The Canada Reads debates are coming up next week on the CBC. Yay! I love this week. I’ve been listening to the debates for several years now — I think it’s the most fun and exciting part of the process, much more so than reading and discussing the selected book.

In January, my friend RheostaticsFan suggested that the two of us read all five of the nominated books before the debates. I’ve never attempted this feat before — I find having not read any of the books does not diminish my enjoyment of the selection process at all, and I can usually tell from the discussions if there are any titles that I should add to my reading list. I admit I was not very enthusiastic about the idea, because having the three kids on the go around here means that I only get to read maybe two or three novels a year, and getting through five books in seven weeks seemed nigh on impossible. But RheostaticsFan offered to buy all the books and lend them to me, so really, I had no excuse not to try.

Luckily I had already read one of the nominees, Timothy Findley’s Not Wanted On The Voyage. I started in January with book number 2, King Leary by Paul Quarrington. It was the smallest of the books, a slim little paperback, so figured I’d be able to get through it easily. Four weeks later…I finally got it done. Eeep. Not looking good.

Then I got a second wind and whipped through Icefields by Thomas Wharton in a weekend. Now, I’m halfway through Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson, and I’ll definitely finish that one by Monday. I probably won’t be able to read all the short stories in Mavis Gallant’s From the Fifteenth District, but still, that’s four out of five…not bad at all!

I didn’t really think that reading the books in advance would make a difference, but man, am I excited now. It’s just like seeing all five Best Picture nominees before the Oscars — you’re so much more invested because you can understand all the references, fully appreciate all the comments, and of course, root for your own favourites. Thank goodness the CBC posts audio of the daily debates on their website, since I could never listen to it live (for some reason, the kids just do not appreciate talk radio — what is with that?).

I can’t decide which one I liked the best, although I can tell you that I did not think Icefields was a very good book. Brown Girl is cool and very different; King Leary is funny and has great characters and is very, very Canadian. But I think probably Voyage is going to take it — Findley is a master and Voyage is his masterpiece. A book every Canadian should read, I think.

Read, Canada, read!