Canada Reads, Day 5

Posted 29 February, 2008 in Canada Reads |

Steven: The climax of Canada Reads played out pretty much the way Alex and I predicted it would, with one notable exception.

In the first round of voting, Icefields was knocked off, with the votes breaking down exactly the way we suggested they would yesterday: Steve MacLean continued to vote against King Leary; Lisa Moore continued to vote against Not Wanted on the Voyage; Jemeni continued to vote against Icefields; and the alliance of Dave Bidini and Zaib Shaikh, which had been responsible for eliminating both of the previous books, cast its two votes against Icefields. This left Not Wanted on the Voyage and King Leary in contention, effectively shattering the Bidini/Shaikh coalition, unless one or the other was willing to vote against his own book, Justin Trudeau style, but it was pretty clear from the start that this wasn’t going to happen.

Before the final, deciding vote, however, there was some interesting discussion of the final two books, highlighted early on by Lisa Moore apologizing to Dave Bidini for calling him lazy during yesterday’s set-to regarding why people read and admitting that we read for what she called “anarchic pleasure.”

On the question of which of the final two books moved them more, the panelists came down overwhelmingly in favour of King Leary, with the obvious exception of Zaib Shaikh. Moore praised the structure and pace of the book, MacLean was moved by the scenes of the monks on the ice and of the boys strapping on their skates and skating “till they drop,” and Bidini told an evocative anecdote about driving a Delta 88 to a park in the wintertime, lighting a smoke, and reading Quarrington’s book, which became for him a life-changing experience: “I had wrestled with writing for a long time before I was turned on to this book, wondering, kind of, the path my life would go down as a writer, and, you know, hockey and music had never been validated … I always thought I had to fit inside that tweed box, I always thought that writing had to be serious to be great, and I was shown through this work that it doesn’t.”

Of the panelists who championed King Leary as a “moving” book, only Jemeni made a distinction between the way the book “charmed” her and the way Findley’s book moved her, not always comfortably. One of the implicit strains in the discussion seemed to be the idea that in order for a book to move someone it has to do so in a positive way; Jemeni was the only panelist to acknowledge the legitimacy of a book that disturbs its readers, and that that disturbance can be every bit as profound — if not more profound — than the book that makes its readers laugh or cry.

The other impression I was left with was of MacLean’s literal-mindedness, which Alex has already mentioned. It seems that what prevented him from falling into the world of Not Wanted on the Voyage was the singing sheep, which he couldn’t explain. But of course, Findley’s novel is not at all naturalistic, and anyone who is unwilling to accept the idea of singing sheep or talking cats or faeries or demons is not going to feel at home in the world of the book.

Perhaps this explains MacLean’s abrupt about-face during the final voting round. The retired astronaut, who had cast his previous four votes for the same book — King Leary – summarily changed his mind on vote number five, and decided to vote off Not Wanted on the Voyage. This despite the fact that at the top of the show, he decided to “stay the course” and vote against King Leary. This leads me to believe that something in the intervening fifteen minutes or so changed his mind, although it’s hard to imagine what that might have been, except perhaps for the sudden realization that he couldn’t abide the singing sheep.

Jemeni, who I expected to vote against Not Wanted on the Voyage, given her avowed affection for Quarrington’s book — her admission today that she was “charmed” by it — actually went the other way, and voted against King Leary.

So, the big surprise of the day was that the deciding vote was cast by Steve MacLean, the retired astronaut who had been absolutely consistent in his voting pattern right up until the final ballot. When all was said and done, the votes were three to two in favour of King Leary — you heard it here first, folks — although they didn’t break down in the way I anticipated they would. This is a contender for the category of the year’s biggest surprise, which you can watch for when Alex and I do our wrap-up of the 2008 Canada Reads series in the next few days.

Alex: There were a couple of twists this final day, but nothing to upset King Leary’s coronation. The big surprise, as you note Steve, was MacLean’s bizarre change of heart, especially given his commitment to “staying the course.” But Jemini’s coming down against King Leary was almost as big a shock to me.

Quick hits:

(1) I think Bidini hit on a winning strategy by insisting that King Leary was a book that changed his life. It’s kind of hard to respond to a personal endorsement like that. I mean, if you think the book is no good then what does that say about the individual whose life it changed? But in this case it worked. His recollection of the epiphany he had when reading King Leary in a Delta 88 was quite a moment.

(2) Yes, Chief Astronaut MacLean (the only physicist on the panel) is quite the literal fellow. His opposition to the singing sheep was just the final installment. And yet his chosen book is the story of a man of science whose vision of an angel inspires a spiritual quest.

(3) I couldn’t even remember Moore calling Bidini lazy yesterday. When did that happen?

(4) Did Jian try and stack the deck against Not Wanted on the Voyage in his casting of the final vote as a David vs. Goliath stand-off? It’s interesting that everyone jumped on him for it.

(5) I hadn’t thought of the record Bidini mentioned. Musicians dominate this award. Winners have included Steven Page in 2002, Jim Cuddy in 2004, and John Samson in 2006 and 2007 (the Canada Reads All-Stars year). And now Bidini in 2008. Though there have been musicians whose choices haven’t won, so the record isn’t really four-for-four.

And so, on to our final thoughts.

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