"Not Wanted on the Voyage" is a 1985 book by Canadian author Timothy Findley that was shortlisted for a Governor General's Award. It is a modern re-telling of the story of the great flood. The story is centered around Dr. Noah Noyes who is a cruel authoritarian, his wife who drinks and talks to animals, and their blind cat Mottyl.
The book, which is difficult to read in some spots, was adapted into a play.
2. The Secret History
Answer: Donna Tartt
"The Secret History" is the first novel by Donna Tartt. The narrator, Richard Papen, is looking back at his time in college and the events that lead up to the murder of a classmate. While at college, Richard tries to get into a Classics class which has a very limited and exclusive enrolment and meets five other students in the process.
The group become close and at first Richard is enamored with them. There are tensions and turmoil within the group that lead up to the murder and continue after until ultimately the group is torn apart by the event.
3. Oryx and Crake
Answer: Margaret Atwood
"Oryx and Crake" is a science fiction novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and the first of the MaddAddam trilogy. In the novel, we meet the main character Snowman who is trying to make his way through a violent dystopian world in which his only company is a group of human-like creatures called Crakers.
He looks back at the events that led up to a global pandemic that wiped out humanity. The novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction and the Orange Prize for Fiction.
4. Anxious People
Answer: Fredrik Backman
"Anxious People" is a novel by Swedish author Fredrik Backman. It centers around a would-be bank robber who holds a group of eight people hostage. The story moves back and forth as the reader learns a bit about each character and how the lives of all people involved are interconnected.
The story is dramatic, heartwarming and mysterious as the bank robber seems to vanish in thin air. This 2020 novel made it on a number of best of lists for the year.
5. Fifteen Dogs
Answer: André Alexis
"Fifteen Dogs" is an award winning novel by Canadian author André Alexis. Fifteen dogs who are housed at a kennel in Toronto, Canada are gifted human language and consciousness, in a bet between Gods. The resulting story is what happens to the dogs. Their newfound intelligence helps them to escape the kennel and then experience and truly think about things such as life, death, mortality, poetry and friendship.
The novel won the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.
6. Boys Without Names
Answer: Kashmira Sheth
"Boys Without Names" is a work of juvenile fiction by Kashmira Sheth. In it, we are introduced to eleven year old Gopal and his family who have hit hard times in India. They are forced to move from their rural home to Mumbai where they encounter incredibly difficult times. Gopal is promised a job in a factory and wants to help his family so accepts and is taken into a life of forced labor with other boys who are hostile and treated terribly. Gopal is a gifted young storyteller and eventually gets the other boys to open up and help each other try to escape their circumstances.
7. Station Eleven
Answer: Emily St. John Mandel
"Station Eleven" is a novel by Emily St. John Mandel that won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2015. It is about a group of traveling actors in a post-apocalyptic world who have survived the 'Georgia flu', a pandemic that has wiped out most of humanity. The novel moves back and forth in time to the outbreak and the characters' lives twenty years post-pandemic.
The novel was a finalist for the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. It won the Toronto Book Award in October 2015.
8. A Thousand Splendid Suns
Answer: Khaled Hosseini
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. Hosseini also wrote "The Kite Runner" which he has called a father-son story. In contrast, he calls "A Thousand Splendid Suns" a mother-daughter tale. It centers around Miriam and Rasheed who are married and young Laila, who is the object of interest of Rasheed.
It is an unflinching look at the role and treatment of women in Afghanistan. It was adapted into a play and for years there has been talk of making the novel into a movie but as of 2021, the film is still unproduced.
9. Bellevue Square
Answer: Michael Redhill
"Bellevue Square" by Michael Redhill took the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize. It's the story of a woman named Jean Mason, a bookstore owner who is convinced that she has a doppelganger who is committing crimes. She becomes obsessed with finding out who the doppelganger is, at the expense of her livelihood, her relationship and her family.
It's a confusing read that delves deeply into the mind of the protagonist and has been described as similar to watching a David Lynch movie.
10. The English Patient
Answer: Michael Ondaatje
This 1992 novel won the 1992 Booker Prize, the 1992 Governor General's Award, and the 2018 Golden Man Booker. Michael Ondaatje introduces us to a patient who is burned beyond recognition, the nurse who looks after him, a Sikh soldier and a Canadian thief.
They are brought together in an Italian villa as they try to figure out who the patient is. The story takes us back in time as we piece together the past events of the patient that brought him to where he is now. The book was adapted into a 1996 movie that won several Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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