Canada Reads Preview


Today is the day! It's time once again for Canada Reads, a national holiday celebrating books. Okay, maybe not national holiday, but it definitely gets the country fired up as five prominent Canadians participate in live debates, each defending the book they think all of Canada should read. At the end of four days, one book remains and is crowned the winner of Canada Reads. Past winners include Ru by Kim Thúy, The Orenda by Joseph Boyden, and The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill.

This year’s theme is starting over and here are the contenders (click on the title for my review):

Minister Without Portfolio by Michael Winter, defended by Adam Copeland
The Illegal by Lawrence Hill, defended by Clara Hughes
Birdie by Tracey Lindberg, defended by Bruce Poon Tip
The Hero’s Walk by Anita Rau Badami, defended by Vinay Virmani (review to come)
Bone and Bread by Saleema Nawaz, defended by Farah Mohamed

I think the winner is tough to predict. One reason is that the defenders are always so passionate about their books, their arguments can really take hold of the debate. Another reason is that all of the books are very good. My favourite book of the bunch is Bone and Bread. Ever since The Illegal was released I’ve been so passionate about it because I think it is a timely book that we need to be reading given the refugee situation around the world. But Bone and Bread was the best reading experience for me.

Canada Reads can be watched live online at 10am ET on cbcbooks.ca, listened to at 11am local time on CBC Radio One and watched at 4pm local time on CBC.

Have you read any of the Canada Reads books? Which one do you think will win?

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