Awesome Of The Week - Canada Reads

Jian Ghomeshi (host), Carmen Aguirre, Shad

If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably noticed the influx of Tweets this week talking about "Canada Reads." But Laura, what the heck is Canada Reads? Essentially, Canada Reads is an annual "battle of the books" organized by the CBC. Since 2002, Canada Reads has been crowning books that "every Canadian should read." (You'll be happy to know that Michael Ondaatje's (former Glendon professor) "In The Skin of a Lion" won the first ever Canada Reads.) Beginning months before Canada Reads airs, Canadians are asked to submit their favourite titles, which must be Canadian fiction, poetry, or plays, to Canada Reads. From these recommendations, the top 40 books are chosen which are then voted upon by the public and voted down to the top 10. Finally, (this does seem like a long process...) five Canadian "celebrities" choose one book to defend in a debate style setting that takes four days.

This year, for the first time ever on Canada Reads, the non-fiction genre was tackled with the final five books being: "Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter" by Carmen Aguirre (backed by Shad), "On a Cold Road" by Dave Bidini (back by Stacey McKenzie), "The Game" by Ken Dryden (backed by Alan Thicke), "Prisoner of Tehran" by Marina Nemat (backed by Arlene Dickinson), and "The Tiger" by John Vaillant (backed by Anne-France Goldwater).

Through four days of debates with tears, passion, outrageous claims (*cough* Anne-France Goldwater *cough*), and questions about the Canadian identity, Carmen Aguirre's "Something Fierce" took this year's title of Canada Reads champion. If you don't know the rapper Shad already, his music is filled with well-versed and intelligent lyrics and easily one of my favourite Canadian rappers. So it wasn't too surprising to see Shad's intellect and poised manner carry over to the debate table, even being called one of the best celebrity book-backers Canada Reads has ever seen.

All of the final five books are available at Chapters/Indigo and for more information on Canada Reads, do check out their website.