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CBC's Canada Reads 2012

Congratulations to Carmen Aguirre, whose debut book, Something Fierce , has won the 2012 Canada Reads competition. This dramatic, darkly funny narrative, which covers the decade from 1979 to 1989, takes the reader inside war-ridden Peru, dictatorship-run Bolivia, post-Malvinas Argentina and Pinochet's Chile. Writing with passion and deep personal insight, Carmen Aguirre captures her constant struggle to reconcile her commitment to the resistance movement with the desires of her youth and her budding sexuality. Something Fierce is a gripping story of love, war and resistance and a rare first-hand account of revolutionary life.

The CBC's 'Canada Reads' - a week long battle of the books - has been an annual event since 2002. The competition sees a panel of noteworthy Canadians each choose a favourite work of fiction to defend, and go head-to-head on air to debate its merits. This year's judges battled it out in half-hour debates aired on CBC Radio One in early February, with the panelists defending their work of choice. Books are voted off the list one at a time until the winner remains.

The Other 2012 Contenders:

On a Cold Road

by Dave Bidini

David Bidini, rhythm guitarist with the Rheostatics, knows all too well what the life of a rock band in Canada involves: storied arenas one tour and bars wallpapered with photos of forgotten bands the next. In On a Cold Road he weaves his colourful tales about that tour with revealing and hilarious anecdotes from the pioneers of Canadian rock including the Guess Who, Triumph, Trooper, Bruce Cockburn, and many more. The result is an original, vivid, and unforgettable picture of what it has meant, for the last forty years, to be a rock musician in Canada.

The Prisoner of Tehran

by Marina Nemat

In her heartbreaking, triumphant, and elegantly written memoir, Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat tells the heart-pounding story of her life as a young girl in Iran during the early days of Ayatollah Khomeini's brutal Islamic Revolution.

In January 1982, Marina Nemat, then just 16 years old, was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death for political crimes. Until then, her life in Tehran had centered around school, summer parties at the lake, and her crush on the young man she had met at church.

The Game

by Ken Dryden

Widely acknowledged as the best hockey book ever written and lauded by Sports Illustrated as one of the Top 10 Sports Books of All Time, The Game is a reflective and thought-provoking look at a life in hockey. Intelligent and insightful, former Montreal Canadiens goalie and former President of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ken Dryden captures the essence of the sport and what it means to all hockey fans. Dryden reflects on life on the road, in the spotlight, and on the ice, offering up a rare inside look at the game of hockey and an incredible personal memoir.

The Tiger

by John Vaillant

Outside a remote village in Russia’s Far East a man-eating tiger is on the prowl. A team of trackers is dispatched to hunt down the tiger before it strikes again. They know the creature is cunning, injured, and starving, making it even more dangerous. As John Vaillant recreates these extraordinary events, he gives us an unforgettable and masterful work of narrative nonfiction that combines a riveting portrait of a stark and mysterious region of the world and its people, with the natural history of nature’s most deadly predator. Read our interview with John Vaillaint.