What is the Canadian Book Challenge 4?

Simply put, you must read thirteen Canadian books (the number represents the ten provinces and three territories of Canada) before Canada Day (July 1), 2011.

I discovered this challenge two years ago, and chose my books, but didn’t exactly make it either year. (In fact, I only read one the first year, and none last. Truly pitiful, eh?)

Well, that was the bad news. The good news is that making up my new list is easy. Most of it is just copied-and-pasted from my previous lists!

My Canadian Book Challenge 4 Choices:

• July 2010: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (also on 1001 List)
• August 2010: The Time in Between by David Bergen
• September 2010: The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood (also on 1001 List)
• October 2010: The Life of Pi by Yann Martel (also on 1001 List)
• November 2010: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (also on 1001 List)
• December 2010: Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood (also on 1001 List)
• December 2010 – January 2011: Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam
• January 2011: Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen
• February 2011: Runaway by Alice Munro
• March 2011: Unless by Carol Shields (also on 1001 List)
• April 2011: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (also on 1001 List)
• May 2011: Alligator by Lisa Moore
• June 2011: The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood (also on 1001 List)

Yeah, that’s a lot of Margaret Atwood. I’m not really a fan of Atwood (although I think it has more to do with her persona than her writing, coupled with the fact I’ve taken a few Canadian Lit courses from profs who think that Atwood alone is CanLit), but since I wanted to combine this list with the 1001 List as much as possible, that’s the price I have to pay.