The 10th Canadian Book Challenge - The Halfway Point!

Happy New Year everyone! Thank-you to everyone who have signed on for the 10th anniversary of the Canadian Book Challenge and have helped make it a true celebration of Canadian writing.

As new years inevitably bring new surprises, I would like to offer my own: I have asked MELWYK (of The Indextrious Reader) to take over the Canadian Book Challenge starting this July, and she graciously accepted! You will be in excellent hands for this transition as she is an avid book blogger and librarian and has been a long time participant herself.Thank-you so much Melwyk!

In the meantime, you've got me for another 6 months and on that note, I bring you the halfway point recap. Some impressive variety once again and I'm very happy to see the increase in indigenous writing.

Abbott, Victoria
- The Wolfe Widow (RIEDEL Fascination)

Ahlers, Sonja
- Fatal Distraction (Pooker)

Alexie, Robert Arthur
- Porcupines and China Dolls (Buried in Print)

Alexis, Andre
- The Hidden Keys (Melwyk)

Anand, Madhur
- A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes (Melwyk)

Anderson-Dargatz, Gail
- The Cure for Death by Lightning (Eric)
- A Recipe for Bees (Irene)
- The Spawning Grounds (Heather, Melwyk, Irene)


Andrew, Suzanne Alyssa
- Circle of Stones (Pooker)

Armstrong, Kelley
- Betrayals (Jules)
- City of the Lost (Jules)
- The Gathering (Nicola)
- Led Astray (Irene)
- Omens (Irene)

Ashby, Madeline
- Company Town (Melwyk)

Atwood, Margaret
- Angel Catbird illustrated by Johnnie Christmas (John, Melwyk, Kate)
- Hag-Seed (Melwyk, MaryR)
- The Heart Goes Last (Kate, Irene)
- The Robber Bride (MaryR)

Awad, Mona
- 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl (Kate, Melwyk)

Barclay, Linwood
- Broken Promise (Shonna)
- Far From True (Shonna)
- Too Close to Home (Lisa N)
- The Twenty-Three (Teena)

Barwin, Gary
- Yiddish for Pirates (Kate)

Beck, Leslie
- Heart Healthy Foods for Life (Irene)

Birney, Earle
- One Muddy Hand (Eric)

Blair, Peggy
- Umbrella Man (Melwyk)

Blais, Marie-Claire
- Tete Blanche (Melwyk)
- These Festive Nights (Irene)

Blondal, Patricia
- A Candle to Light the Sun (Mysteries and More)

Boone, Ezekial
- The Hatching (Luanne)

Bowering, George
- Burning Water (Eric)

Boyden, Joseph
- Wenjack (Kate)

Bozak, Nadia
- Thirteen Shells (Melwyk)

Bracuk, Diane
- Middle-Age Boys and Girls (Melwyk)

Bradley, Alan
- A Red Herring Without Mustard (Mysteries and More)
- Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd (Nicola, Luanne, Melwyk)

Britt, Fanny
- Jane, the fox and me illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault (Melwyk, Irene)

The Canadian Press
- Canada's Olympic Diary (Irene)

Castree, Genevieve
- Susceptible (John)

Cho, Michael
- Shoplifter (Lisa N)

Choi, Ann
- Kay's Lucky Coin Variety (Eric)

Choy, Wayson
- The Jade Peony (John)

Clark, Sally
- Moo (John)

Cliff, Tony
- Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant (Pussreboots)

Code, Devon
- In a Mist (John)

Cohen, Marina
- The Inn Between (Pussreboots)

Cohen, Leonard
- Beautiful Losers (Eric)

Coyote, Ivan
- Tomboy Survival Guide (Melwyk)

Cusk, Rachel
- Transit (Shonna)

Daher, Anita
- Itty Bitty Bits (Pooker)

Dandurand, Anne
- Deathly Delights (Melwyk)

de Castell, Sebastien
- Saint's Blood (Swordsman)

de la Roche, Mazo
- The Master of Jalna (Pussreboots)

de Lint, Charles
- The Blue Girl (Barb in BC)

Dion, Lise
- Secret of the Blue Trunk (Melwyk)

Donoghue, Emma
- The Wonder (Melwyk)

Downie, Gord
- Coke Machine Glow (Eric)
- Secret Path illustrated by Jeff Lemire (Kate)

Dumont, Dawn
- Rose's Run (Melwyk)

Dupre, Louise
- Memoria (Melwyk)

Dvorkin, Gary
- Ransom's Voice (Pooker)

Eagan, Rachel
- What Do I Want? What Do I Need? (Irene)

Echlin, Kim
- Inanna (Irene)

Eddie, Christine
- The Douglas Notebooks (Melwyk)

Emery, Anne
- Lament for Bonnie (Melwyk)

Epperly, Elizabeth Rollins
-  Imagining Anne (Melwyk)

Fernandez, Vince
- Little Sister (Swordsman)

Fields, Leslie Leyland
- Crossing the Waters (Irene)

Findley, Timothy
- You Went Away (Raidergirl)

Foster, Dorothy (editor)
- In Praise of Cats (RIEDEL Fascination)

Fox, Michael J.
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future (RIEDEL Fascination)

Fradkin, Barbara
- Fire in the Stars (Melwyk)

Fraser, Frances
- The Bear Who Stole the Chinook: And Other Stories (RIEDEL Fascination)

Fu, Kim
- For Today I Am a Boy (Pussreboots)

Gadd, Ben
- The Canadian Hiker's and Backpacker's Handbook (Irene)

Gallant, Mavis
- Home Truths (Melwyk)

George, Kallie
- The Lost Gift illustrated by Stephanie Graegin (Luanne)

Goldstone, Gabriele
- Red Stone (Shonna)

Gonsalves, Rob
- Imagine a World (Pussreboots)

Gordon, Alison
- Safe at Home (Mysteries and More)

Gordon, Mary
- Roots of Empathy (Irene)

Gosselin, Laura and Jake
- The Pinkaboos: Belladona and the Nightmare Academy illustrated by Billy Kelly (Nicola)
- The Pinkaboos: Bitterly and the Giant Problem illustrated by Billy Kelly (Nicola)

Goyette, Sue
- The Brief Reincarnation of a Girl (Kate)

Greer, Darren
- Advocate (Teena)

Grimaldi, Jeremy
- A Daughter's Deadly Deception (Teena)

Guay-Poliquin, Christian
- Running on Fumes (Melwyk)

Hadfield, Chris
- The Darkest Dark illustrated by The Fan Brothers (Heather)

Hamilton, Ian
- The Scottish Banker of Surabaya (Mysteries and More)

Hamilton, Lyn
- Etruscan Chimera (RIEDEL Fascination)

Harnois, Suzanne
- The Perfect Woman (Melwyk)

Harrison, Teva
- In-Between Days (Melwyk, John)

Heine, William C.
- The Swordsman (Barb in BC)

Helmer, Marilyn
- That's What Bears are For (RIEDEL Fascination)

Hicks, Faith Erin
- The Nameless City (Pussreboots)

Hill, Lawrence
- The Book of Negroes (Eric)
- The Illegal (Kate)

Holdstock, Paula
- The Hunter and the Wild Girl (Melwyk)

Hopkinson, Nalo
- Falling in Love with Hominids (Melwyk)

Hosking, Jay
- Three Years with the Rat (Nicola)

Howgate, Bernie
- Journey Through Labrador (Pooker)

Hughes, Clara
- Open Heart, Open Mind (Melwyk)

Hutchins, Donna and Nigel
- The Maple Leaf Forever (Irene)

Jepsen, Tim
- Vancouver and the Canadian Rockies (Irene)

Jones, Amy
- We're All in This Together (Pooker, Teena, Melwyk)

Jones, Gordon K.
- Defending the Inland Shores (Teena, Swordsman)

Jordan-Fenton, Christy and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
-  Fatty Legs (Pooker)

Joseph, Eve
- In the Slender Margin (Irene)

Kaur, Rupi
- Milk and Honey (Melwyk)

Khan, Ausma Zehanat
- The Language of Secrets (Melwyk)

Kearsley, Susanna
- The Rose Garden (Irene)

Keating, Jess
- How to Outswim a Shark Without a Snorkel (Pussreboots)

Kilbourne, Christina
- Detached (Teena)

Kindzierski, Lovern
- Shame illustrated by John Bolton (Nicola)

Kingsmill, Suzanne F.
- Crazy Dead (Nicola)

King, James
- Inward Journey (Irene)
- Jack: A Life with Writers (Mysteries and More)

King, Thomas
- The Inconvenient Indian (Kate)

Kinsella, W. P.
- Dance Me Outside (Pooker)

Kirby, Peter
- Open Season (Mysteries and More, Melwyk)

Kishkan, Theresa
- Winter Wren (Pooker)

Kroft, Michael
- On Herring Cove Road (Teena)

Kutsukake, Lynne
- The Translation of Love (Melwyk, Irene)

Laboucane-Benson, Patti
- The Outside Circle illustrated by Kelly Mellings (John, Irene, Pooker)

Lapena, Shari
- The Couple Next Door (Luanne, Nicola, Melwyk)

Larsen, Sonja
- Red Star Tattoo (Melwyk)

Larson, Jonarno
-  Down in the Bottom of the Bottom of the Box illustrated by Alec Dempster (Shonna)

Laukkanen, Owen
- Kill Fee (Teena)

Lawson, Julie
- White Jade Tiger (Teena)

Leach, Maria
- The Thing at the Foot of the Bed and Other Stories (Nicola)

Lee, Jen Sookfong
- The Conjoined (Melwyk, Irene)

Lemire, Jeff
- Descender Vol. 1 Tin Stars illustrated by Dustin Nguyen (Lisa N)
- Justice League Dark Vol. 2 The Books of Magic illustrated by Mikel Janin (John)
- The Underwater Welder (Pussreboots)

Leroux, Catherine
- The Party Wall (Melwyk)

Lindberg, Tracey
- Birdie (BuriedInPrint)

Lloyd, Tanya
- Niagara (RIEDEL Fascination)

Lunn, Janet and Christopher Moore
- The Story of Canada (Irene)

MacDonald, D. R.
- Lauchlin of the Bad Heart (Shonna)

MacLennan, Hugh
- Voices in Time (Eric)

MacLeod, Elizabeth and Sydney Smith
- Canada Year by Year (Teena)

MacPherson, Charles
- The Butler Speaks (Teena)

Maharaj, Rabindranath
- The Amazing Absorbing Boy (Irene)

Maine, Sarah
- The House Between Tides (Luanne)

Major, Alice
- Standard Candles (Melwyk, Irene)

Mandel, Elizabeth St. John
- Last Night in Montreal (Jules)

Manuel, Pte. A. W.
- A Boy From Botwood (Teena, Swordsman)

Marlatt, Daphne
- Liquidities (Eric)

Marsen, William
- Fool's Rule (Irene)

Martinez, Buck
- Change Up (Swordsman)

Mayr, Suzette
- The Widows (Melwyk)

McFetridge, John
- One or the Other (Melwyk)

McKay, Ami
- The Witches of New York (Luanne)

McLean, Stuart (editor)
-  When We Were Young (Irene)

McMillan, Rachel
- The Bachelor Girl's Guide to Murder (Melwyk)

McMillen, R. J.
- Green River Falling (Shonna)

Michaels, Anne
- The Adventures of Miss Petitfour illustrated by Emma Block (Melwyk)

Millar, Margaret
- An Air That Kills (Melwyk)

Montgomery, Lucy Maud
- Mistress Pat (Melwyk)
- Pat of Silver Bush (Melwyk)
- Rilla of Ingleside (Raidergirl)

Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
- Certain Dark Things (Corey)

Morrissey, Donna
- The Fortunate Brother (Melwyk)

Motter, Dean
- Mister X: The Modern Age (Nicola)
- Terminal City illustrated by Michael Lark and Mark Chiarello (Nicola)

Munro, Jane
- Blue Sonoma (Irene)
- Dear Life Stories (Irene)

Murphy, Angela C.
- Bathroom Book of Canadian Trivia (RIEDEL Fascination)

Naked, Bif
- I, Bificus (Melwyk)

Nappaaluk, Mitiarjuk
- Sanaaq (Melwyk)

Nason, Riel
- All the Things We Leave Behind (Melwyk)

Neuvel, Sylvain
- Sleeping Giants (Melwyk)

Nichol, Barbara
- Beethoven Lives Upstairs illustrated by Scott Cameron (RIEDEL Fascination)

Nicholson, Hope (editor)
- Moonshot (Buried in Print)

Nicole, Rebekah
- The Crashes of Waves (Ittybittyturtlepiggy)

Niedzviecki, Hal
- Trees on Mars (Irene)

North, Ryan
- The Best of Dinosaur Comics 2003-2005 (John)

O'Malley, Bryan Lee
- Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Pussreboots)
- Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Pussreboots)

Orchard, Eric
- Bera the One Headed Troll (Nicola)

Osborne, Louise
- The Satan Stone (RIEDEL Fascination)

Osgood, Lawrence
- Midnight Sun (John)

Palahniuk, Chuck
- Fight Club 2 illustrated by Cameron Stewart (John)

Palka, Kurt
- The Piano Maker (Irene)

Palmisano, Richard
- Overshadows (RIEDEL Fascination)

Patterson, Freeman
- Photography of Natural Things (Pussreboots)

Patterson, Pat
- Accepted (Teena)

Peacock, Shane
- The Dark Missions of Edgar Brimm (Nicola)
- Double You (Nicola)

Penny, Louise
- The Brutal Telling (Lisa N, Pooker)
- Bury Your Dead (Lisa N)
- Dead Cold (RIEDEL Fascination)
- A Great Reckoning (Mysteries and More)
- The Hangman (Lisa N)
- The Nature of the Beast (MaryR)
- Still Life (RIEDEL Fascination)

Petterson, Genevieve
- The Goddess of Fireflies (Melwyk)

Phillips, Kevin
- The Bologna Cookbook (Swordsman)

Pool, Annelies
- Free Love (John)

Poulin, Jacques
- English is Not a Magic Language (Melwyk)
- Translation is a Love Affair (Melwyk)

Price, Stephen
- By Gaslight (Nicola)

Proulx, Monique
- Aurora Montrealis (Melwyk)

Pryde, Duncan
- Nunaga (John)

Quarrington, Paul
- Whale Music (Eric)

Rainfield, Cheryl
- Scars (Darlene, Teena)

Reichs, Kathy
- Bones Never Lie (MaryR)
- Deja Dead (RIEDEL Fascination)
- Seizure (Heather)

Reid, Iain
- I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Melwyk)

Reynolds, John Lawrence
 - A Murder for Max (Nicola)

Rivers, Karen
- The Girl in the Well is Me (Pussreboots)

Roberts, Jillian
- What Happens When a Loved One Dies (Irene)

Robertson, David Alexander
- The Ballad of Shawnadithit illustrated by Scott B. Henderson (John)
- Sugar Falls by Scott B. Henderson (John)

Robinson, Eden
- Monkey Beach (Pussreboots)

Robinson, Gillian (Editor)
- Isuma: Inuit Studies Reader (Pooker)

Robinson, Peter
- When the Music's Over (Luanne)

Ross, Sinclair
- As for Me and My House (Eric)

Ross, W. E. D.
- The Haunted Garden (RIEDEL Fascination)

Roy, Gabrielle
- Street of Riches (Melwyk)
- Where Nests the Water Hen (Sharon)

Sands, Kevin
- The Blackthorn Key (Pussreboots)

Saucier, Jocelyn
-  Twenty-One Cardinals (Melwyk, Irene)

Savage, Doug
- Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy (Nicola)

Sawyer, Robert J.
- Flashforward (John)

Scarrow, Kristine
- If This is Home (Teena)

Schoemperlen, Diane
- This is Not My Life (Teena, Melwyk)

Scrimger, Richard
- The Wolf and Me (Nicola)

Seesequasis, Paul
- Tobacco Wars (Buried in Print)

Shadd, Adrienne
- The Journey from Tollgate to Parkway (Teena)

Shaw-MacKinnon, Margaret
- Tiktala illustrated by Laszlo Gal (RIEDEL Fascination)

Shields, Carol
- Dressing Up For the Carnival (Eric)
- Unless (Eric)

Shields, Carol and Patrick Crowe
- Susanna Moodie: Roughing it in the Bush illustrated by Selena Goulding (Nicola) 

Smith, Larry
- No Fears, No Excuses (Melwyk)

Sprigg, Cindy
- Is It a Ghost Story You Want? (RIEDEL Fascination)

Steele, Peter
- The Man Who Mapped the Arctic (John)

St. James, Simone
- Lost Among the Living (Shonna, Irene)
- Silence for the Dead (RIEDEL Fascination)

Swingle, Mari K.
- i-Minds (Irene)

Sylvester, Kevin
- Neil Flambe and the Marco Polo Murders (Heather)

Taitz, Jennifer L.
- End Emotional Eating (Irene)

Taylor, Drew Hayden
- Take Us To Your Chief (Melwyk)

Taylor, Kate
- Serial Monogamy (Melwyk)

Teevee, Ningeokuluk
- Alego (Melwyk, Irene)

Thibault, Vincent
- Parkour and the Art of Deplacement (Nicola)

Thien, Madeleine
- Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Melwyk)

Thuy, Kim
- Ru (Melwyk)

Timmer, Julie Lawson
- Untethered (Shonna)

Torres, J.
- Jinx illustrated by Rick Burchett (John)

Toten, Teresa
- The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B (Heather)

Trahair, David
- The Procrastinator's Guide to Retirement (Irene)

Tremblay, Michel
- The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant (John)

Tucker, Heather
- Clay Girl (Melwyk)

Van Camp, Richard
- Angel Wing Splash Pattern (BuriedInPrint)
- A Blanket of Butterflies illustrated by Scott B. Henderson (John)

Vardey, Linda and John Dalla Costs
- Being Generous (Irene)

Vassanji, M. G.
- Nostalgia (Melwyk)

Vermette, Katherena
- The Break (Melwyk)

Viva, Frank
- Sea Change (Pussreboots)

Vo, Dzung X.
- The Mindful Teen (Irene)

Watt, Erin
- The Paper Princess (Heather)

Watterson, Bill
- Yukon Ho! (John)

Wees, Frances Shelley
- The Keys of My Prison (Melwyk)

Whittall, Zoe
- The Best Kind of People (Buried in Print, Melwyk)

Wiebe, Kurtis J.
- Rat Queens Vol. 1 Sass and Sorcery illustrated by Roc Upchurch (John)

Wiebe, Sam
- Invisible Dead (Teena, Melwyk, Mysteries and More)
- Last of the Independents (Teena)

Williamson, Dave
- Dating (Pooker)

Wilson, Eric
- The Inuk Mountie Adventure (RIEDEL Fascination)

Wilson, Robert Charles 
- The Affinities (Melwyk, Irene)
- Last Year (Melwyk)

Wolfe, Inger Ash
- The Night Bell (Melwyk)

Wynne-Jones, Tim
- Zoom Upstream illustrated by Eric Beddows (RIEDEL Fascination)

Yahgulanaas, Michael Nicoll
- Red: A Haid Manga (John)

York, Alissa
- The Naturalist (Melwyk)

Yoshimaru, Abe
- Shaku of Wondrous Grace (RIEDEL Fascination)

Young, Huguette
- Justin Trudeau: The Natural Heir (Teena, Irene)

Young, Scott
- Murder in a Cold Climate (Heather)

Zdarsky, Chip
- Jughead Volume One illustrated by Erica Henderson (John)

Zipp, Steve
- Yellowknife (Eric)

Zorn, Alice
- Five Roses (Melwyk)