Let the Games Begin!

Calling all sports fans! Er, not really. Calling all CanLit fans is more like it. Like our fellow Torontonians, we’re bracing ourselves for the citywide takeover of the Pan Am Games, starting the end of this week and running for what feels like the whole summer (this is Canada, summer is short, it’s not that much of an exaggeration: see last week’s Canada Day post).To get in the mood and celebrate the accomplishments of the many talented athletes competing in the games, we’ve put together our own competition of sorts. We’re calling it the PanLit Games! (cue exciting music) There is no actual athletic prowess required to participate and the end goal is to have fun and add more books to your already toppling TBR pile.We’ve thought up some genius categories of competition (to give credit where credit is due, we had a little help. Tip of the hat to Julia’s mom, Leah! Hi Mrs. Horel!) that we’ll be broadcasting a couple of times a week over the next four weeks.Schedule for the PanLit Games 2015:7/7: Discus Throw, or most thought provoking reads for “discus”ion7/9: Boxing, or best knock-out monologue7/14: Pentathlon, or most words in a title7/16: Golf, or hole-in-one short story collection7/21: Synchronized Swimming, or best book pairing7/23: Baseball, or best ensemble cast7/28: Gymnastics, or most colourful performance by a cover7/30: Cycling, or best “spokes” person So watch this space for updates on the standings. May the best book win!* *And by win, we don’t really mean “win” in the traditional sense as no prizes will be given to winning books. It’s really we, the readers, that come out the winner in these games. So pat on the back you, way to go champ!