Canada Reads 2017 Shortlist

Get reading for Canada Reads 2017.  This year’s theme is “What is the one book Canadians need now?”

The five contenders have been announced:

Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis

The book follows a group of dogs who are given human consciousness by the gods Hermes and Apollo.

(This is the only book of the five that I have read.  My review can be found at http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/2015/11/review-of-fifteen-dogs-by-andre-alexis.html.

Company Town by Madeline Ashby

In this book, a woman working as an elite bodyguard on a city-sized oil rig is drawn into a mystery surrounding the powerful family that owns the rig.

Nostalgia by M.G. Vassanji

Set in the indeterminate future in an unnamed city, the book examines the psychological fallout of a society where physical obstacles to immortality have been overcome.

The Break by Katherena Vermette

In a series of shifting narratives, the novel explores the aftermath of a violent crime on a community in Winnipeg's North End.

The Right to Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier

The book tells the personal story of Inuk activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier and explores the parallels between safeguarding the Arctic and the survival of Inuit culture.

The debates will take place from March 27 to 30, 2017.

For more information about the books, authors, and defenders, see http://www.cbc.ca/books/2017/01/meet-the-canada-reads-2017-contenders.html.