Blog Readers Pick Their Favourite Book for 2012

Olive Senior, Canadian writer - her book Dancing Lessons picked by Ottawa poet Rona Shaffran
 

 

Susan Heald’s choice: M. L. Steadman, The Light Between the Oceans.
 

Dorothy Piccinin: My favorite books were The Best Laid Plans (Stephen Leacock medal winner) and it’s sequel, The High Road by Terry Fallis .
 

Jane Crossman, Thunder Bay writer, picked a classic. My fav book this year was The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.
 

Local writer Glenn Ponka wrote: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks.
 

Cheryl Erickson wrote: Sarah’s Key by Kristin Scott Thomas

 

 

Thunder Bay's Michael Christie, author of The Begger's Garden

picked by Jim Foulds

 

Writer Colette Maitland wrote: Doc, by Mary Doria Russell, and Give Me Your Answer, by KD Miller and A Litany In Time Of Plague also by Miller.

 Poet Rona Shaffran: Dancing Lessons, by Olive Senior. In   Poetry,  Forge, by Jan Zwicky

 

Local writer Glen Ponka described Habibi, by Craig Thompson as incredible, emotional, tragic and heartfelt story, beautifully illustrated.

 

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. The pick of Chris Atkinson

 1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke.  Terry Warburton's favourite.
 

 Writer Nancy Bjorgo reads and re-reads. Dear Joan, My reply to your request is: I am re-reading (always a pleasure) Raymond Queneau’s novels roughly from the 1950s to the 1970s. Pierrot, Mon Ami; The Sunday of Life; We always treat women too well, the flight of icarus, and Zazie in the Metro, all translated by Barbara Wright. No other writer pursues such light-hearted, heavy-hearted stories. Queneau is the love of my novel life. This is at least my third go-round.
 

 Michael Soboda  choses top five: 1. Jim Provenzano's Every Time I Think of You.

2.Justin Torres's We The Animals.

3. John Boyne's The Absolutist.

4. Christopher Bram's Eminent Outlaws.

5. Alice Munro's Dear Life.
 

 A letter from Sharon Cruikshank. Dear Joan,

Thank you for asking about my favourite book of 2012. I participate in a non-fiction book club hosted by the Northern Woman's Bookstore. We have read several publications over the past year, but Keeping the Land: Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, Reconciliation and Canadian Law has made a particularly strong impact. The authors, Rachel Ariss and John Cutfeet, ensure the recounting of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug’s commitment to protecting the land from environmentally harmful industry is presented in a context of traditional teachings and community-based priorities. Explanations of the legal battle which took place between the Government of Ontario, Platinex, and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug are clear and accessible. This book has found its way into the backpacks of students and the living rooms of concerned (or curious) citizens across the province.

 

Insofar as fiction is concerned, well... The comfort food in my literary larder is the Canadian classic. If you have not had an opportunity to read Gabrielle Roy’s The Road Past Altamont, consider giving yourself a prairie sized present by adding this savory book to your 2013 list of publications to feast upon.

Happy New Year, Shannon Cruickshank
 

 

Jim Foulds adds his list

1. Barbara Kingsolver: The Lacuna

2. Michael Christie: The Beggar's Garden

3. Carmen Aguirre: Something Fierce:Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter

4. F. Scott Fitzgerald: Collected Short Stories: Flappers and Philosophers & Tales of the Jazz Age  (especially a short story entitled The Benediction)

5. Duncan Campbell Scott, et al :The James Bay Treaty - Treaty No. 9 made in 1905 and 1906 and Adhesions Made in 1929 and 1930

6. James Morrison: Treaty Research Report -- Treaty No. 9 (1905 - 1906) published in 1986