6 books that inspired Olympic Games Primetime host Perdita Felicien

It's summer and the Olympic Games Paris 2024are almost here! Paris 2024will take place fromJuly 26-Aug.11and the Paralympic Games happen Aug. 28-Sept. 8.

Team Canada will be among the approximately 10,500 athletes representing 206 countries taking part andCBC is covering all the coverage with live and on-demand content.

Perdita Felicienis a two-timeOlympian and champion hurdlerwho is bringing Canadians the action from Parisas the co-host of Olympic Games Primetime.

You can see a complete schedule of events here.

In 2018, Feliciensharedsix books that fuelled her love of literature.

The Color Purple byAlice Walker

The Color Purpleis 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 byE.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 ittoday.)

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."

Ishmael Beah

16 years ago

Duration 11:01

A child soldier tells his story of the atrocities of war.

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 McBrideonWriters & Company:

Writers and Company52:36James McBride on the complicated history of race in the United States

American novelist and musician James McBride is best known for his bestselling memoir, The Color of Water about his immigrant Jewish mother and Black American father. In 2013, McBride won the National Book Award for his novel The Good Lord Bird - an irreverent portrayal of abolitionist John Brown. Eleanor Wachtels conversation with James McBride about these two books, and his life, first aired in 2014.

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, colonialismand socio-political issues through rich and multi-layered characters. Thisworkis a gem."

LISTEN | Chinua AchebeonWriters & Company:

Writers and Company54:32Author Chinua Achebe interview (1994 Encore)

Sadly, Chinua Achebe, the internationally celebrated Nigerian author, has died following a brief illness. He was 82. Eleanor Wachtel spoke with him in 1994, and we re-aired that interview when Achebe won the Man Booker Prize in 2007.

Perdita Felicien's comments have been edited for length and clarity.