CBC Canada Reads have announced their short list, and this year, the great Canadian book debate is looking for one book to carry us forward. This years finalists are about finding the resilience and the hope needed to carry on and keep moving forward. View the final nominees, as well as some of the long-listed books, here in our collection! Can't find a format you need? Login to request this title.

Follow host Ali Hassan and guests as they debate the books; the debates will be broadcast on CBC Radio One, CBC TV, CBC Gem and on CBC Books.

The debates will take place March 4-7, 2024.

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

Bad Cree is a horror-infused novel that centres around a young woman named Mackenzie, who is haunted by terrifying nightmares and wracked with guilt about her sister Sabrina's untimely death. The lines between her dreams and reality start to blur when she begins seeing a murder of crows following her around the city — and starts getting threatening text messages from someone claiming to be her dead sister. Can't find a format you need? Login to request this title.

Denison Avenue by Christina Wong & Daniel Innes

Set in Toronto's Chinatown and Kensington Market, Denison Avenue is a moving portrait of a city undergoing mass gentrification and a Chinese Canadian elder experiencing the existential challenges of getting old and being Asian in North America. Recently widowed, Wong Cho Sum takes long walks through the city, collecting bottles and cans and meeting people on her journeys in a bid to ease her grief.

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

Meet Me at the Lake finds 32-year-old Fern Brookbanks stuck — she can't quite stop thinking about one perfect day she spent in her 20s. By chance, she met a man named Will Baxter and the two spent a romantic 24 hours in Toronto, after which they promised to meet up one year later. But Will never showed up.

Shut Up You're Pretty by Téa Mutonji

Shut Up You're Pretty is a short fiction collection that tells stories of a young woman coming of age in the 21st century in Scarborough, Ont. The disarming, punchy and observant stories follow her as she watches someone decide to shave her head in an abortion clinic waiting room, bonds with her mother over fish and contemplates her Congolese traditions at a wedding. Can't find a format you need? Login to request this title

The Future by Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou

The Future is set in an alternate history of Detroit where the French never surrendered the city to the U.S. Its residents deal with poverty, pollution and a legacy of racism. When Gloria, a woman looking for answers about her missing granddaughters, arrives in the city, she finds a kingdom of orphaned and abandoned children who have created their own society. Login to request this title.