CROSS COUNTRY CHECKUP'S SUMMER READING LIST
								May 29, 2011

TONYA KEARLEY'S SUGGESTIONS 
 
Folklorist, dance instructor and performer with her musician husband, Kelly Russell. She co-manages Newfoundland Independent Music Label, Pigeon Inlet Productions and she is a high school teacher at St Michael's High, Bell Island, Nfld. 
 
The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk, by Jennifer Niven (Theia, 2010)
“The world knows a whole lot about the North Pole, but they don’t know a whole lot about Bob Bartlett. He’s the real hero of that story… it’s a beautifully written book.”

Down to the Dirt, by Joel Hynes (Harper Collins Canada, 2005)  
“It’s a little bit of a contentious piece... I saw it in the library, picked it up. I was prepared to hate it. Read it in one sitting”  

The Topography of Love, by Bernice Morgan (Breakwater Books, 2000) 
“It’s a great collection of short stories and I’ve bought several copies and given them away to people.” 
 
Canada and Other Matters of Opinion, by Rex Murphy (Doubleday Canada, 2009)
“My students find it offensive, sometimes incomprehensible and other times it really hits the nail on the head for them.”

RAHEEL RAZA'S SUGGESTIONS  
 
Writer, board member of the Muslim Canadian Congress, consultant to the UN on religious issues and author of Their Jihad... not my Jihad. 
 
Secret Daughter, by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (William Morrow, 2010) 
"I found it very interesting because it speaks of identity issues. This is the story of an American-Indian woman who adopts a child from India and then this girl grows up and 
goes back to India and search for her identity and who her parents were.” 
 
Inside the Gender Jihad: Women's Reform in Islam, by Amina Wadud (Oneworld, 2006) 
"Jihad in this case means struggle – it’s not holy war – so it’s a struggle for women’s rights, and Amina Wadud was a real trailblazer in this.” 

Muhammad: A Story Of The Last Prophet, by Deepak Chopra (Harperone, 2010) 
"It’s an excellent book because it’s not a religious book – I want to be very clear on this. It’s a biography, and it’s been written through the eyes of the people who lived at the time of Mohammed.” 


ANDRE FURLANI'S SUGGESTIONS
 
Associate Professor of English Concordia, University, author of ‘Guy Davenport, Post-Modernism and After’. 
 
The Collected Prose, by Elizabeth Bishop (Douglas & McIntyre 1984) 
"I think what’s distinctive about Bishop is that she was a perennial outsider and she had to make herself understood…Bishop was supremely gifted about speaking to the specifics of a places, the physical features and then insinuating the metaphysical innuendos of place.” 
 
The Rings of Saturn, by W.G. Sebald and Michael Hulse (New Directions, 1999) 
"It’s become kind of a cult classic and it’s a record of a walking tour in Sussex… [Sebald] is a writer who suspects that all of human history is an anagram of some message that we haven’t quite received.” 
 
Paradise Lost, by John Milton (Dover Publications, 2005) (Originally written in 1667) 
"Who can afford to miss a poet of his gift, his grandeur, who takes a theme of that sublime richness.” 
 
The Greek for Love: a Memoir of Corfu, by James Chatto (Random House Canada, 2005) 
"A young couple gets married and then they go through the trials and tribulations of trying to set up house keeping in a different country… It’s a family story, really.  
 
The Death of Vishnu, by Manil Suri (Harper Perennial, 2008) 
"Interestingly he’s a mathematician and this is his first novel. It’s the story of three families and they live quite uncomfortably in an apartment in Bombay… It creates quite an intimate portrait of the life in Bombay.”
 
 

 
 
CROSS COUNTRY CHECKUP CALLERS' SUGGESTIONS  
  
The Horn of a Lamb, by Robert Sedlack (Anchor Canada, 2004) 
"It holds true to a lot of roots and a lot of principles of what it feels like to be Canadian.” 
 
Hawaii, by James Michener (Fawcett, 1986) 
"All of his books are historical fiction… In ‘Hawaii’ [Michener] talks about how it was inhabited and how the people of Hawaii are damaged, but as he follows through to present day, he speaks to both sides of every issue. It’s tremendous.” 
 
Beautiful Joe: A Dog’s Own Story, by Margaret Marshall Saunders (Wildside Press, 2009) (Originally written in 1893) 
 "It’s about a dog who was viciously abused by an owner, and it’s the story of this dog being rescued by a family. It’s written from the dog's point of view and how he sees the family who takes him in, and the man who abuses him. It’s very well written.” 
 
I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith (St. Martin's Griffin, 1999) 
"It takes place in pre-war England, and it’s about a family that has gone Bohemian…it’s a good fun book to read.” 
 
Between Friends, Debbie Macomber (Mira, 2011) 
[About a series of letters exchanged between lifelong friends] "In any part of it you can pick up parts that you can relate to as a young person and as you grow older. It’s quite 
realistic and it would touch a lot of people.”  
 
Ascent of Money, by Niall Ferguson (Penguin, 2009) 
“It’s a layman’s journey through the history of money and the history of finance. He takes us to when we first started bartering, the first clay tablets that were used as a medium of exchange, through the first stock market in Amsterdam, to the creation of the bond market, to the creation of banks. It’s put in terms that even the dumbest financial person can understand.”   
 
The Radleys, by Matt Haig (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2010) 
"The theme is, right now, that vampires are attractive and sexy and everything else, while in this book [the vampire family] is saying, ‘I don’t want to be a vampire’.”

We Lived A Life And Then Some: The Life, Death, and Life of A Mining Town, by Charlie Angus, Brit Griffin, Sally Lawrence and Rob Moir (Between the Lines, 1996) 
"It’s a cross between a novel and a history. It is a history, but it’s written more or less like a novel. All of the people who are interview for the book are local characters.” 
 
The Secret World of Og, Pierre Berton (Doubleday Canada, 2002) 
"I think it’s a really neat story, because it’s something that I think every kid can relate to, like having something secret that their parents don’t know about.” 
 
Three Men In A Boat, Jerome Jerome (Penguin UK, 1957) (Originally published in 1889) 
"This book has endured for a couple of reasons. The first being that people like to read about other people’s misery. It’s nice to know that someone had a worse camping trip than 
you did. And it is a humorous book.”

Rex Murphy’s recommendation in response:  
Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Grossmith and Kate Flint (Oxford Paperbacks, 2008) 
"You should check that one out because it’s in the same kind of total register. If you liked the one, you will like the other.” 
 
Home Game, by Paul Quarrington (WW Norton, 2010) (Originally published in 1852) 
"It’s a very busy book, but very memorable and very original.”

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Snow (Dover Publications, 2005) 
"Considering it’s a classic it’s just so old and timeless.”  
 
Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins (Bantam,1990) 
"Another favourite” 
 
The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2009) 
"It’s written in the voice of Enzo who is a dog.  And the philosophy is about people. Relationships and people. And it’s one of the best books that I ever read.” 
 
The Birth House, by Ami McKay (Vintage Canada, 2007) 
"It’s about the whole of small town life on the Bay of Fundy. It’s so descriptive and so beautiful. The birth house is a place where a woman – a voodooist – helps women in child 
birth and she’s magical.” 
 
The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett (Berkley, 2007) 
"This is a phenomenal book. It’s very well researched, historically. It’s the story of a family, of several generations that work for the church.” 
 
Canadian Gallery House of Commons Procedure and Practice, by Government of Canada 
"After the last year of parliamentary controversy over the relative prerogatives of Parliament and government, it is incumbent upon one to read Canadian House of 
Commons Procedure and Practice, this summer. A refresher course of Robert’s rules of order.” 
 
Penny Loves Wade, Wade Loves Penny, by Caroline Woodward (Oolichan Books, 2010)  
"It is quite literally a Peace country (Alberta) take on Homer’s ’Odyssey’.”

Best Laid Plans, by Terry Fallis (Emblem Editions, 2008) 
"A hilarious satire of the Canadian political machinery.” 
 
My Stroke of Insight, by Dr. Bolte Taylor (Plume, 2009) 
"She tells the story of her personal experience of a massive stroke, from her unique point of view as a researcher in neuroscience and the brain. It’s an inspiring fascinating and encouraging book.” 
 
Requiem: The Fall of the Templars, by Robyn Young (Plume, 2010)
“I love historical fiction. This story takes place between the years of 1295 and 1308. The story of a crusader knight who came back to fight King Edward the first who was in the 
process of taking over Scotland.” 

House of Hate, by Percy James (Breakwater Books Ltd, 1992) 
"The trials and tribulations of a man who’s uneducated, but works hard and thinks he should rule by his fist, and uses that thought process to control his family.” 
 
Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793: With an Account of the Rise and State, by Alexander Mackenzie (Nabu Press, 2010) 
"You could literally use this book to take a canoe from Montreal, and he tells you every turn and every Island and every portage.”
 
Still Alice, by Lisa Genova (Gallery, 2009) 
"It’s a book about a 50-year-old woman who was a scholar at Harvard University and she gets diagnosed with rapid onset Alzheimer’s.”
   

For book lists from previous shows go to http://www.cbc.ca/checkup and click on ‘Book Lists’

There are e-mail suggestions sent in during the program at http://www.cbc.ca/checkup
(choose 'Past Episodes' and click on the date link, and scroll down for e-mail)

Cross Country Checkup
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