I’m not a competitive reader. I don’t typically sign up for the “read 100 books in a year” challenges et al. The prospect just leaves me a bit intimidated, a bit bewildered, and a little worried that the unalloyed joy of reading would go right out the window if I set myself on a path like that. Kudos to you who try them – they’re just not for me.

That said, a couple of reading challenges have come across my radar that had me thinking about how I stacked up without being conscious of setting out to meet those specific challenges. I made some interesting discoveries.

The 5th Annual Canadian Book Challenge
from The Book Mine Set blog, by John Mutford

The concept of this challenge is to read and review at least 13 Canadian books (of any genre or ilk) in the period from July 1st (Canada Day, of course) to the next July 1st. Participants share links to their reviews on Mutford’s blog. Yes, there are prizes, but Mutford emphasizes throughout that the main point is to share one’s delight in Canadian literature and have fun.

If I was part of this very worthy challenge, how would I fare? From July 1st, 2010 to July 1st, 2011, I read and reviewed 24 Canadian books of fiction (novels and short stories) and poetry, as follows:

• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley
• Coal and Roses, by PK Page
• Pigeon, by Karen Solie
• The Certainty Dream, by Kate Hall
• The Heart is an Involuntary Muscle, by Monique Proulx
• The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman
• Migration Songs, by Anna Quon
• Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems, by Randall Maggs
• Far To Go, by Alison Pick
• Fauna, by Alissa York
• Sandra Beck, by John Lavery
• Annabel, by Kathleen Winter
• The Death of Donna Whalen, by Michael Winter
• Room, by Emma Donoghue
• Ghost Pine, by Jeff Miller
• L (and things come apart), by Ian Orti
• The Bone Cage, by Angie Abdou
• Windstorm, by Joe Denham
• The Water Rat of Wanchai, by Ian Hamilton
• Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, by Zsuzsi Gartner
• The Canterbury Trail, by Angie Abdou
• The Year of Broken Glass, by Joe Denham
• Lookout, by John Steffler
• The Guilty Plea, by Robert Rotenberg

 

In that period, I read one more Canadian book of short stories, Up Up Up by Julie Booker, for which I haven’t yet written a review. I adored that feisty, ebullient collection of indelible characters, many of whom seemed able to simultaneously squeeze the heart and tickle the proverbial funnybone. I know I was extremely busy with the day job around that time (and Up Up Up probably buoyed me through that patch), but I do need to go back and fill that gap in what I know I wanted to review this year. Till then, here’s a review that I think captures quite nicely what that charmer of a book is all about. (1)

So far, from July 1st, 2011 to the present, I read and reviewed 7 Canadian books of fiction (novels and short stories) and poetry, as follows:

• Ossuaries, by Dionne Brand
• The Cat’s Table, by Michael Ondaatje
• The Ghost Brush, by Katherine Govier
• Hooked,by Carolyn Smart
• Short Talks, by Anne Carson
• Elimination Dance / La danse eliminatoire, by Michael Ondaatje (trans. Lola Lemire Tostevin)
• Making Light of Tragedy, by Jessica Grant

I’ve read, but not yet reviewed, the following. Since I haven’t reviewed them, I’ve found and linked to some other interesting and astute reviews.

• Girlwood, by Jennifer Still
  Review from The Canadian Book Review (2)
  
• Practical Jean, by Trevor Cole
  Review from Reading for the Joy of It blog (3)
  
• Cool Water, by Dianne Warren
  Review from The National Post (4)
  
• Indexical Elegies, by Jon Paul Fiorentino
  Review from Quill & Quire (5)
  
• The Antagonist, by Lynn Coady
  Review from Pickle Me This blog (6)
  
• A Good Man, by Guy Vanderhaeghe
  Review from The Globe and Mail (7)

 

So then … I’d say I’m pretty enthusiastic about literature from my home and native land. That’s not such a bad thing, eh? In the July, 2010 to July, 2011 period in which I read 25 Canadian books, I read a total of 39 books – 64% CanLit.

If I wanted to spawn a personal challenge from these findings, I could go in different directions. Do I challenge myself to read yet more CanLit, or do I challenge myself to venture further outside Canada’s borders for my reading choices? How conscious/premeditated/planned versus unconscious/spontaneous/instinctual should my reading list be? Fellow readers, how much do you think about, plan or not plan your reading in this regard?

Here is another reader challenge that was promoted this year:

Year of the Short Story

As it states on the web page, YOSS (Year Of the Short Story) aims to unite fellow writers and readers everywhere in one cause—to bring short fiction the larger audience it deserves.

So far this year, I’ve read 4 short story collections:

• Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, by Zsuzsi Gartner
• Up Up Up, by Julie Booker
• The Empty Family, by Colm Toibin
• Making Light of Tragedy, by Jessica Grant

I’m still hoping to read at least two more this year:

• The Odious Child, by Carolyn Black
• The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis

In 2010, I only read one short story collection:

• Ghost Pine, by Jeff Miller

In 2009, I read four short story collections:

• 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa, by Stephanie Nolen
  (Question: Can this be considered a non-fiction short story collection, perhaps?)
• Margaret Lives in the Basement, by Michelle Berry
• Blackouts, by Craig Boyko
• The Grandmothers, by Doris Lessing

I do think I want to both read and review more short story collections. I’ve certainly enjoyed the collections I’ve encountered in recent years … so yes, why not more?

It’s been interesting to step back a bit and assess the patterns or trends or inclinations in my reading, to see if I want to consciously adjust them in any way. Are you doing that with your own reading? Is that a good thing to do from time to time … or should reading just be an uncatalogued, spontaneous, follow your heart/go with the flow kind of thing?

Notes

1. Book Review: Up Up Up by Julie Booker, by Katherine Laidlaw, This Magazine, September 14, 2011

2. The Canadian Book Review, March 9, 2011

3. Reading for the Joy of It blog, Janet Somerville, October 3, 2010

4. The National Post, Katherine Govier, March 20, 2010

5. Quill & Quire, rob mclennan, November, 2010

6. Pickle Me This blog, Kerry Clare, September 15, 2011

7. Globe and Mail, review by Andrew Pyper, September 17, 2011