Canada's 150 Best Books

Congratulations to the winning books! As there was a tie for a few places, you will notice the top 10 is actually a little bigger – but we’re very happy to spread the love to a few extra worthy titles:

A Complicated Kindness
Miriam Toews

A Fine Balance
Rohinton Mistry

Anne of Green Gables
Lucy Maud Montgomery

Book of Negroes
Lawrence Hill

Clay Girl
Heather Tucker

Fall on Your Knees
Ann-Marie MacDonald

Fifteen Dogs
Andre Alexis

I Am Algonquin
Rick Revelle

Pathologies
Susan Olding

Salvage King Ya!
Mark Jarman

Six Metres of Pavement
Farzana Doctor

The Diviners
Margaret Laurence

The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood

The Stone Carvers
Jane Urquhart

Three Day Road
Joseph Boyden

The top 150
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99: Stories of the Game Wayne Gretzky
A Beauty Connie Gault
A Complicated Kindness Miriam Toews
A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
A Handful of Time Kit Pearson
Alligator Pie Dennis Lee
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life Chris Hadfield
Annabel Kathleen Winter
Anne of Green Gables Lucy Maud Montgomery
Anne’s House of Dreams Lucy Maud Montgomery
Autobiography of Red Anne Carson
Barney’s Version Mordecai Richler
Barometer Rising Hugh MacLennan
Beautiful Losers Leonard Cohen
Blood Price Tanya Huff
The Book of Negroes Lawrence Hill
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept Elizabeth Smart
Cats I Have Known and Loved Pierre Burton
Children of My Heart (Ces enfants de ma vie) Gabrielle Roy
Clara Callan Richard B. Wright
Clay Girl Heather Tucker
Do Not Say We Have Nothing Madeleine Thien
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing Tomson Highway
Edge of Wild D.K. Stone
Elizabeth and After Matt Cohen
Emancipation Day Wayne Grady
eunoia Christian Bok
Fall on Your Knees Ann-Marie MacDonald
Famous Last Words Timothy Findley
Far to Go Alison Pick
Fatty Legs: A True Story Christy Jordon-Fenton
Fifteen Dogs André Alexis
Fifth Business Robertson Davies
Fire in the Sky (I Am Canada) David Ward
Five Ways to Fall K.A. Tucker
Flint and Feather E. Pauline Johnson
Flying on Instinct: Canada’s Bush Pilot Pioneers (Amazing Stories) L.D. Cross
Our Flag: The Story of Canada’s Maple Leaf Ann-Maureen Owens and Jane Yealland
Fruit Brian Francis
Funny Boy Shyam Selvadurai
Galore Michael Crummey
Garbage Delight Dennis Lee
Half-Blood Blues Esi Edugyan
Haunted Canada Pat Hancock
Honour the Sun Ruby Slipperjack
How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired: A Novel Dany Laferrière
Husk Corey Redekop
Hysteric (Folle) Nelly Arcan
I Am Algonquin Rick Revelle
I Am Woman Lee Maracle
In Flanders Fields and Other Poems John McCrae
In the Skin of a Lion Michael Ondaatje
Indian Horse Richard Wagamese
Islands of Decolonial Love Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
It’s a Good Life, if You Don’t Weaken Seth
Jalna Mazo de la Roche
JK: The Jamie Kennedy Cookbook Jamie Kennedy
Keeper ‘N Me Richard Wagamese
Late Nights On Air Elizabeth Hay
Les belles-soeurs Michel Tremblay
Let Us Compare Mythologies Leonard Cohen
Lives of Girls and Women Alice Munro
Lost in the Barrens Farley Mowat
Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography Chester Brown
Lullabies for Little Criminals Heather O’Neill
Making Bombs for Hitler Martha Forchuk Skrypuch
Maria Chapdelaine Louis Hémon
Martyrology bp Nichol
Monkey Beach Eden Robinson
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress Christine Baldacchino
Mortimer Robert Munsch
Neuromancer William Gibson
Never Cry Wolf Farley Mowat
No Great Mischief Alistair MacLeod
Obasan Joy Kogawa

Honorable Mentions:
The Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook Canadian Home Economics Association
Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada Diana Nemiroff
Rebar Modern Food Cookbook Audrey Alsterberg and Wanda Urbanowicz

On a Cold Road: Tales of Adventure in Canadian Rock Dave Bidini
Pathologies Susan Olding
Rat Jelly Michael Ondaatje
Relative Happiness Lesley Crewe
Room Emma Donoghue
rooms for rent in the outer planets Al Purdy
Roughing it in the Bush Susanna Moodie
Salvage King Ya! Mark Jarman
Secret Path Gord Downie and Jeff Lemire
Seven Dead Pirates Linda Bailey
Shake Hands with the Devil Romeo Dallaire
Shelf Monkey Corey Redekop
Sidewalk Flowers JonArno Lawson
Sisters in the Wilderness; The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catherine Parr Traill Charlotte Gray
Six Metres of Pavement Farzana Doctor
Sleeping Dragons All Around Sheree Fitch
Sleeping Giants Sylvain Neuvel
Solomon Gursky Was Here Mordecai Richler
Spork Kyo Maclear
Sub Rosa Amber Dawn
Sunshine Sketches of a Small Town Stephen Leacock
Surfacing Margaret Atwood
Sweetland Michael Crummey
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Mordecai Richler
The Birth House Ami McKay
The Boy & the Bindi Vivek Shraya
The Boy in the Moon Ian Brown
The Breadwinner Deborah Ellis
The Carnivore Mark Sinnett
The Convict Lover Merilyn Simonds
The Diviners Margaret Laurence
The Englishman’s Boy Guy Vanderhaeghe
The Flight of Angels (Le vol d l’ange) Daniel Poliquin
The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
The Hockey Sweater (Le Chandail de Hockey) Roch Carrier
The Inconvenient Indian Thomas King
The Last Spike Pierre Berton
The Lesser Blessed Richard Van Camp
The Life of Pi Yann Martel
The Lost Garden Helen Humphreys
The Lost Salt Gift of Blood Alistair MacLeod
The Mistress of Nothing Kate Pullinger
The Nature of the Beast Louise Penny
The Nightingale Won’t Let You Sleep Steven Heighton
The Nymph and the Lamp Thomas Raddall
The Oh She Glows Cookbook Angela Liddon
The Paperbag Princess Robert Munsch
The Party Wall (Le mur mitoyen) Catherine Leroux
The Pemmican Eaters Marilyn Dumont
The Polished Hoe Austin Clarke
The Promise of Canada Charlotte Gray
The Road In Is Not the Same Road Out Karen Solie
The Root Cellar Janet Lunn
The Secret World of Og Pierre Burton
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
The Stone Carvers Jane Urquhart
The Stone Diaries Carol Shields
The Underground Railroad: the long journey to freedom in Canada (Amazing Stories) L. D. Cross
The Way the Crow Flies Ann-Marie MacDonald
The Wizzle War ( MacDonald Hall #4) Gordon Korman
The Woman Who Changed Her Brain Barbara Arrowsmith Young
Three Day Road Joseph Boyden
Through the Woods Emily Carroll
To This Day: For the Bullied and the Beautiful Shane Koyczan
Tropic of Hockey Dave Bidini
Uncle Wally’s Old Brown Shoe Wallace Edwards
Unless Carol Shields
Up and Down Terry Fallis
Volkswagen Blues Jacques Poulin
When Everything Feels Like the Movies Raziel Reid
Who Do You Think You Are? Alice Munro
Who Has Seen the Wind W. O. Mitchell
Winston of Churchill Jean Davies Okamoto
Zoom Tim Wynne-Jones

This initiative is made possible by the Community Fund for Canada’s 150th, a collaboration between the Community Foundation for Kingston and Area, the Government of Canada, and extraordinary leaders from coast to coast to coast. We acknowledge the support of the City of Kingston.