Ibis3’s Comments (group member since Sep 06, 2010)

Ibis3’s comments from the CanLit Challenge group.

The last book in the Emily trilogy.

The latest of the prairie settler novels of the mid-1920s, but with such a focus on new machinery and the far-away background noise of the First World War, it seems a tad more modern than Wild Geese or Settlers of the Marsh.

Novel about isolated settlers in northern Manitoba.

A young adult novel.

The second of two books about the War of 1812.

The second of the Emily trilogy.

Anyone watching the Giller Award Gala tonight?

What book do you think will win?
What book do you want to win?
What do you think of this year's short listed books?

It's great that you're jumping right in, Tammy! You're right, I've not read anything by Richard Wagamese.

Apparently, there's a contest to nominate books for the Giller long list (h/t to Friederike for the info). Today is the last day for nominations!

http://www.cbc.ca/books/scotiabankgil...

Rida wrote: "How about The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery?"

I'm still thinking about it. Canonical author, but is it a canonical book? It's one of her less well-known works. Then again, it may be a good example of the early feminist stream in Canadian literature. Anyone else have any thoughts?

I've decided to try posting nominations and poll earlier to give people more time to consider and acquire the winning book. Hopefully, this will encourage more participation.

If you nominated a book for any previous month, please feel free to nominate it for October.

The nomination period will end and the poll will go up on the 31st of August.

Eligible are

1)Any Challenge book that already has a discussion thread in the group forum.

OR

2) Any fiction or non-fiction book written by a Canadian, set in Canada, or about Canada that is not on the Challenge list (i.e. the canlit-challenge group bookshelf).

If you have any comments or suggestions about how to get more people participating, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Melissa wrote: "I want to read Emily of New Moon. I have it on my to-be-read list."

It's not too late! I still have to do my review and put up my thoughts in the discussion thread. The second one is up for discussion next week. I already read it because I wanted to have a head start. I'm still trying to catch up so that I'm ready to read the books for the Challenge when they come up in my schedule. Hopefully, I'll be back in synch by the end of August.

I'm reading current Challenge book Flames Across the Border, about the War of 1812.

Hi Brent. Good to have you.

I actually didn't get an opportunity to read it in December, so it's still on my list too...

Hi Melissa. Glad to have you join us.

@Amer
The Stone Diaries is on the shelf, as is The Diviners (though they are "to read" and have no discussion threads yet). I've just added Obasan at your suggestion.

@Rida
I will consider adding the other Anne books. I'm afraid Endymion Spring is too new to qualify for Challenge status, but perhaps you could nominate it for a Book of the Month read.

Anyone out there reading Canadian books in honour of Canada Day?

Hi guys. Sorry for my late reply. We've had family visiting for a week and I've been pretty much offline the whole time.

@Rida Just the first book of the Anne series is on the list. I read it (re-read it, actually) the summer of 2008, the centennial anniversary year. http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5... Do you think the rest of the series deserves to be included--or just some of them?

The Blind Assassin is also already on the list/shelf. Here's the discussion thread http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Feel free to nominate Anne or The Blind Assassin for a book of the month any time I open up nominations.

@Amer The basis of the list is the New Canadian Library imprint from McClelland and Stewart. To that I've added works by other authors and some works by NCL authors not in the imprint that I think ought to be considered part of the Canadian canon. I figured that once I'm done reading those (and any other additions made in the meantime), I'll add, for example, 20th century GG award winners, worthy books or authors that were missed for whatever reason, any Francophone classics that have been translated into English that aren't already on the list etc. I have a few reference books on CanLit, so I'll go exploring there once I'm done the list I have already. But, as I say, if you have some work that meets the criteria and isn't on the shelf already, please nominate it here.

Amer wrote: "He's hilarious, sly and someone you might like to know. But to take a step back, he really i..."

Maybe someone you'd like to know at a distance, eh?