CanadianContent discussion

Here is the thread to start talking about Canada Reads 2017. Here is a note from the CBC site:

Welcome to CBC's battle of the books.
The ten books on the longlist for Canada Reads will be announced in late December, 2016. We'll announce the Canada Reads panel and the books they're championing in mid-January, 2017.

Okay, yes, so I am checking the Canada Reads website two or three (or four) times a day to see if there's anything mentioned about the long list -- should be any day now, shouldn't it?

But I did find this with a little digging -- the (ongoing?) survey results to suggest a theme. Looks like "Make us Laugh" is winning, even beating out all the "other" suggestions combined!

http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/10/canad...

Wow thanks for that Allison-that would be a great theme.

Having read through the possibilities I would love a thriller list
but I don't think it will happen-probably too narrow for most people.

@Allison - thanks for keeping us up to date. I am excited about this too. With all the seriousness in the world, laughing would be refreshing!

Thanks Allison. Just voted myself before seeing the results and voted for Celebrating Canada's 150th anniversary. Then checked the results and it's running a close second to Humour.

Was surprised how few people had voted and how far ahead these 2 choices are from the rest - 2X plus. I wouldn't be surprised given these low numbers if the Canada Reads Team didn't come up with their own totally different theme or hybrid. Also think that 150 years of Celebration offers a whole lot more book choices than Humour.

They're talking an announcement in late December.....so am guessing we still have a bit of a wait.

Thanks again for continuing to check and keeping us in the loop.

Thanks Allison. Just voted myself before seeing the results and voted for Celebrating Canada's 150th anniversary. Then checked the results and it's running a close second to Humour.

Was surprised how few people had voted and how far ahead these 2 choices are from the rest - 2X plus. I'd be surprised based on these numbers if the Canada Reads team didn't pick their own theme or hybrid. They may also feel that the 150th celebration theme offers a whole lot more book selection opportunities than does humour. But who know?

Sounds like we have to wait until late December. Appreciate you continuing to check and thanks so much for keeping us up-to-date and in the loop.

I voted for 'unsettle'! Doesn't look like a very popular choice, but I would be interested to see what kinds of books panellists would unearth.

@ emmkay - unsettle would be very interesting - could go in all kinds of directions.

The long list is in! http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/

This year's Canada Reads will be hosted by Ali Hassan. No theme announced, but I'm excited by the long list! Yeay! I haven't read any, and only own one, so looks like I've got my work cut out for me.

The panellists and the final five books they will defend will be announced on Jan. 31, 2017.

Edited to add: Looks like a list of heavy content. They clearly didn't choose the humour option!

I've been reading about all the books. Hard to detect a theme. There's definitely a sci-fi taste, as well as a "trauma" or "underdog" theme (no pun intended, with Fifteen Dogs on the list -- ha). Commentary on human nature is another theme I think I can identify.

At least five are available on Book Outlet, from $2.45 to $14. I ordered four and even paid for express shipping to get them before I head south! Always a gamble with the longlist though -- I think last year, only two I read in advance of the shortlist actually made it through.

Interesting list! I'm surprised that there are a few sci-fi type books on it and there's at least one that looks quite funny though there are a few others that look fairly bleak. I've marked a half dozen or so that I would like to read so I hope at least one of the ones I'm interested in makes the cut!
Company Town by Madeline Ashby
Nostalgia by M.G. Vassanji
Quantum Night by Robert J. Sawyer
The Break by Katherena Vermette
Today I Learned It Was You by Edward Riche
The Elephants in My Backyard: A Memoir by Rajiv Surendra
The Just City by Jo Walton (which looks like it might be my favourite of this list)

Here are the five I'm going to start with -- the one I own and the four I've just ordered from Book Outlet:

The Just City (agree, this one looks cool!)
Sleeping Giants
Fifteen Dogs
Knucklehead
The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet

FYI, The Break and Today I Learned It Was You are available for immediate borrowing through Hoopla. No wait!

I've had Even this Page is White and I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism on my TBR for a while, so it's exciting they're long listed!

Gonna check our the summaries of the other books, see if any tickle my fancy!

Hmm, interesting list. I'm not a big fan of them mixing fiction and non-fiction, to be honest, so that possibility doesn't excite me. I've only read two: Fifteen Dogs and The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet

I need to investigate the rest, as there are several I've not heard of.

It's so exciting to see a book of poetry on the longlist. even this page is white is such a good collection and I'm glad to see it getting the recognition it deserves.

Time to quickly go put all these books on hold before everyone else gets on it

I've got to admit, the list doesn't excite me overly, I think because it's heavy on the sci-fi, and that isn't really my *thing.*

But Canada Reads DOES excite me because of the debates, and because it opens me up to new things. So, I'm thrilled to finally see ANY list today.

Yeah, Susan, the mixing of non-fiction and fiction is odd. But who knows what will make the short list...

I haven't heard of most either, and when I called my local used/new bookstore, even the owner hadn't heard of many of them! This is going to be a big push for these under-the-radar authors. When I saw Tracey Lindberg speak, she said "Canada Reads is a license to print money."

Susan wrote: " I've only read two: Fifteen Dogs and The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet ..."

@Susan, did you like The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet?

I thought The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet was "okay." I just checked and I never rated it on Goodreads. It would be 3 stars for me, I guess.

Now that I've looked at the long list more closely, there are plenty there that fit into "Book Outside Your Comfort Zone" for me. :-/

What is the one book Canadians need now?

Is that not the theme, or do you think it will be drilled down to something more specific?

Oh, good question, @Heather. Maybe that's it. I sort of thought that was a general question, because every year they ask "What is the one book all Canadians should read?" But maybe you're right -- maybe this is meant to be more specifically a theme. Interesting. And sort of broad and impossible to guess from a varied and quirky list!

Susan wrote: "Now that I've looked at the long list more closely, there are plenty there that fit into "Book Outside Your Comfort Zone" for me..."

Yes! Good point! I'll have to make sure I save a sci-fi one for January so I can use it! Ha.

Heather(Gibby) wrote: "What is the one book Canadians need now?

Is that not the theme, or do you think it will be drilled down to something more specific?"

From this list of books it sounds like the theme will be overcoming adversity. I have only read two, Fifteen Dogs which I hated, and The Break which I loved. There are 5 others on this list I would read; the others? not so much.

Louise wrote: "There are 5 others on this list I would read; the others? not so much..."

What are the five that interest you, @Louise? Out of curiosity...

Allison wrote: "Louise wrote: "There are 5 others on this list I would read; the others? not so much..."

What are the five that interest you, @Louise? Out of curiosity..."

I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism
Knucklehead
Nostalgia
One Hour in Paris: A True Story of Rape and Recovery
The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet

So I take it from the list that humour was not selected. ;)
It's a good list. A few I've read, a few on my TBR list and a few I need to add ASAP.

Thanks for posting Allison. I agree with you that the subject matter seems rather heavy in many of the selections.

Maybe Ali Hassan is providing the comedy!! He’s a stand-up comic with a reputation for being very funny The only book that seems a bit funny is by Edward Riche from Newfoundland - Today I Learned It Was You.

It looks like the book selectors spent some time trying to mix things up with their variety of authors. I’m happy to see the longlist of authors that are fairly representative of the face of Canada - about a 50% split between females and males, 50% between white-skinned and non-white skinned, 20% Indigenous, though I would have preferred more LGBTQ authors included to prevent isolation and to promote inclusion.

There also seems to be a good mix between established authors and new comers. It’s going to be a huge boon the less well known and/or younger authors' careers if their books make it to the shortlist. Some of the books have very few ratings on GR but are currently available in the library as I write. Yay!!

The list seems a rather Ontario centric, although there are books written by authors from Quebec, NWT, out West and down East. I think the selectors tried hard and did a fairly good job. Am very surprised that there no books originally written in French (our second official language) that were later translated into English.

What also surprised me were that 1/3 that are science/fiction selections, 40% are non-fiction (many of them memoirs) and includes a book of poetry. I agree with you Susan, it may be difficult to defend and reach consensus if we end up with a mixture of formats, but it definitely should prove interesting.

Sci-fi and fantasy is huge with young adult readers so I suspect the choice was deliberate and perhaps reflective of the younger audience they're trying to reach and younger panellists to be announced later. Such speculative fiction will likely tie into the theme as well. I did notice that almost 5% of respondents voted for a Sci-Fi theme.

The books selected seem to have a fair amount of global and alternate world perspectives. Have no idea of what they're going to entitle the theme but these book selections seem to be encouraging us to look at the issues we face today and to consider the alternative choices we can make to remedy them - e.g. violence (rape,wars, child soldiers), global warming etc. Alternate worlds found in sci-fi will no doubt get people thinking and talking. The topics in the Sci-fi books longlisted include bio-engineering, living forever, peace or mass destruction, changing human nature etc. Who knows?? Looking forward to finding out more.

Whatever the theme it should be very interesting. Many themes about change, opening up and coming together could be rolled into one and called "What kind of a world do we want for the Next 150 Years?"

Interesting list of books, and I haven't heard of most of them! I had only read Fifteen Dogs & The Break. Like everyone, I am not sure what the theme is. I think I'm going to wait for the shortlist announcement at the end of January to start my reading.

I haven't read the list yet, wanted to read the discussion first. Knucklehead was probably my favourite novel of the past year and I found it completely by accident. It was on a remainder table in a bookstore and the blurb sounded interesting, took it home and it just blew me away. Passed it on to a few people who agreed with me. I beautifully, very very sad book about youth and masculinity
and there is even an lbgtq aspect to it and the author is straight.
Just a fantastic read that deserves a great deal more attention.
From what I've read in the discussion above there is a number of sci/fi books and I just don't do sci-fi or dystopia or anything like that . Never have and probably never will. Really liked Fifteen Dogs but can see why others might not. Will now go and check the list, I probably don't know most of the titles on it. have heard
great things about The Break though.

I am excited they are including the sci-fi picks! With the "What Canadians Need Now" theme I think sci-fi is good for exploring philosophical questions and questioning how society works. Should be interesting, I look forward to it. :)

Assuming that is the theme? It was kind of less than clear...

Alan, so glad to hear that you liked Knucklehead! I ordered it this morning ($2.45 from scratch & dent section!) and of the five I will own by the end of the week, I intend to start with that one. Thanks for the endorsement!

@ Alan - that's for letting us know how much you liked Knucklehead. Was intrigued by the last paragraph in the Goodreads Book Description and your comments as well. Not that I need any other ideas for mysteries but it seems it also qualifies for the 2017 G1 Canadian Bingo Mystery Square. You're right about it flying under the radar based on how few ratings there are. Canada Reads should help raise the book's awareness.

Allison wrote: "Alan, so glad to hear that you liked Knucklehead! I ordered it this morning ($2.45 from scratch & dent section!) and of the five I will own by the end of the week, I intend to start..."

I just snagged a copy at the library :-)

@ Louise - snagged a library copy as well but plan to wait until January to start reading it and use it for a 2017 Bingo Square.

Allison wrote: "I've got to admit, the list doesn't excite me overly, I think because it's heavy on the sci-fi, and that isn't really my *thing.*

But Canada Reads DOES excite me because of the debates, and becaus..."

Great discussion today!! Like Allison, sci-fi is not really my thing but it is also good to be taken out of our comfort zones.

I am in St. Catharines for a meeting tomorrow and might just stop on my way home to check out the scratch and dent section in person at book outlet.com... because we all know, like the rest of us, that I need more books!! lol

I don't think there has ever been a collection of short stories on Canada Reads. I can't think of any off the top of my head. What a shame. There have been poetry collections, graphic novels, translated novels, but no short stories.

@Louise, The Love of a Good Woman was a contender in 2004, and Natasha and Other Stories was a contender in 2007.

Allison wrote: "@Louise, The Love of a Good Woman was a contender in 2004, and Natasha and Other Stories was a contender in 2007."

Ah, thank you Allison.

I remember Buying on Time which is a collection of short stories making the Canada Reads longlist last year (2016) but it never made the short list. I think the same holds true for poetry and graphic novels - a few may been longlisted in some years but I don't remember them ever being shortlisted.

This is no doubt frustrating for lovers of certain genres like short stories, but the same has held true for science fiction and fantasy lovers.

Short stories might make the shortlist (pun intended) in the future. Just look at look at the strong showing for science fiction in the longlist this year. I would be surprised if 1 or 2 didn't proceed to the shortlist....so there are surprises can sometimes happen.

Short story collections have had a fair amount of success in other recent Canadian literary prizes.

I think translated novels (originally written in French) and later translated is a whole different issue. It's not a genre issue. Quite a few translated from French into English novels have made the shortlist before and rightfully so. This is "Canada" Reads after all and French is one of only two official languages in Canada. I believe French is defended under Canadian laws as being of equivalent value and rights as English. The Franchophone population in Quebec and elsewhere is fairly high as a % of Canadian population. I think the omission this year of books translated from French into English is a major oversight and does a disservice to Anglo-Francophone relations.

If it truly is "Canada" Reads it seems to be a huge omission and insult to Francophones. Whatever one's opinion is about Quebec sovereignty - I'd be hard-pressed based on the omission this year to defend why Quebec doesn't need their independence to protect their language rights and culture if original material written in Canada and in French is not included anywhere in a LONGLIST OF 15 "CANADIAN" BOOKS to be considered for "Canada" Reads. It seems very disrespectful to me to Francophones whose first language is French.

Sorry if I seem repetitive....but I really don't get why no one on "Canada" Reads noticed this or made any changes after seeing what was developing on the longlist. I'm not Francophone but I truly empathize with how they must feel about this and think it's important to speak up.

@MJ, Essex County is a graphic novel that made the short list in 2011. I think it's the only one that has.

I too was surprised that there were no french translation books included on the long list this year, however, keep in mind that Radio Canada holds its own french version of Canada Reads called Le Combat des Livres. I'm not saying it's a reason NOT to have a translated book included on the English version, but it may help Francophones to feel a little better about it.

Edited to add: Hhhmmmm... With a little more digging, I'm wondering if Le Combat des Livres has been cancelled.

Mj wrote: "I remember Buying on Time which is a collection of short stories making the Canada Reads longlist last year (2016) but it never made the short list. I think the same holds true for poetry and graphic novels - a few may been longlisted in some years but I don't remember them ever being shortlisted...."

In 2006 Al Purdy's collection of poems Rooms for Rent in the Outer Planets: Selected Poems 1962-1996 was on Canada Reads and in 2011 Jeff Lemire's graphic novel Essex County was on as well. And Allison has pointed out that two short story collections were indeed on as well so I think they do a good job of including all forms. I am surprised there is no French translated book this year. There usually is, but skipping one year is no big deal IMO.

Allison wrote: "Edited to add: Hhhmmmm... With a little more digging, I'm wondering if Le Combat des Livres has been cancelled..."

Le Combat des livres was cancelled in 2015

Louise wrote: "Le Combat des livres was cancelled in 2015"

Oh, too bad. I wonder why.

Enjoying the conversation here- I am a bit late to chime in but I have taken a look at the longlist and have chosen a few that I hope to enjoy: The Break (I am reading as we speak and loving it), I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism, One Hour in Paris: A True Story of Rape and Recovery, and Today I Learned It Was You. I did a search and can get all but 3 books from our local library/overdrive. Got my name on the holds- so many books such little time to enjoy them all!

I am trying to remember from previous year's discussions, but do the panelists each pick three books for the long list, or does the CBC provide them with the 15 long list, and then they pick their books from that selection?

It's never been really clear, @Heather. I remember a conversation about it last year, and also reading an article after the debates.

I think the panelists make suggestions, and that CBC staff also helps out to fill a longlist, based on their interests. Essentially, I THINK, they end up with three to read and choose one from, probably with both input from staff and of their own choosing. But I remember Bruce Poon Tip saying he couldn't have defended any other book but Birdie, and that he didn't really consider any others.

Then, of course, they read all five short listed books.

I love the discussion of this list. Interesting choice for books that "we need to read now". I have read and enjoyed: Fifteen Dogs; Katherena Vermette's The Break; and The Just City.
Quite a few were on my tbr list: Nostalgia; Quantum Night; Sleeping Giants; Today I Learned It Was You; and The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet.

@Mary Anne, what did you think of The Just City? Is it as "cool" as it looks like it might be?

It is a bit philosophical as Jo Walton has a wide knowledge of history, mythology and philosophy. It is not as easy to read as some of her other books as there are many discussions of the "meaning of life" variety.
There are 2 more books in the series, which are on my TBR list: The Philosopher Kings; and Necessity.
I am a fan of Jo Walton since reading Among Others and following her reviews in her blog, much of which is in What Makes This Book So Great.

@Mary Anne, do you think its important to read the series in order? sounds like it. I still have one book left to get and its been hard to find (necessity)
Jo Walton for 2017!