6 books that inspired Olympic Games Primetime host Perdita Felicien
CBC Books | | Posted: January 19, 2018 6:36 PM | Last Updated: July 9
The Olympic Games Paris 2024 take place July 26-Aug. 11, 2024
It's summer and the Olympic Games Paris 2024 are almost here! Paris 2024 will take place from July 26-Aug. 11 and the Paralympic Games happen Aug. 28-Sept. 8.
Team Canada will be among the approximately 10,500 athletes representing 206 countries taking part — and CBC is covering all the coverage with live and on-demand content.
Perdita Felicien is a two-time Olympian and champion hurdler who is bringing Canadians the action from Paris as the co-host of Olympic Games Primetime.
In 2018, Felicien shared six books that fuelled her love of literature.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Color Purple is a story about the life of a Black woman in rural Georgia, from her traumatic childhood in the early 1900s to her cathartic reunion with her family 30 years later. The novel by Alice Walker won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and was shortly after adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg.
"Is it cheating if I fell in love with the movie first?" asked Felicien. "Hopefully not, because by the time I read Walker's book in high school, I loved the story even more. This was the first time I read a book and hated and loved some of the characters on the page with passion."
This was the first time I read a book and hated and loved some of the characters on the page with passion.
"The hatred I felt for the character of Mister felt real to me. (To this day I can't stand actor Danny Glover who played the role in the film.) The devotion I felt for Celie was so visceral, that even once I had put the book down, I still felt it.
"Also, I hadn't read anything where a character's dialect was written phonetically. That pulled me in and allowed me to know Walker's characters even more."
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
"I was in elementary school when I read this book. E.B. White got me deeply invested in this friendship between a spider and a pig. But what does he do? He kills one of them off. Like, dude?
"It was devastation to my itty-bitty heart. (I cry silently inside even thinking about it today.)
That book made me feel things, and for that I simply love it.
"That book made me feel things, and for that I simply love it."
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
"The experience of being a child soldier and living in the midst of a civil war in Sierra Leone are far removed from my everyday life in North America.
"This true story took me to a place and through horrors I didn't know existed.
This true story took me to a place and through horrors I didn't know existed.
"I could not put down this story, in which Beah turns from tragedy into personal triumph."
The Color Of Water by James McBride
"Memoir is one of my favourite genres. McBride pulled me in with his story of being a Black man in America who was raised by a white mother.
I could not stop turning each delicious page
"Not only is his mother extremely entertaining and smart, but she is hiding a part of herself that her children know nothing about. I could not stop turning each delicious page."
LISTEN | James McBride on Writers & Company:
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
"I read this book over 10 years ago. I was pulled in by the plight of the main character Wang Lu, a poor, determined farmer. Buck won a Pulitzer Prize for it in 1932. I'll be picking it back up very soon so I can get reacquainted."
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
"This book, set in Nigeria in the 1890s amidst pre- and post-colonial life in West Africa, is filled with adventure.
This work is a gem.
"Achebe tackles complex themes like identity, colonialism and socio-political issues through rich and multi-layered characters. This work is a gem."
LISTEN | Chinua Achebe on Writers & Company:
Perdita Felicien's comments have been edited for length and clarity.