Last night, with great self-congratulatory brouhaha, CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi introduced the Canada Reads 2013 Shortlist and celebrity panelists. This is an event I’ve watched (well, more accurately, listened to) with mild interest the last few years, but never really embraced.
I confess that I am in general deeply cynical about prizes awarded by popular vote, which is the whole premise of this literary “event”, but this year the shortlist picks seem more intriguing to me than some in the past, so I’ve set myself a personal goal of reading and reviewing all five of them. This will also tie in nicely with my participation in 6th Annual Canadian Book Challenge , hosted by John Mutford of The Book Mine Set .
I may also explore among the picks in the Long List, though I have no intentions of reading all of them. We’ll see what happens. This list will find a home in my library bag, for those days when inspiration needs a little push. I’ve already read a few (a very few) of the picks, though mostly before this blog materialized. I may re-read and review. Or not! Leaving myself wide open here.
This year Canada Reads has a regional theme, which doesn’t really work in my opinion, as there are only five extremely broad regions and geographically and philosophically I think there is more variance in truly regional Canadian literature than these limited categories allow. But no one asked me, so I guess I need to go with it.
Here’s our Long List:
B.C. & Yukon:
- The Canterbury Trail by Angie Abdou
- The Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
- Bow Grip by Ivan E. Coyote
- Everything Was Good-Bye by Gurjinder Basran
- The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon (read in 2012 & reviewed)
- Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese – FINALIST
- Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson
- Obasan by Joy Kogawa (I’ve read it)
- One Good Hustle by Billie Livingston
- Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson (I’ve read it)
The Prairies and North:
- The Age of Hope by David Bergen – FINALIST
- Cool Water by Dianne Warren
- The Diviners by Margaret Laurence (I’ve read it)
- The Englishman’s Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe (I’ve read it)
- Fall from Grace by Wayne Arthurson
- The Garneau Block by Todd Babiak
- Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay (I’ve read it)
- Stolen by Annette Lapointe
- The Trade by Fred Stenson
- Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell (I’ve read it)
Ontario:
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (I’ve read it)
- Away by Jane Urquhart – FINALIST
- Clara Callan by Richard B. Wright
- The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
- The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
- Far to Go by Alison Pick
- Fifth Business by Robertson Davies (I’ve read it)
- Helpless by Barbara Gowdy
- Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb
- The Amazing Absorbing Boy by Rabindranath Maharaj
Quebec:
- The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny
- The Darling of Kandahar by Felicia Mihali
- De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage
- How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired by Dany Laferrièr
- Illustrado by Miguel Syjuc
- Inside by Alix Ohlin
- Ru by Kim Thuy
- Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler
- The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy (I’ve read it)
- Two Solitudes by Hugh MacLennan – FINALIST
Atlantic Canada:
- Annabel by Kathleen Winte
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (I’ve read it)
- The Bay of Love and Sorrows by David Adams Richards
- Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
- February by Lisa Moore – FINALIST
- Galore by Michael Crummey
- Glass Boys by Nicole Lundrigan
- No Great Mischief by Alistair McLeod
- Ragged Islands by Don Hannah
- The Town That Drowned by Riel Nason
Leaves & Pages 
I’d say it’s the journey itself, not the prize, that counts here: promoting interest in a range of CanLit, which it certainly seems to succeed at.
Of the 5 finalists, I’ve read Two Solitudes. Written in 1945, I think, so it’s a long time before Bill 101 and the FLQ and the PQ and the Bloc.
Many of your read books are mine too. Interesting to take a look at some of the others.
Yes, Susan, you’re right. I apologize for my cranky tone. It’s obviously succeeding in promoting Canadian lit; it even nabbed me this year! I guess what I don’t like is the game show/reality show talk – “smackdown!” “battle of the books!” But it catches the listening ear, which it a Must Do in our age of the 10-second attention span.
I guess. 😉
For what it’s worth I do hate those vote the person/dancer/song/book off the island shows – an element of brutality there, no matter how sugar-coated the “gee, thanks for trying” is. Artificial tension, those countdowns; I feel very manipulated. Just announce the darned winner & be done with it! (Ha. Guess I’m still cranky. I’ll blame the nonexistent sunshine of these November – ack! DECEMBER! days, lol.)
I’ve started with Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business, because it literally jumped off the shelf at me last night. “O-ho! You’re one of those books,” I muttered to it as it peeked up at me from the cascading stack of paperbacks it was lurking amongst.
I haven’t read Two Solitudes, though I have read several other MacLennan novels & liked them immensely. Grand sagas; very full books.
Interesting mix of new & old in the picks. Must go shopping, which I realize is one of the benefits to Canada Reads to our publishing industry!
Go, CBC. 🙂 Do what you have to do!