Best Canadian Literature

Books by CANADIAN authors

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501

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4.40 avg rating — 3,022 ratings
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501

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3.65 avg rating — 63 ratings
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501

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3.35 avg rating — 665 ratings
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501

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3.83 avg rating — 4,002 ratings
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501

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3.93 avg rating — 13,334 ratings
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501

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4.01 avg rating — 359 ratings
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501

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4.13 avg rating — 10,942 ratings
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501

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3.51 avg rating — 747 ratings
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509

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3.52 avg rating — 191,448 ratings
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509

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4.31 avg rating — 1,120 ratings
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509

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3.99 avg rating — 416 ratings
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512

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3.21 avg rating — 324 ratings
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512

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4.03 avg rating — 6,572 ratings
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512

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4.09 avg rating — 1,513 ratings
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512

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3.70 avg rating — 36,119 ratings
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512

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3.98 avg rating — 361 ratings
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512

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3.79 avg rating — 5,732 ratings
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518

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4.21 avg rating — 106,366 ratings
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519

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4.18 avg rating — 996 ratings
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520

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3.84 avg rating — 315 ratings
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520

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3.75 avg rating — 1,473 ratings
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520

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3.80 avg rating — 3,277 ratings
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520

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3.77 avg rating — 6,990 ratings
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520

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3.44 avg rating — 395 ratings
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520

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3.82 avg rating — 6,198 ratings
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526

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3.51 avg rating — 1,987 ratings
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526

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4.30 avg rating — 71,786 ratings
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528

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3.50 avg rating — 111 ratings
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528

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4.18 avg rating — 9,900 ratings
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530

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4.24 avg rating — 674 ratings
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531

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3.56 avg rating — 82 ratings
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531

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4.27 avg rating — 10,510 ratings
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531

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3.63 avg rating — 338 ratings
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531

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3.91 avg rating — 400 ratings
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535

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3.52 avg rating — 328 ratings
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535

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4.02 avg rating — 16,014 ratings
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537

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4.12 avg rating — 1,229 ratings
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537

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3.76 avg rating — 137 ratings
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537

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3.91 avg rating — 18,233 ratings
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537

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4.20 avg rating — 8,717 ratings
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541

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3.87 avg rating — 14,510 ratings
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541

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3.79 avg rating — 341 ratings
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543

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3.71 avg rating — 17 ratings
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543

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4.04 avg rating — 7,935 ratings
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543

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3.31 avg rating — 9,151 ratings
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546

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4.16 avg rating — 2,540 ratings
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546

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4.07 avg rating — 205 ratings
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546

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4.08 avg rating — 4,279 ratings
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549

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3.57 avg rating — 828 ratings
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550

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3.75 avg rating — 5,776 ratings
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551

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4.05 avg rating — 6,729 ratings
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551

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3.59 avg rating — 1,791 ratings
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553

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4.34 avg rating — 434 ratings
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554

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3.70 avg rating — 1,872 ratings
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555

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4.35 avg rating — 6,525 ratings
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555

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4.29 avg rating — 23,390 ratings
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555

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3.82 avg rating — 17 ratings
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558

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3.24 avg rating — 185 ratings
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558

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4.20 avg rating — 9,294 ratings
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558

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4.01 avg rating — 153,232 ratings
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561

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3.56 avg rating — 746 ratings
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561

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3.11 avg rating — 392 ratings
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561

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4.21 avg rating — 981,654 ratings
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561

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4.17 avg rating — 23,393 ratings
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565

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3.70 avg rating — 449 ratings
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565

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3.74 avg rating — 7,730 ratings
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565

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3.67 avg rating — 421,330 ratings
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568

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3.97 avg rating — 451 ratings
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568

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3.85 avg rating — 255,997 ratings
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570

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3.66 avg rating — 949 ratings
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570

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3.72 avg rating — 5,890 ratings
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570

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4.21 avg rating — 8,428 ratings
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573

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3.59 avg rating — 134 ratings
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573

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4.04 avg rating — 1,327 ratings
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573

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2.60 avg rating — 20 ratings
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576

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3.89 avg rating — 1,119 ratings
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576

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3.96 avg rating — 9,564 ratings
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576

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3.80 avg rating — 6,551 ratings
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579

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3.82 avg rating — 826 ratings
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579

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3.96 avg rating — 5,799 ratings
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579

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3.69 avg rating — 444 ratings
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579

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3.74 avg rating — 2,198 ratings
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579

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4.11 avg rating — 7,252 ratings
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584

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3.52 avg rating — 1,180 ratings
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584

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3.71 avg rating — 594 ratings
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584

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3.78 avg rating — 195,627 ratings
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587

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3.19 avg rating — 842 ratings
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587

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4.21 avg rating — 10,940 ratings
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587

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3.60 avg rating — 6,341 ratings
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590

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3.68 avg rating — 4,282 ratings
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590

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3.95 avg rating — 1,647 ratings
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590

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4.01 avg rating — 26,060 ratings
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590

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4.29 avg rating — 144,151 ratings
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594

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3.56 avg rating — 1,773 ratings
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594

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3.67 avg rating — 3,302 ratings
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594

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4.09 avg rating — 140,153 ratings
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594

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4.35 avg rating — 1,745 ratings
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598

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3.82 avg rating — 25,084 ratings
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598

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3.96 avg rating — 15,568 ratings
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598

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3.80 avg rating — 4,568 ratings
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2,326 books · 1,139 voters · list created August 3rd, 2009 by Michelle (votes) .
250 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Michelle 745 books
1 friend
Greyweather 2660 books
65 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3384 books
853 friends
Bettie 15668 books
19 friends
Rhonda 84 books
0 friends
Lynne 511 books
0 friends
Kelly 567 books
57 friends
Melissa 5790 books
136 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-42 of 42 (42 new)

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message 1: by Janice (new)

Janice The edition of The Stone Angel shown in this list is a dramatization of the book by James W. Nichol. Is there a Goodreads Librarian who can change the edition to one that is written by Margaret Laurence so that it accurately reflects the correct author?


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) As far as I can see, both books are actually on this list -- and since Nichol is a Canadian playwright, isn't his dramatization properly included on that basis alone?

That said, is this for authors LIVING in Canada or who are Canadian CITIZENS? Emma Donoghue lives in Ontario now, but she's actually Irish ...


message 3: by Ben (new)

Ben Themis-Athena wrote: "As far as I can see, both books are actually on this list -- and since Nichol is a Canadian playwright, isn't his dramatization properly included on that basis alone?

That said, is this for author..."


According to Wikipedia, she became a Canadian citizen in 2004.


message 4: by Sylvain (new)

Sylvain David Guterson is not Canadian, but American. Therefore, I removed Snow Falling on Cedars from the list.


message 5: by Connie (new)

Connie Crosby John Grisham? Agatha Christie? Many of these authors are not Canadian...


message 6: by Renée (new)

Renée Doiron I agree. Lots of non-canadian here. Someone needs to cull the list...


message 7: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Mar 25, 2013 04:14AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Tracy Chevalier is not Canadian and has been removed.

Once I'd started, I decided to delete all authors I recognized as 'non-Canadian' (and it was quite a lot of work, because I checked before I deleted). I most probably haven't deleted all non-Canadian authors, just the ones I recognised, so I'm sure there are several others who do not belong on this list (the number of USA authors I had to delete was amazing...)

So please, when adding titles, do make sure the author is CANADIAN and not American (and still living in the States!!!), or whatever. Thanks! :-)


message 8: by Connie (new)

Connie Crosby Booklovinglady wrote: "Tracy Chevalier is not Canadian and has been removed.

Once I'd started, I decided to delete all authors I recognized as 'non-Canadian' (and it was quite a lot of work, because I checked before I d..."


Thank you!!


message 9: by Mariellen (last edited Mar 28, 2013 01:09AM) (new)

Mariellen Please tell me how to delete them & I will take all the John Grisham, Agatha Christie, Lois Lowry, Michael Crichton etc out.

There are so many incredible Canadian Authors it is hard to imagine so many people can be so sloppy or else unaware of them!


message 10: by Mariellen (new)

Mariellen While trying to figure out how to delete entries I was surprised to find that most of them were added by someone called yesucan - could it be that someone is spamming this list??


message 11: by Leslie (new)

Leslie Mariellen wrote: "While trying to figure out how to delete entries I was surprised to find that most of them were added by someone called yesucan - could it be that someone is spamming this list??"

I don't know if you deleted these, but the 'yesucan' person certainly has added Agatha Christie, Michael Crichton, Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson... I have deleted those I was sure of.


message 12: by Mauberley (new)

Mauberley Please. The Canadian (and correct) title of Lawrence Hill's novel is 'The Book of Negroes' and not 'Someone Knows My Name'. (#16) Kindly amend.


message 13: by Bernadine (new)

Bernadine The Distant Hours, Kate Morton is Australian. Once more added by 'yesucan'


message 14: by Sylvain (new)

Sylvain Thanks, Bernadine! I double checked that she was indeed Australian and removed the book from the list. I also noticed that Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass was on there and removed it as well as he is British.


message 15: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Seems like user vote https://www.goodreads.com/list/user_v... may be more suspicious than most. I spotted Lois Lowry again and Geraldine Brooks and S. J. Watson - none of which seem to have been born or live in Canada.


message 16: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Removing Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson (from the UK)

RemovingNumber the Stars by Lois Lowry (from Hawaii, Mass, Maine)

Removing Double Standards and A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught (from California, Missouri and Texas)


message 17: by Mariellen (new)

Mariellen Mauberley wrote: "Please. The Canadian (and correct) title of Lawrence Hill's novel is 'The Book of Negroes' and not 'Someone Knows My Name'. (#16) Kindly amend."

I guess it depends on whether the person adding it to the list read it in Canada or the States ( Don't know which version is available in other countries)

It does mess up the stats a lot but I can understand that people who have read the book under the "sanitized(?)" name would use that when voting.


Angélique (MapleBooks) Should The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (#99) really be in this list? It looks like John Boyne was born in Ireland and still lives there.


message 19: by Sylvain (new)

Sylvain Hi Angélique, I removed The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Thanks for spotting it!


Coucher de soleil Booklovinglady wrote: "Tracy Chevalier is not Canadian and has been removed.

Once I'd started, I decided to delete all authors I recognized as 'non-Canadian' (and it was quite a lot of work, because I checked before I d..."


I nominated several books which got deleted. I honestly wish someone had notified me before having them deleted, tbh, since despite the fact that they now don't fulfill the above description re: the authors, as I did put some thought into the nominations/suggestions I made.


message 21: by Mitchell (last edited Jan 05, 2015 07:25PM) (new)

Mitchell Friedman I definitely have deleted books from this list and would do so again. It is too bad that people can't follow clearly stated list directions but in a great great great number of goodreads lists they can't. Does that mean all books deleted are deleted correctly? no. I'm sorry that Coucher de soleil feels badly about this - badly enough to repeat a fairly obnoxious comment in https://www.goodreads.com/list/user_v...

"All right, several of my votes got deleted, which is annoying (especially since I tried to reflect the breadth of Canadian experience in my choices). It would have been nice to have been notified of this. More Goodreads censorship?"

The message a librarian sees before deleting books is as follows:

"Note: Only delete books from the list that are totally miscategorized. Deleting books that aren't will result in a loss of librarian privileges, and possible deletion of account. We're super serious!"

I've yet to see a librarian being capricious around deleting books from lists.


message 22: by Coucher de soleil (last edited Jan 05, 2015 07:43PM) (new)

Coucher de soleil Mitchell wrote: "I definitely have deleted books from this list and would do so again. It is too bad that people can't follow clearly stated list directions but in a great great great number of goodreads lists they..."

*sigh*

I sincerely apologize for the tone of my response (I will admit to being a bit miffed once I noticed the deletion). But surely you can sympathize with the notion of putting some serious thought into something only to have your efforts deleted?

PS: Was such a reply really necessary?


message 23: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Aug 13, 2015 12:48PM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Stephen wrote: "Today I added the three volumes of The King Trilogy..."

Do you really need a Listopia to promote your own books? You do realize this says something about you as the author...
I had a look at your profile where it clearly says, and I quote, "It would be appreciated if all of my Goodreads friends voted for the above books in the following lists".
I personally would consider such a thing spamming.


message 24: by Stephen (new)

Stephen Douglass Booklovinglady wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Today I added the three volumes of The King Trilogy..."

Do you really need a Listopia to promote your own books? You do realize this says something about you as the author...
I had..."


The answer to your question is "no." I posted that a long time ago, when I did not understand Listopia. I will attempt to remove what we both agree should not have been posted.


message 25: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Aug 13, 2015 12:58PM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Stephen wrote: "Booklovinglady wrote: "Stephen wrote: "Today I added the three volumes of The King Trilogy..."

Do you really need a Listopia to promote your own books? You do realize this says something about you..."


Apology accepted :-) It is easy by the way to remove your own comment (and I can remove the books for you, if you like).


message 26: by Stephen (new)

Stephen Douglass Thank you for bringing this to my attention, and for being so kind.


message 27: by Sue (new)

Sue Kathy Reichs is not Canadian


message 28: by Monty (new)

Monty Circus Deleted (for not being Canadian authors):

William Gibson - "The Miracle Worker" (The author of "Neuromancer" William Gibson is Canadian-American, this playwright is not).

Lisa Genova - "Still Alice"

Garth Nix - "Lirael"


message 29: by Colleen (new)

Colleen Kathy Reichs is on this list, but she is not Canadian even though much of the action in her books takes place in Montreal.


message 30: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Colleen wrote: "Kathy Reichs is on this list, but she is not Canadian even though much of the action in her books takes place in Montreal."

"Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec. She is one of only fifty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. A professor of anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte and Montreal and is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials."


message 31: by Colleen (new)

Colleen So this list is broad. Thanks for explanation.


message 32: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Colleen wrote: "So this list is broad. Thanks for explanation."

Actually this list is unclear. The list description isn't explicit. By custom the list creator would set this kind of criteria.

At times a librarian will make a list more explicit, especially if there is an active message board and clear consensus.


message 33: by Agnieszka (last edited Oct 15, 2017 07:24AM) (new)

Agnieszka Sue wrote: "Kathy Reichs is not Canadian"

someone added her again - could you please delete all her books?

Linwood Barclay and Julia Quinn are not Canadian as well.


message 34: by Fiona (new)

Fiona H Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda should be removed. Both author and book are Australian.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Fiona wrote: "Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda should be removed. Both author and book are Australian."

Done. And I fully agree, as he is indeed Australian and not Canadian :-)


message 36: by Carolyn (new)

Carolyn Noticed Annie Proulx listed who is an American not a Canadian author!


message 37: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited May 24, 2019 09:58PM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Carolyn wrote: "Noticed Annie Proulx listed who is an American not a Canadian author!"

Schiffsmeldungen by Annie Proulx has been deleted, as you are absolutely right.

Next time, do mention the number where you found the book/author, as it is much easier for a librarian to remove it we know approximately where it is 😉


message 38: by Dubhease (last edited Aug 14, 2020 01:35PM) (new)

Dubhease Wasn't sure about adding the Witches of New York by Ami McKay. She was born in the US, but married a Canadian and now lives in Canada. The CBC sometimes lists her as a Canadian writer.


message 39: by Amy (new)

Amy How does one remove a book from this list? Raymond Khoury (The Last Templar) is not a Canadian author.


message 40: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Oct 02, 2020 11:47PM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) @Amy
Librarians can remove books from a Listopia (otherwise only the votes one has added can be removed). If you want a book removed, do mention not only the title/author but also the current number you found the book on, as it makes it (a lot) easier for a librarian to remove a book 😉

(The Last Templar has been removed.)


message 41: by Rachel (new)

Rachel Dear Librarians, I think Sarah Blake (The Postmistress) is American. Currently on no 101.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Rachel wrote: "Dear Librarians, I think Sarah Blake (The Postmistress) is American. Currently on no 101."

Removed.


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