This year I had a goal to read 50 Canadian books – or more – over the course of the whole year. I didn’t have this plan set out until I was wondering if I should do the 50 Book Pledge through the Savvy Reader (sign up here). In the past years I’ve done the pledge but have tracked all the books read during the year, but for this year I wanted to do something different and track just the Canadian books I read for the year. It’s been a great way to keep myself motivated and I love that it tells me what number of books I’m on track for reading in the year.
At the end of March, I read 17 Canadian books!
Of those 17, I had:
- six 5-star reads
- five 4-star reads
- four 3-star reads
- two 2-star reads
11 of these books were by women and 6 were by men, with two of these being by indigenous voices. I didn’t read anything by local authors and need to change that in the next quarter!
I also wrote up a few posts and reviews about Canadian books, including some of books I read at the end of 2017:
- [Book Talk] The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native Americans in North America by Thomas King
- [Book Talk] The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman
- [Book Talk] Brother by David Chariandy
- [Book Talk] Night Moves by Richard Van Camp
- [Book Talk] The Break by Katherena Vermette
- [Book Talk] Sanaaq: An Inuit Novel by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk
- [Book Talk] Shrewed: A Wry And Closely Observed Look at the Lives of Women and Girls by Elizabeth Renzetti
- [Book Talk] Things To Do When It’s Raining by Marissa Stapley
- Reading The Canada Reads Shortlist & My Predictions
- Canada Reads 2018: Which Book Won?
And here are my FAVOURITE Canadian reads of the first quarter of 2018:





Looking at my favourites, I’m very pleased with how different all of these books are – 2 non-fiction, 1 poetry, 1 fiction, 1 short story collection.
Malagash by Joey Comeau is a heartbreaking read that deals with the impending loss of Sunday’s – our main character – father. This is a quiet but very impactful novel that will have you in tears by the end. Very emotional, uplifting, and full of love.
On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood by Richard Harrison is a collection of poetry that deals with the author’s loss of his father. This book won the 2017 Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry and was just gorgeous. The poems cover a few topics, but always come back to Harrison’s father. I found these poems to be the most powerful.
Feeding My Mother: Comfort and Laughter in the Kitchen As My Mom Lives With Memory Loss by Jann Arden is not only gorgeous on the outside, but full of wonderful stories, photos, and recipes on the inside. This book is similar to the first two, but it’s about Jann slowly losing her mother to Alzheimer’s. This book is about love and strength and was just beautiful.
Shrewed: A Wry and Closely Observed Look At The Lives of Women and Girls by Elizabeth Renzetti is something completely different and is a book full of feminist essays. I was immediately sucked into this book and it felt like I was having coffee with a friend as Renzetti talks about her family and brought to light feminist issues with a relatable and humorous voice.
Revenge of the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart MacLean is again something different, and is full of more short stories surrounding the fictional lives of Morley, Dave, and their family, and is just hilarious. I’ve read just one other Vinyl Cafe book and this one had a spooky, Halloween vibe at times, but was still just so funny. It’s the perfect kind of book to read when you need something light, but full of heart.
What have been some of your favourite Canadian reads of the year so far? Anything you can recommend to me to read later in the year? Have you read any of the books on my list?