Towards the end of 2012, I was overwhelmed by the idea of being just one indie-minded reader in a literary world dominated by mega-publishers and mega-retailers, unsure how to affect change, how to respond to the sense of despair swelling within my reading heart and mind.

I decided that making a change, even just One Reader at a Time, was still making a change (which made me much happier), and those new thoughts culminated in a new reading project: Fiercely Reading Indie: House of Anansi, 45.

So, for the next 45 days, I read from the House of Anansi catalogue, including their Groundwood and Granta books. And even though I had expected to find lots of great reading in those 45 days, I was truly amazed by the breadth of the content and the consistent quality. In short, soooo much great reading! (HOA celebrated their 45th anniversary in 2012.)

• Gordon Lightfoot’s Canadian Railroad Trilogy (2010)
• Paul Yee’s Ghost Train (1996)
• Ahmad Akbarpour’s That Night’s Train (2012)

• Robert LePage and Marie Michaud’s The Blue Dragon (2011)
• Menena Cottin’s The Black Book of Colors Illus. Rosana Faria Trans. Lisa Amado (2008, Spanish)
• Pamela Porter’s Yellow Moon Apple Moon (Illus. Matt James) (2008)
• Ian Hamilton’s The Red Pole of Macau (2012)

Animals:

• Frauke Scheunemann’s Puppy Love (2010) Trans. Shelley Frisch (German, 2012)
• Susan Vande Griek’s Loon Illus. Karen Reczuch (2011)
• Erlend Loe’s Doppler Trans. Don Bartlett and Don Shaw (Nowegian, 2012)
• Lisa Moore’s Alligator (2004)
• Peter Hobbs’ In the Orchard the Swallows (2012) **Guest-post
• Rawi Hage’s Cockroach (2008)
• Caspar Henderson’s The Book of Barely Imagined Beings: A 21st Century Bestiary (2012)

Life’s Questions:

• Heather McHugh’s Upgraded to Serious (2009)
• Alix Ohlin’s Signs and Wonders (2012) **Guest-post
• Rawi Hage’s Carnival (2012)
• Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home (2012) **Guest-post
• Lynn Crosbie’s Life Is About Losing Everything (2012)

Short fiction:

• Roch Carrier’s The Hockey Sweater and Other Stories (2012)
• Shree Ghatage’s Awake When All the World is Asleep (1997)
• Diana Athill’s Midsummer Night in the Workhouse (2011) **Guest-post
• Lisa Moore’s The Selected Short Stories of Lisa Moore (2012)

Games:

• Margaret Atwood’s The Circle Game (1966)
• Rawi Hage’s De Niro’s Game (2006)

Myths and stories:

• Sita’s Ramayana: A Feminist Retelling
• Kim Echlin’s Inanna (2003)
• Sara Maitland’s Gossip from the Forest (2012)
• Another kind of storytelling: Born Liars **Guest-post

• The Winter Book
• Derek McCormack’s Christmas Days (2005)
• Georgia Nicols’ You and Your Future (2011)

• Michael Winter’s One Last Good Look (1999)
• Martha Brooks’ Two Moons in August (1990)
• Nicolas Debon’s Four Pictures by Emily Carr (2003)
• Graeme Gibson’s Five Legs (1969)