Canada Reads history: Q host Shad won book battle in 2012
Just in time for the Canada Reads 2015 grand finale — and, of course, #ThrowbackThursday — we revisit Shad's victory in the battle of the books.
As Canada Reads regulars will remember, our new Q host was the winning book champion in 2012. He successfully persuaded Canada that Something Fierce — Carmen Aguirre's memoir about becoming a political radical in Pinochet's Chile — should be at the top of everyone's reading list.
Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter
Aguirre's coming-of-age memoir takes place during the Chilean resistance of the 1980s. The writer's parents were revolutionaries fighting against the regime of General Augusto Pinochet. The familiar tale of growing up and fitting in pops against the dramatic political backdrop.
Shad convinced Canada that despite Something Fierce's international setting, it was a deeply Canadian story. He extolled the book's depth and humour, relying on his "level-headed" style to defend a book that can "stand on its own merits."
Have you read Something Fierce? Which book are you rooting for in this year's "literary Survivor"?
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