Literary Review of Canada's "100 Most Important Canadian Books"

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Howie Meeker was shocked when he heard that his first book is 63 in the Literary Review of Canada’s list of the 100 most important Canadian books ever written.

"You’re kidding," Mr. Meeker laughed when reached at his Vancouver Island home. "That’s sensational."

The inclusion of Howie Meeker’s Hockey Basics, a skills manual for young hockey players, may seem like an odd choice for a literary review’s Top 100 book list. But this is not your typical best-of list.

The literary editors ranked books chronologically - starting with Jacques Cartier’s Account of the Second Voyage of the Navigation of 1535 and 1536 - and according to the work’s impact on the Canadian landscape.

Three literary staff members picked the 100 titles from more than 300 entries; readers of the magazine were asked to submit their picks with a brief blurb in defence of the choice. "We were looking for the most persuasive logic in each case," said Mark Lovewell, co- publisher of the magazine.

The final list is an eclectic mix, ranging from children’s books to royal commission reports. "I can’t imagine any other country that would include royal commission writers," laughed Bronwyn Drainie, editor of Literary Review of Canada.

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  1. 51.
    Fifth Business (Penguin Classics)
    by Robertson Davies

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  2. 52.
    ?
    Gentlemen, players and politicians
    by Dalton Camp

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  3. 54.
    The Blacks in Canada: A History (Carleton Library)
    by Robin W. Winks

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  4. 55.
    The Bush Garden: Essays on the Canadian Imagination
    by Northrop Frye

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  5. 56.
    Lives of Girls and Women: A Novel
    by Alice Munro

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  6. 58.
    ?
    Red Lights On The Prairies (Western Canadian Classics)
    by James H. Gray

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  7. 59.
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    LA Sagouine
    by Antonine Maillet

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  8. 60.
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    The Last Spike: The Great Railway 1881-1885
    by Pierre Berton

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  9. 61.
    Leaving Home
    by David French

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  10. 62.
    Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature
    by Margaret Atwood

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  11. 63.
    ?
    Howie Meeker's Hockey basics
    by Howie Meeker

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  12. 64.
    Temptations Of Big Bear: A Novel
    by Rudy Wiebe

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  13. 66.
    Alligator Pie (Collector's Edition)
    by Dennis Lee

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  14. 67.
    The Siren Years : A Canadian Diplomat Abroad 1937-1945
    by Charles Ritchie

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  15. 68.
    Bear (Nonpareil books)
    by Marian Engel

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  16. 70.
    ?
    Duplessis
    by Conrad Black

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  17. 71.
    ?
    A New Athens (New Age/Le Nouveau Siecle (Paperback))
    by Hugh Hood

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  18. 72.
    The Wars
    by Timothy Findley

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  19. 73.
    Obasan
    by Joy Kogawa

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  20. 74.
    ?
    None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933-1948
    by Irving Abells

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  21. 75.
    Radical Tories (Goodread Biographies)
    by Charles Taylor

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  22. 76.
    ?
    Banting: A Biography
    by Michael Bliss

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  23. 77.
    Neuromancer
    by William Gibson

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  24. 79.
    The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel
    by Margaret Atwood

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  25. 80.
    ?
    Report on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada
    by Macdonald Commission

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  26. 81.

  27. 82.
    Solomon Gursky Was Here
    by Mordecai Richler

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  28. 83.
    Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing
    by Tomson Highway

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  29. 84.
    ?
    Trudeau and Our Times (Two Volume Set)
    by Stephen Clarkson

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  30. 85.
    The Malaise of Modernity
    by Charles Taylor (ISBN: 0997845207)

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  31. 86.
    Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism
    by Michael Ignatieff

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  32. 87.
    Green Grass, Running Water
    by Thomas King

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  33. 88.
    The Stone Diaries
    by Carol Shields

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  34. 89.
    A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club)
    by Rohinton Mistry

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  35. 90.
    ?
    The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation
    by Charles C. Hill

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  36. 91.
    The Jade Peony: A Novel
    by Wayson Choy

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  37. 93.
    The Unconscious Civilization
    by John Ralston Saul

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  38. 94.
    Yankee Go Home: Canadians and Anti-Americanism
    by J. L. Granatstein

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  39. 95.
    The Colony of Unrequited Dreams: A Novel
    by Wayne Johnston

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  40. 97.
    No Logo : Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies
    by Naomi Klein

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  41. 98.
    Long Shadows : Truth, Lies and History
    by Erna Paris

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  42. 99.
    Fire and Ice
    by Michael Adams

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  43. 100.
    Dark Age Ahead
    by Jane Jacobs

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Created by starlagurl on Apr 17, 2006.
 

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