Cross-Country Bookshelf

Although I currently have several books on the go, whenever I come to the end of one, I usually start looking around for another one or two to pick up. My bedside table feels bare without at least 3 books I’m the process of reading.

If anyone else is looking for something to read (even better if you happen to be a CBC fan like me), you might be interested in CBC’s ‘Cross-Country Bookshelf’ project. The project has the goal of “building a literary map of Canada” by asking book lovers across the country to answer the question: “What books do you really need to read to understand my home?”

CBC panels chose 10 books each for 9 different regions and now Canadians can vote for the five must reads of each region. Votes can be cast from anywhere in Canada – meaning you don’t have to live in a region to vote for that region’s books. If you enter your votes by this coming Tuesday, June 14, you even have a chance to win a Kobo e-reader. (How is that for a shameless CBC plug?).

Of the nine regions on the CBC map, I have lived in three and visited another four (the only one I’m missing is Newfoundland and Labrador). My affinities lie deepest with Saskatchewan so I’m first curious about that list: Our Towns, by David McLennan, A Hunter’s Confession by David Carpenter, Wood Mountain Poems by Andrew Suknaski, Louis Riel & Gabriel Dumont by Joseph Boyden, Blood Upon our Lands by Maxine Trottier, Everett Baker’s Saskatchewan by Bill Waiser, Sour Milk by Jana G. Pruden and Barb Pacholik, The Art of Salvage by Leona Theis, Regina’s Secret Spaces ed. by Lorne Beug and For the Love of Strangers by Brenda Niskala.

I’m ashamed to admit I have read none of these books – although one is written by a former professor of mine. I look at the Ontario list and haven’t read any of these either – although at least I recognize more of the names. Whew, when I look at the Quebec list, at least I have read one of these books and again recognize some of the authors.

Geesh, gotta get reading!