Canada Reads 2013: Regional top five books
CBC Radio One's Q host Jian Ghomeshi with celebrity panelists
Canada Reads
Turf Wars
Chatelaine was the only media sitting in the booth as Jian Ghomeshi, host of CBC Radio One’s Q, interviewed the celebrity panelists who will be representing the top five picks for the 2013 Canada Reads contest. This year’s theme: Turfs Wars, with each book and panelist representing a geographical area of Canada. The battle is sure to be fierce, with the panelists already geared up for the fight. For info on future debates, check out the CBC site; for tweets about how the battle is progressing, follow @ChatelaineBooks!
B.C. and Yukon
Freestyle wrestler Carol Huyhn, an Olympic gold and bronze medalist, represents Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. In this harrowing book, Saul Indian Horse is living in an alcohol rehab centre, recalling his glory days as a hockey player, his childhood in residential schools and his endless battle against pervasive racism.
Prairies and The North
Hockey Night in Canada sportscaster Ron Maclean represents The Age of Hope by David Bergen. For Chatelaine’s review of Bergen’s book, click here.
Ontario
Award-winning biographer and historian Charlotte Gray (Mrs. King, Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell) represents Away by Jane Urquhart. Away is the lyrical story of an Irish couple who immigrate to Upper Canada but whose past continues to haunt them and their descendants.
Quebec
Actor Jay Baruchel (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Knocked Up) represents Two Solitudes by Hugh MacLennan, the classic tale about the relationship between French and English Canadians.
Atlantic Pronvinces
Comedian Trent McClellan represents February by Lisa Moore, an elegiac tribute to those who died when the Ocean Ranger oil rig sunk off the coast of Newfoundland.
