; decades: 1960s

Laurence won the Governor General's Award for her novel The Diviners and that main character gets a slight mention here; both books are part of the Manawaka series (oh the wonderful things you can discover at librarything.)

Hagar Currie Shipley is an old woman coming to terms with her life. Her not-favorite son is arranging to have her put in an old age home, and she is looking back at her life, the decisions and actions that have shaped her, and the people who died before her. She's not a nice lady, she'd be what I might call a tough old bird. Lots of pride, concerned with what people think, but not aware enough of herself to realize that. Life wasn't easy on the prairies in the first part of the 20th century, but Hagar didn't make anything easier for herself. Pride was my wilderness, and the demon that led me there was fear.(page 292) She is so judgmental to everyone and thing around her that she forgot to just live and enjoy her life.

Laurence has described the aging process amazingly and I could easily believe this book was written very recently. The stone angel was the grave marker of her mother and is mentioned throughout the book and was a last minute, yet perfect title for the book as mentioned in the afterword by Adele Wiseman. This type of book, the old person looking back on their life, is a common theme in literature, but this book is very well done, and is not one to be missed. I just recently read The Stone Diaries and it is pretty easy to compare the two, even the titles sound the same! I think I liked this one a bit better. I'll definitely be looking for The Diviners.

BOOK: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

2nd Canadian Book Challenge; Book Awards II: Pulitzer 1995; decades: 1990s; 1% well read challenge

And the question arises: what is the story of a life? A chronicle of fact or a skillfully wrought impressison? (p. 340)

And that is what I am left with after reading this book, the 'autobiography' of Daisy Stone Goodwill-Flett. Her life spans the 20th century, born in 1905 in Canada and died 1990s in Florida. There were unusual point of views taken and at times, the reader is left wondering if Daisy is writing her story or not. Each chapter documents an era in her life - Birth, Childhood, Marriage, Love, Work, Sorrow, Ease, Illness and Decline, Death.

It amazed me how much I could learn about Daisy and at the same time, know nothing at all about her thoughts, beliefs and dreams. Perhaps it was more of a biography from the points of view of her family and friends, disconnecting from her emotional self and seeing only their perspectives of Daisy. I loved the section with photographs of the characters and kept referring to them as I read. I liked Daisy's story and the way it was written and I imagine it would make a great book club read, with so much unsaid in the book to discuss.

BOOK: Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson

Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson

2nd Canadian Book Challenge

I believe Anne fans have been somewhat leery of this book. To attempt to write the before story, based on the small tidbits of her past that Anne let slip, was a huge undertaking for Wilson. People who love Anne would want the story to be true to LM Montgomery's unique character. When I heard Wilson speak last month, she said her task was to write the story that would have allowed Anne to become the girl she was: full of spirit, still optimistic despite having been an orphan and essentially an indentured slave to families who agreed to take her in, the Thomas' and the Hammonds. Wilson has succeeded beyond my wildest hopes.

I've heard that as long as a child has one person they can count on, who loves them, in the first few years of life, they will have a base for future relationships. Anne gets this in the form of Eliza, the sixteen year old daughter of Mrs Thomas. Eliza also told her the fantastic stories of princesses and knights and fairy tales that would sustain Anne in her wild imagination. Although Eliza leaves to get married when Anne is about four, she laid the foundation for the wonderful Anne we know and love.

I had to set rules for when I could read this book, because I was thrown in the depths of emotion as Anne is hurt and let down time and time again, and to be found sobbing in the car at a soccer game would draw too much attention. I think it was so emotional because you know where she will end up, in the loving home of Matthew and Marilla, but getting there, when there were opportunities for Anne to have a loving home along the way that kept getting thwarted, was a mixed emotion. Sad that Anne was hurt, but knowing that it had to happen to get her to PEI. Characters for the most part weren't purposefully mean to her, life was pretty tough on them as well, like Mr Thomas and Mrs Hammond. And everywhere she went, peripheral people were drawn to the spindly, homely child with the bright red hair and so many freckles with the wild imagination and huge words. They managed to give Anne small doses of love and concern that she latched onto and held in her bosom heart. In the debate over nature/nurture, nature wins out for Anne, as her intelligence and optimism and love of beauty were inherited from her loving parents and could not be stomped out by the life she led.

Wilson included information that Montgomery let slip - the carpet bag, Anne's fascination of puffed sleeves, and Katie Maurice. It all fit together perfectly for me, and my heart broke the whole time, waiting for Anne to get the train to Bright River, and finally get picked up by Matthew Cuthbert, whose name can also burst me spontaneously into tears. The style is not Montgomery but it was very readable and I wasn't expecting the same writing as Montgomery. Wilson has provided Anne lovers with a new book to make us love Anne, and Matthew and Marilla, even more.

BOOK: Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

2nd Canadian Challenge, What an Animal!

Something in this book just broke my heart. I was sobbing by page 50, and I haven't read a book that has made me cry in a while. I really enjoyed this book and sometimes that makes it even harder to write a little review. I'm going to go to fall back on some review questions to see if that can help me organize my thoughts.

Title and author of book? Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

Fiction or non-fiction? Genre? fiction, contemporary. Maybe Canadian, if Canadian is a genre, but I think there is more in the relationships that anyone can relate to.

What led you to pick up this book? It's Canadian, and I've read many great reviews.

Summarize the plot, but don't give away the ending! The Morrisons- Luke, Matt, Kate and Bo are four siblings living on Crow Lake in Northern Ontario. Tragedy strikes their family, and Kate narrates their life story, and the interactions with the other members of their small community.

What did you like most about the book? I loved the science stuff: Kate is a zoologist, and her brother introduced her to pond life as a youngster. This led to her research and the studying of surfactants and their role in the pond life. "The marking of lab reports is one of the most depressing activities known to man." ha! I loved that line.

I loved the family interactions, and how each person's memories are their own, but not necessarily the truth, just their perception of an event. I loved the characters of the brothers, Luke and Matt.

Have you read any other books by this author? What did you think of those books?No, but I understand there is another book by Lawson, The Other Side of the Bridge, that is somewhat similar.

What did you think of the main character? Kate narrated her version of how things turned out, so there was a bit of a bias, but not in the way you expect. It's her perception of the events that might be off. That's really the crux of the ending though. Kate used a lot of forshadowing, which I appreciated. She got us to the 'big event' with a lot of suspence, and analysis.

Any other particularly interesting characters?

Small town Canada will always be populated with interesting characters. Many of the neighbours were unique and amusing.

I really liked Luke, the oldest brother. Kate didn't have as much of a connection with Luke and I think she missed out a lot. She was more obsessed with Matt and his life choices, when Luke made the same sacrifices.

Aunt Annie who came to stay with the kids was given such a difficult job, and she was a good mix of tough and soft; Daniel, Kate's present day boyfriend was a good counter-balance to her reticence and reserve

Share a quote from the book:

"...on the way back we flew very low over northern Ontario, and that in itself made the trip worthwhile. I was staggered by the vastness of it. The emptiness. We flew over miles and miles of nothing, of rocks and trees and lakes, beautiful and desolate an remote as the moon."

Share a favorite scene from the book.

I liked the scene where Marie confronted Kate, and made her look at how she viewed Matt's choices.

Any scene with the youngest sister, Bo, was usually amusing, and I really loved the way Luke looked after Bo.

What about the ending?
The ending was great. It tied up the past and the present and was a perfect ending. Kate learned about herself, and Matt, and family, and love.

Other people have reviewed this book, including: stephanie , guatami , the book mine set , ramya and joy . They all liked it, and wrote really great reviews.

CHALLENGE: 2nd Canadian Book Challenge, Eh?

"Starting July 1st, 2008 and running to July 1st, 2009, I challenge you to read (and write about) 13 Canadian books (by Canadians and/or about Canadians)."

John is at it again, planning another spectacular Canadian book challenge extravaganza. We had so much fan this past year, reading our Canadian books (either by, or about.) There were puzzles for prizes (I won a book), and the coolest monthly wrap-ups on the blogosphere. Last time I read the White Stripes Way - 13 books one for each province. While I enjoyed that last time, I will try a different method this time. John has 13 different options for choosing your books. Get it, 13?

This time, I was thinking about trying:
2. The Prize Pack- Books that have won awards (Gillers, Governor General, Stephen Leacock, etc)
or
6. The Double Double- Pick 13 books that also fit the criteria for another book Challenge that you've signed up for.
or
7. The McClung- How about 13 Canadian books written by women?

I love the names john comes up with for the challenges! It makes me want to pick the double double just for the name. I think I'm planning to pick books from award nominated Canadian authors or books I've mean meaning to read. And many will be used on other challenges, so it's almost a double double, which seems appropriate because I never actually order a double double.

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
The Birth House by Ami McKay
Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
Exit Lines by Joan Barfoot
The Outlander by Gil Adamson
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
High Spirits by Robertson Davies
Too Close to Home - Linwood Barclay
Remembering the Bones - Frances Itani

Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
another Giller winner, maybe Barney's Version
King Leary by Paul Quarrington
Lost Highway by David Adams Richards
View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro