I love Canada Reads, but I was a little disappointed when the 2010 books were announced, as I’d already read four of the five titles. It made me happy when one of my favourite book bloggers, Kerry Clare of Pickle Me This, announced her Canada Reads 2010: Independently. She’s pulled together a fabulous panel, and a really interesting, diverse group of books, none of which I’d already read.

I did have a copy of Martha Ostenso’s Wild Geese on my shelf, so I’ve read it first. I’ll confess, I’ve recently endured a full year grad level course on 19^th Century CanLit, and I’d sworn I had my fill of nature and survival and all that stuff Victoria Glendinning makes fun of. But Wild Geese is, by many accounts, an important CanLit book (it’s credited as a forerunner in realism in Canadian writing) and I’m glad I was nudged into finally reading it. By no means was it a chore--not at all. In fact, it’s so suspenseful I easily read it in two days. Written in 1925, Wild Geese is set in a farming community in Manitoba. Lind, the visiting schoolteacher, lodges with the Gare family, who are ruled by a tyrannical taskmaster father, Caleb. Under his command, his wife and children labour on the family farm, but passionate and wilful Judith smoulders with resentment and determination to subvert his control. The novel is daring in its sexuality (for its time) and psychologically complex. I don’t want to say more and give away the plot, but I will say I really, really like the ending.

My Canada Reads Independently is off to a great start!  Who else is reading along?