Roughing It In The Books is obviously a play on Roughing It In The Bush by Susanna Moodie which is often the first book people think of when they think of Canadian Literature. It shouldn't be, of course, but it is. Canadians are a self-deprecating lot so we tend to make fun of ourselves and our work even though there is much to be celebrated, and Roughing It In The Books is a little bit making fun and a little bit celebration. When I tell people what I'm doing they kind of roll their eyes at me but laugh at the same time and a conversation always ensues--even if it is only to tell me how much they loved or hated reading A Handmaid's Tale in high school. I can only imagine how many times Margaret Atwood has to listen to that. In case she is reading this I fall firmly in the 'loved it' category.

I first had the idea to start Roughing It In the Books in 2008 when I was spending all my time nursing my oldest daughter. I had been collecting the 1970s abstract art paperback editions of McClelland & Stewart's New Canadian Library for years and my husband was always asking me if I was ever going to actually read them. (The point being that if I wasn't reading them I wasn't allowed to buy anymore). I'm not a big shopper but I have a real soft spot for these books and when I would have a bad day at work I would take a walk through the number of second-hand bookstores nearby (sadly, all of which are now gone) and pick up a couple of them--it was a form of very cheap therapy. There's something about the feel of old paperbacks that is comforting and it is exciting to find a title I don't have in my collection.

Roughing It In the Books was born with the idea that I would read through the collection starting at book one (Over Prairie Trails by Frederick Philip Grove). I've had a personal blog since 2000 but I wanted something with a little more focus, so I decided to keep my mind active by blogging about my journey through the collection. My friend and fellow writer Alexis Kienlen wanted to join me so we started the blog together, each reading the book and posting our review without conferring with one another.

But then I got pregnant with daughter #2 and we were buying our first house and things fell by the wayside as things tend to do when you are re-sanding a hardwood floor while 7-months pregnant and being screamed at daily by a two-year old.

Now that life has settled into its new version of chaos I am excited to start the project again. Having had a lot of time to think about it over the past couple years I have a better idea of what I want the blog to be. I like incorporating new Canadian books into the mix as well as children's books and movies based on Canadian novels. It's been kind of like my own Canadian Literature course in that once I've read a book , I can go looking for more information I find more books I want to read.

I recently discovered a book called Collecting Stamps Would Have Been More Fun: Canadian Publishing and the Correspondence of Sinclair Ross, 1933 – 1986 and how could I not want to read a book with that title? And while looking for the movie version of Gabrielle Roy's The Tin Flute I discovered Intimate Strangers: The Letters of Margaret Laurence & Gabrielle Roy which was truly a joy to read. I get so excited about these discoveries that I want to share the to the world – or at least the people who read the blog.

I try to inject some humour into the blog too. I remember reading the book Hard Core Logo before going to see the movie and being shocked at the end of the movie when the lead shoots himself in the head because I don't remember that happening in the book. But I also remember thinking, Oh Canada, I love you! because Bruce McDonald seemed to put that quintessential Canadian filter on it – everybody dies in the end.

Of course it isn't true that everybody dies, but it feels like it sometimes, and it makes a much better subtitle than "Trees and Rocks and Rocks and Trees."

Melanie Masterson is a part-time writer and full-time mom who thinks Canadian Literature is the bees knees and is raising her little girls to believe it too. Her dream is that someday they will ask to be Susanna Moodie and Catherine Parr-Traill for Halloween. Melanie has been blogging since 2000, and in addition to documenting her journey through the New Canadian Library she can be found on her personal blog www.meli-mello.com.