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Pickle Me This

December 4, 2009

Canada Reads 2010: Independently

I continue to swear by the aphorism, “the best antidote to the disappointment of the literary life is to read”, but the literary life must be something disappointing because this comes up a lot. Lately, it’s the whole Canada Reads 2010, which I’m not going to knock because I love the spirit behind the whole thing, and I’m going to be following the campaign, but it just wasn’t the reading list for me. What I wanted was what I found from (most of) the 2009 lineup– book recommendations out of nowhere, books I’d never pick up otherwise, that challenge my sensibilities, and that I might just fall in love with.

And so in deciding to go seek those recommendations myself, I am thrilled to bring you Canada Reads 2010: Independently. In which I’ve enlisted my own awesome celebrity panel of five– authors, illustrators, critics, publishers, editors among them (one of each and some of both) who’ll each be selecting a book to champion. And I will be reading each of these five books, which I expect will be various, some out of my comfort zone, and examining them from my own critical perspective. Ranking them in order of my personal preference to pick my favourite of the lot. I am very excited.

I would love also if some others might follow along, as to find out how my tastes compare with other readers’ only will enhance my own reading experience. I’ll be posting reviews throughout the winter of the books I read, and I’d appreciate any comments.

I realize that my being excited and letting you know that in just two weeks my celebrity panelists and their picks will be revealed somewhat contradicts my earlier assertion that “anticipation will get you nowhere.” Pickle Me This, however, makes a point of being inconsistent.

In this case, also, I really don’t think I have much chance of disappointment. So stayed tuned. Cool things are indeed afoot. And thanks to my husband for the logo on demand.

4 thoughts on “Canada Reads 2010: Independently”

  1. Melanie says:

    This sounds like great fun. I will be anticipating your great announcement!

  2. charlotteashley says:

    Yay! I hope your bunch comes up with a more interesting five than the CBC's offering. I have extra money in my Canada Reads budget now to blow. 😉

  3. alyssa says:

    looking forward to seeing the list of titles.

  4. Buried In Print says:

    I'd love to join in, although I'm kinda late, so I think I would have to rely on past reviews of Carrie Snyder's Hair Hat and Katrina Onstad's How Happy to Be (although if there was more time I'd happily re-read as I was very impressed by both works!).

    But I've wanted a reason to make time for both Ray Robertson and Martha Ostenso and, like you, I did miss the fresh-'n'-new element to Canada Reads this year (in which only Nikolski was a fresh-'n'-new read for me, so the idea of reading Century has definite appeal for me.

    I'm up for reading these three: I'm looking forward to the challenge!

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