Canada Reads: The Debates - Day One

It has arrived - Canada Reads 2011! The debates and voting started today and I (and several pages of notes) am ready to give you the update. If you have not yet listened to the Canada Reads show and debate and still want to - do not read any further! I will be discussing the show in depth as well as revealing which book was voted off. If you are ready to read my discussion - continue. The radio show will be replayed at 8pm tonight on CBC Radio One and you can listen to it on the Canada Reads website at the CBC homepage. I ended up having to listen to the end of the show on-line, which was helpful so I could pause the feed and make some notes. (3 pages of notes!)

The program opened with our genial host, Jian Ghomeshi, introducing the books and panelists. They are the following (in alphabetical order):

The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis; supporter Ali Velshi
The Birth House by Ami McKay; supporter Debbie Travis
The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou; supporter Georges Laraque
Essex County by Jeff Lemire; supporter Sara Quin
Unless by Carol Shields; supporter Lorne Cardinal

The format of Canada Reads has changed slightly from previous years: instead of five thirty-minute shows, we have three hour-long shows. I think this format is better as it allows the panelists to really get into debates about the books. Today each panelist made a one-minute pitch for their book, and then two debates about the books were held. Finally, the show ended with the panelists voting off a book. On Tuesday, it will be a similar format with one more book being voted off. Wednesday is the final day - the panelists will begin by voting off a third book, then spend the rest of the hour debating the final two books. A final vote will be held and the Canada Reads champion crowned.

The Pitch: my summary and notes of each panelist's pitch and my thoughts on their strategy and arguments.

The Best Laid Plans - Ali Velshi
Velshi argues that this book is the most essential for Canadians to read as it is a call to action and will spur apathetic voters to voting. He is clearly going for the humour position here with his book and his arguments. We'll see how playing the humour card works for him.

The Birth House - Debbie Travis
Travis argues that this book is relevant for today because society is in a similar place where we are changing from old, established patterns to new unknowns. What old knowledge should we retain and what old knowledge should be left behind? It is about women finding their voice, but it is not just a women's book - it's also about men too and World War One. Travis is very eloquent and well-spoken, but I think she's maybe reading too much into the book. I didn't really feel that the book was about men and their issues: the heroine's brothers go off to World War One, but don't actually make it overseas. The war is just a minor plot thread in the novel, so I think she's overemphasizing that aspect to entice the male voters when I think the book is mainly oriented to women.

The Bone Cage - Georges Laraque
I was quite impressed with Laraque: his passion and excitement for the book clearly come through. The more I learn about him, the more I'm finding he's a very interesting and unique individual. He argued that his book was the most essential Canadian read because it would appeal to everyone: men, women, teenagers - all Canadians. We all identify with Olympians and their struggle and effort. The book is relatable and inspiring: while not everyone is an Olympic athlete, nearly everyone has had to battle and fight to overcome obstacles. He saw himself in the book and enjoyed it very much.

Essex County - Sara Quin
Quin argued that the book emphasized the connections between the characters and that it was poignant and cinematic. The illustrations help draw the readers into the world of the book. A graphic novel is a new way of viewing old characters - it is a contemporary view for today. Quin was very well spoken and was even poetical about her book in some places. You could really sense her deep commitment to what may be one of the most difficult books to argue for this year.

Unless - Lorne Cardinal
It is a little difficult to reconcile the intelligent actor Lorne Cardinal with his character on Corner Gas: the lovable but dimwitted Davis. For the first little while, all I heard was Davis! Cardinal began his argument with the fact that Shields won a Pulitzer Prize with Unless. I'm not sure that's the right way to go - it's already been recognized and people know about it and have read it. Let's pick another book that hasn't been recognized that people should be reading but aren't. Cardinal pointed out that loss is a universal emotion and cited the Shields' well-crafted writing as another reason that his book should win.

The Debates
Here, I will try to give a brief summary of the debates and a general discussion of what the panelists thought, along with my views and arguments on the books.

Round One: Which book is the most accessible?
Debbie Travis argued that her book is the most accessible because everyone has been born. That argument drives me nuts! It is a facile argument. It's a cop-out. By that logic, then, every book should be accessible because every book is about people and we're all people! However, she doesn't really like any of the other panelist's books. All the other panelists were quick to praise the other books too, even as they argued against them. (Canadians - we're just so polite!)

The panelists seemed to agree that the goal of Canada Reads is to inspire people to read that would not have otherwise read. Laraque thinks that his book would do a good job of that, as does Velshi. Quin argued that it is important to get young people to read and that her book would do a good job of that. However, the other panelists vehemently disagreed - Travis especially. Travis argued that because the book was only pictures it was too short, she read it too quickly and that it represents a dumbing down of culture - like Twitter. Twitter doesn't inspire people to read and write because it's only 140 characters. Cardinal thought that Essex County could operate as a "gateway to reading", but that Unless was better because it would make people think deep thoughts.

Here's my question: is the Canada Reads contest designed to get people to read that don't otherwise read? Or is it for the readers in the country who are looking for new books to read? Those people aren't necessarily the same audience. I don't think a book like Unless is very accessible to Canadians who aren't regular readers. Whereas something like Essex County, because it's different, could interest more people in reading. The panelists comment later on falling literacy levels, and I don't think the way to raise them is by throwing heavy books like Unless and The Birth House at people. A novel like Essex County, where there is both text and pictures, could help people who struggle with reading. It could be a "gateway book" as Cardinal pointed out - a place for people to start and then to try more complex books like The Bone Cage and The Best Laid Plans.

Round Two: Aside from the characters in your own book, which character resonated the most deeply with you?

Velshi liked Dora from The Birth House - he found her struggle to be universal. She is caught between the old and the new and is an "everyman" of today. But really though, aren't we always caught between the old and the new? The pace of change is more rapid today that it has ever been, but every generation is caught between the old traditions and the new knowledge. Not really a criticism, just a comment.

Cardinal really liked the hockey player characters from Essex County. He really connected with one of the characters: he only played one game in the NHL before his career ended, but his spirit was alive.

Laraque said the hockey players resonated (when prompted by Ghomeshi - who needed to just let the panelists answer the original question and not answer additional questions in this debate) but that his favourite character was Angus from The Best Laid Plans. Laraque saw a lot of himself in the rogue Scot and thought their personalities were similar. (Fun fact: Laraque is now the deputy leader of Canada's Green Party!)

Quin loved Reta Winters of Unless. She liked the character's writing, her feminism, and her connection with children. Overall Quin loved Unless and thought it was beautifully written. Which it was, but a little too introspective for me.

Travis disliked Unless and found the book predictable. She was surprised to find that the character she connected with the most was Digger from The Bone Cage. She connected with his journey and his struggle to be the best and what happens when failure strikes.

The Vote
The hour ended with all of the panelists voting. Each panelist voted and then each panelist had to reveal their vote. Any book which received 3 or more votes would be out. The results?

Georges Laraque: Essex County
Sara Quin: The Bone Cage
Debbie Travis: Essex County
Lorne Cardinal: Essex County
Ali Velshi: Essex County

And with that, Essex County is the first book voted out of Canada Reads. The reasons given by all the panelists are that the book is not essential, it's in a short story format, the book won't make people read more, and there were not enough words. Debbie Travis again pointed out that the book was too short and she read it in an hour and a half. Sara Quin argued that the graphic novel was more of an American trend which maybe hasn't appeared as much in Canada, she still wants people to read the book, and that her book is a novel; it just needs to be interpreted differently because it has graphic panels instead of words.

I agree with Sara here. Yes, you could probably just flip through the novel quickly reading only the words, but that would be giving Essex County short shrift. The pictures are just as important as the text - the author is giving you the pictures for a reason and you have to look at the pictures and take them into account along with the text. I think maybe Debbie Travis didn't really understand that the pictures are just as important as the words. Which is similar to a novel: what are the characters not saying? What is the subtext here? All that is in a graphic novel too - it just may be in picture format.

I am sad that Essex County was voted off, but I am still determined to read it. If anything, this has made me want to read the book even more. I hope it comes in from the library soon! So far I'm really enjoying Canada Reads and the panelists - there are lots of interesting opinions here. I'm very curious to find out what happens tomorrow.

Join me tomorrow when I recap the second episode of Canada Reads and we learn which book is the second to go.