As always, the best thing about book blogging is the bookish community, online and in ‘real’ life. I have loved getting to know so many passionate readers and bloggers and writers and reviewers and publishers. Thank you for reading and commenting and visiting and chatting and writing and publishing! 🙂
ATLANTIC CANADA
Eight years ago I decided to challenge myself to read more books from Atlantic Canada. As a result, I have read 247 books from Atlantic Canada in the last 8 years.
You can check out results of previous years here: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016.
#of Atlantic Canadian books read: 39 (last year, 36)
% of books read from Atlantic Canada: 37% (last year, 31%)
Newfoundland: 8 (last year, 10)
Nova Scotia: 22 (last year, 21)
New Brunswick: 6 (last year, 2)
Prince Edward Island: 3 (last year, 2)
STANDOUTS
(not necessarily published this year, and in no particular order)
THE REST OF CANADA AND BEYOND!
%CanLit: 79% (last year, 72%)
Out of 79% CanLit, 47% is from Atlantic Canada (last year, 43%)
Last year, I highlighted 39 books and challenged myself to keep it down to just 30 this year. And I have done it! I’m not going lower again next year, though – I know myself too well.
Just for you… a Top 10 list (in no particular order)…
Top 10 Fiction:
- The Broken Places
- Girlfriend on Mars
- The Adversary
- The Raw Light of Morning
- Eyes in Front When Running
- Nothing in Truth Can Harm Us
- We All Want Impossible Things
- A Company of Rogues
- Nosy Parker
- Junie
Top 5 Nonfiction: (Thoughts about the rest of these coming soon!)
- A Womb in the Shape of A Heart
- Peace by Chocolate
- Brit Happens
- The Blue Collar CEO
- Bittersweet
My goal this year was to get this end-of-2023 post up by the end of January. I’ve made it by the skin of my teeth. Now for the Christmas tree that’s still up (and decorated) in the living room…
What is/are your favourite book(s) of 2023?
Consumed by Ink 
Great post, Naomi, and congrats on making your various targets! I’m impressed! (But seriously, it’s time to take down the Christmas tree…)
I share a few of your top picks for this past year: The Adversary (I’ve read every Michael Crummey novel and love them all), Lost & Found in Lunenburg, Pebble & Dove. And A Company of Rogues is one of the next in my to-be-read pile; I adored the first two in the trilogy, so I’m quite certain I’ll love this last one too.
To my list of favourite books read in 2023, I’d add The Arrows of Mercy, by Jill MacLean, Strong Hollow, by Linda Little, and Beneath Her Skin, by C. S. Porter (all from Atlantic Canada); Molly of the Mall, by Heidi Jacobs (Canada); Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett (US); and The Whalebone Theatre, by Joanna Quinn (UK). Special mention to Emma Donoghue’s Haven and The Pull of the Stars (Ireland/Canada). And two nonfiction titles: These Precious Days: Essays, by Ann Patchett, and Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World, by the brilliant Spanish writer Irene Vallejo.
In truth, I loved almost all of the 37 books I read this year. Thanks for the invitation to mention a handful of particular favourites!
Hi Marianne! I’m so glad you mentioned so many great books in the comments. I have also read and loved Beneath Her Skin, Molly of the Mall, The Pull of the Stars, and These Precious Days. And I’m almost done reading Arrows of Mercy, which I’m loving. We share good taste in books, I think! 🙂
(The tree will come down soon – I just have so many other better things to do!)
(I totally get it! After all, reading is better than doing just about anything else.)
Exactly!
The ANZ LitLovers award for best cover design goes to We Happy Few. That is a cover that entices me to want to read it!
I love that you choose a favourite cover each year! 🙂
I am in awe Naomi 😯 what a heck of an accomplishment 👏🏻 I always enjoy your in depth reviews. Cheers to the next 247 ❤️
Thank, Donna! 🙂
As ever, I’m fascinated and depressed by how much great Canadian lit there obviously is that doesn’t make it here to the UK. I really noticed that when I was in Toronto and the States last year – the US bookshops were mostly same with different covers, the Canadian ones were a different world! Get it together publishers.
Ditto: I’d love to be able to read more CanLit.
That’s so interesting to hear! I don’t wander very far from home, so didn’t know that was the case (although, it’s easy to imagine).
I can relate – I mourn all the good UK and US and AUS books I don’t read because I’m happily gorging on Canadian books. I just can’t stop, though. Not yet, anyway. 🙂
New Catherine Newman novel coming out later this year!!
Already? Hooray! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
It’s called Sandwich and is about being in that in-between generation with ageing parents and growing children.
Sounds perfect for me!
As ever, not many of these will make it on to UK publishing lists for whatever reason (maybe rights sales?) but I do know that The Berry Pickers should be available.
That’s great! I’m so happy for Amanda Peters!
I’m loving everything Newfoundland at the moment (not quite sure why), so I would love to read something set there, what would be your recommendation? And congratulations on all your targets, amazing!
I would recommend anything by Michael Crummey, Lisa Moore, Trudy Morgan-Cole, Megan Gail Coles, Bridget Canning, Bobbi French, Susan Sinnott, James Case, Terry Doyle. I’m sure I’m forgetting some…
More specifically: Sweetland by Michael Crummey, February by Lisa Moore, A Roll of the Bones by Trudy Morgan-Cole, Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles, The Remembering by Susan Sinnott, The Good Women of Safe Harbour by Bobbi French, The Wards by Terry Doyle, Ledger of the Open Hand by Leslie Vyrenhoek, Ananias by James Case…
Depends on if you want contemporary or historical fiction.
oh thank you! I don’t know what I want at the moment just some suggestions is great. I’m going to save your reply to come back too when I’m ready!
🙂
Gosh, I haven’t read any of your top ten; however, I have two of your standout Canadian books on my list.
Which ones?
The Adversary & The Berry Picers. This is really weird. This field is omittig letters here ad there, which is why there are so may mistaes i this message. I do’t see that problem i the other messages. Maybe it’s because it’s a reply to a reply.
That’s strange – I’ve never seen it happen before. But I can tell what you’re saying! I hope you like both of those as much as I did!
I’ll let you know!
I enjoyed your year’s roundup particularly this year because I missed reading the first half of your posts this year. There’s not quite as much overlap in our reading this time, so I’m sure I’d love many of these as much as you have.
There’s nothing wrong with leaving your decorations up–January can be a tough month and decorations are cheery–but if you’re feeling guilty then I hope you can get them packed away soon! heheh
All I wanted to do was figure the stat’s and make my notes by the end of the month; I’ll get them posted in a day or so. Did you enjoy reviewing things and thinking about the year or did it feel like a squish?
I enjoyed it! I always do!
I’m so glad you’re back in the swing of things. I did notice not as much overlap this year. Maybe we can line up a few of the same in 2024! (CR is good for that! *wink*)
I’m not sure I got to Atlantic Canada at all in 2023 (except as I said at the time, one mention in an Australian book that English politicians in the 1780s were considering sending convicts there). Thirty books a year is pretty impressive. I wish I was as committed to reading Western Australian.
We’re pretty much even, then. I think I only read one book from Australia – and that counts for all of Australia. From what I can tell, you’re very good at reading books from North America. I can hardly criticize anyone for reading only from their own country since that’s mostly what I do! Lol
Wow, it looks like you had a fantastic year in reading. I admire your dedication to supporting authors from your home region. And, if it makes you feel any better, I’m currently procrastinating on my one single goal for this first weekend of February — to FINALLY take down Christmas LOL
Yes – That makes me happy! There are just so many other things to be doing, right? Taking down the decorations doesn’t seem as urgent as putting them up. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
So many fun looking titles… wonderful job reading so much Atlantic Canadian Literature! I echo others who wish that more were published in the US – and easily available at the library. I need to do a better job of trying to read more CanLit!
I think most of my blog friends live elsewhere, which makes it tricky to have a lot of overlap in our reading, but I like to think there are some silent Canadian readers of my blog out there taking notes. 🙂
Thanks for reading, Laila!