Happy Birthday to Me!

  So I just returned from a quick visit up to my hometown of Winnipeg to visit with family and friends and to celebrate my xxth birthday with my niece Ryane who turned four on the same day.  I also had the chance to sneak out on my own and visit the bookstore, to pick up some birthday presents for myself:

  I found that I needed to stock up on some Canadian books for the Canadian Book Challenge, and since I'm ashamed to admit I have not read any Margaret Laurence novels, I picked up two of her best known, along with a novel by another great Canadian author, Gabrielle Roy (I think I may have been assigned part of the French version of The Road Past Altamont in university).  The Bishop's Man won last year's Giller Prize, and was conveniently just released in paperback, and Good to a Fault was one of this year's Canada Reads selections.  King John of Canada seemed to have a funny premise and was on the clearance table, so I thought I'd give it a go.

  

  And yes, I know that The Slap is not a Canadian book, but it has been on my to-read list for some time and honestly I haven't seen it anywhere in the stores here so I picked it up.  It is on the long-list for this year's Man Booker Prize, and I am attempting to read at least some of them before the winner is announced.