CBC’s Cross-country Bookshelf Finalists, as Summer Reading Suggestions |

This summer, CBC Books built a literary map of Canada. From coast to coast to coast, CBC shows across the country brought together panels of book lovers to answer the question: “What books do you really need to read to understand my home?” Together, they came up with a list of 10 books for each province or region in the country. Canadians around the world took it from there. For four weeks, they voted for their favourite reads, taking each region’s list of 10 titles to a final five.

Newfoundland & Labrador

The curators were author Craig Francis Power and manager of Central Regional Libraries System, Pat Parsons. Did they omit some great books? Yes, but only to include some worthy ones, like Tilley’s Skin Room. The top ten they chose are here: http://www.cbc.ca/books/crosscountrybookshelf/newfoundland.html. No one’s ever going to agree on these things. They likely didn’t either. of the top 5, four of them really are great novels I’d recomend:

Click the title below to read more about these books

The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston
Down to the Dirt by Joel Thomas Hynes
Random Passage by Bernice Morgan
The Afterlife of George Cartwright by John Steffler

The Maritimes

The panel for The Maritimes, NB,NS, and PEI were three great writers/professors/other worthwhile endeavorers: Valerie Compton, Nancy Bauer, and Alexander MacLeod. it was a good, well-rounded list of powerhouse authors, undersung novels, and new voices. The final 5 had a book of poems and three recommended books of fiction.