Sunday, July 01, 2012

Happy Canada Day!


Happy Canada Day!


It's a wonderful warm and sunny Canada Day here, and I'm celebrating by relaxing, eating maple ice cream and of course, reading some great Canadiana!

Join the Challenge! You know you want to...
I'm also busily planning ahead for some more great Canadian reading, and to keep me on track, I'm signing up for the Sixth Year of the Canadian Book Challenge. This is a wonderful, very relaxed challenge hosted by John Mutford at The Book Mine Set, a challenge that I've participated in every year. I love it because the "Rules" are:

1. Read 13 Canadian Books from July 1 - July 1
2. Review them somewhere online

That's it! Read what you like -- fiction, nonfiction, poetry, picture books, classics, new books -- whatever you fancy. And talk about it! You can link up your reviews each month, and at the end of each year John compiles a master list of all the reviews that were part of the Challenge for that year. (by the way, the previous years' roundups are all available at his blog, making it a GREAT place to explore for recommendations and possibilities for your own reading!)

Do you read Canadian? Do you want to explore more Canadian writing? Join in on this year's challenge and have a bit of fun with it as you read.

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As I said, I've been part of the challenge since the beginning. The original "challenge" was to read one book from each province and territory -- hence the number 13 as a target. I did that, and then each year the challenge has morphed into something new. John states that you can simply challenge yourself in some way -- I've read 13 prairie books, 13 books by authors new to me, and this last year, (at least) 13 books published by small presses. I've been puzzling over what to challenge myself with this year, and I've come up with a way to focus on all my Canadian reading.

This year, I'm going to challenge myself to review EVERY SINGLE Canadian book I read. I'm interested to see the total number of Canadian books I actually read over a year (generally quite a few) but so often I don't review them, or even share anything about them. Part of reading Canadian, to me, is passing on tips to other readers. So, this year I'm trying this approach... will see how it works out!

Hope you'll follow along to discover new books and share finds of your own.

9 comments:

  1. I will pass on joining the challenge but I do hope you had a wonderful Canada Day!

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  2. Thanks! Have a good Fourth of July!

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  3. I was thinking I might join in for the challenge this year. I haven't had a chance to think much about it yet.

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  4. Thanks for reminding me of this. I missed out last year. A really quite brilliant 'challenge' he puts on...

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  5. Being as thoroughly Canuck as I am, and loving our Canadian literature, this sounds like a terrific challenge. I will pass on participating, even though I will probably end up reading 13 Can-Lit books during this interval. I read with a partner, and we have a SERIOUS pile of TBR stuff to get through -- hence my non-participatoryness in this challenge.
    My next book will probably be a Canadian one..... Curiosity, by Joan Thomas.
    When I get done with Leonardo da Vinci here!

    Hope you had an awesome Canada Day, Melwyk.
    I sure did!

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  6. Kailana - do join us! The good thing is that you can join anytime during the year, whenever you're ready :)

    Carin - I love the relaxed nature of this one, and it intrigues me to see what others read and review as Canadian

    Cip - well, you can always join before the end of next June if you have 13 books reviewed by that time ;) I had a wonderful Canada Day weekend, glad to hear you did too

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  7. This is my sixth time doing this challenge :)

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  8. Glad to have you with us once again. I always look forward to seeing how you adapt the challenge to keep it personally interesting.

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  9. Teena - this is one challenge I'm always ready to jump in on! Glad you are too

    John - but of course! Great challenge :)

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