Canada Reads - 2008

CBC Radio is getting bookish again. The annual installment of Canada Reads kicks into gear next month and as per the usual, I've read next to nothing from the list. Admittedly, I'm underqualified on Canada Reads as I've never actually listened to the week long book-off (see radio deficiency). No worries though - Lee, a friend of a friend and a nice person, is blogging away over at the CBC. No doubt, she'll keep y'all up to date, right good. This year my biased vote would go to Timothy Findley's Not Wanted on the Voyage, and not just because it's the only title I've read.

Not Wanted on the Voyage landed on a Top 10 list I was asked to come up with a few years ago. I should explain why. Unfortunately, most of the details of a book fade for me relatively quickly and I'm left with impressions only. So, I will quote me from that Top 10 list to demonstrate why this book is worthy of your time:

"From a writing perspective it was a revelation to me to see such a skewed view on a well-known tale. Findley tells the story of Noah's Ark but makes it messy. Noah's a bastard and that's great because it corrupts everything we've been taught and provides a fresh outlook".

The book's somewhat blasphemous rep might hurt its chances but I'd recommend it regardless of what you believe about the original story. I didn't enjoy it because it targeted traditional Bible lore, I enjoyed it because it reminded me that one view of an event/story/anything isn't the only possible view.

Besides Not Wanted on the Voyage, I'm interested in Brown Girl in the Ring, but mostly for its cool book cover and because that phrase was lingering sing-songy in my head all day. It was driving me crazy and I couldn't place its familiar musical origin. Was it from that Minipops cassette from so long ago? I swear, Google is the greatest advancement in the field of artificial intelligence the world has ever seen. I don't need to stretch my brain to extract long-buried information any more, I just need to type at my keyboard.

It's a Boney M song. Of course it is.