Canada Day Blog Hop Day I: The Favourites

Welcome to the first official day of the Canada Day Blog Hop: though my blog readers know that this has been going on all week.

Recap:

• Kick-Off Post
• Hey Canada Blog Tour
• Mountie Day
• Jessica Strider's 5 Canadian Sci Fi and Fantasy picks! 

GIVEAWAY information:  Yes, friends! I am thrilled to offer a Giveaway for residents of Canada and the United States.  Simply comment on ANY Canada Day post this week and tell me the name of your favourite novel by a Canadian. I will draw names from a hat!  

What's in the Giveaway:
-Oh Canada tea from DavidsTea ( the best tea in the country)

-a signed copy of Jolted: my favourite Canadian YA novel as personally provided by our friend Arthur Slade (who incidentally is our guest-star on Canada Day so come back here then to be subject to his brilliance! )

*********************************************************************************

Top 5 CanLit Picks from your Friendly Neighbourhood Rachel:

The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery: Umm, my blog title and incessantly loquacious ramblings speak volumes to my passion for this book [I divulge my love on Booklust]

That Summer in Paris by Morley Callaghan: It's Hemingway's A Moveable Feast in that it speaks to that gorgeously glorious and golden Parisienne era of written beguile. [adoration housed here]

The Blooding of Jack Absolute by CC Humphreys: I friggin' love this book. It makes me laugh. Really hard. It's just brilliant, fun, whip-smart writing.  [Courtney and Rachel talk Jack ] 

Deafening by Frances Itani [it was my first pick in my Certified Savvy Readers for Harper Collins Canada]

Jolted by Arthur Slade [he is TOTALLY going to be featured on ye olde blog on Canada Day and I am super stoked! *gleeful fangirlish squeal* read my review of this awesome book!]

*********************************************************************************
But wait! I am not the only reader with some awesome CanLit picks. Howdy to our extra special guest Katie (and a personal favourite booklover of mine) who blogs at the Teacup Tortoise.

CanLit Picks from the Teacup Tortoise: 

It’s a toss-up for me between Stones and Forbidden City as to which is my favorite book by William Bell. What is special for me about both of these, is that my appreciation for them comes from somewhere entirely unrelated to academia or any intellectual standpoint: they are simply well-written, well-crafted, and fantastic reads.

While I treasure my copy of Forbidden City because it is actually signed by Bell himself (Thank you, Rachel for that!), the book is definitely one of my favorites in the Canadian YA genre. The plot, the characters, the connection to history - I can’t pick just one reason as to why I love this book. It made me want to learn and know more about the history of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and about China’s overall history.

I have always loved Stones, and remember checking it out of the school library over and over again when I was younger. Who doesn’t love a bit of a ghost story? The fact that there was a local element as well always made me enjoy it even more. Again, it’s the characters, the events and plot twists, and (not surprisingly) the connection to 19th century history, that always keeps me coming back to Stones as one of my all time favorite YA books.

Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod is a collection of short stories that I discovered fairly recently. I have not always been a big reader of short fiction, but having taken classes with Dr MacLeod, and knowing that this book was shortlisted for the Giller Prize a few years ago, I was compelled to pick up a copy. Light Lifting is an extraordinarily good read. The stories are tight and well crafted, the characters are flawed, believable, and so wonderfully human. I found myself wanting every piece to continue, wanting to know more about these people and their own stories. Each of these short works acts like a snapshot, a clear look into the lives of these characters. I believe the title of the work is particularly significant as well, because it isn’t just the moments of huge import that make or break us - it’s all the light lifting along the way, those little imperceptible moments and choices that add up over time. While I may be biased about Light Lifting, I really love this collection of Canadian short fiction. It’s pretty fantastic, and definitely worth a read!