Canada Reads 2019
The Panel:
host Ali Hassan
Chuck Comeau
Lisa Ray
Ziya Tong
Yanic Truesdale
Joe Zee
The panel this year was not as combative as other years. In the past, there has been more talk about 'strategy' and sometimes it seemed that the panel wanted to get rid of the best book first so there was more chance for the book they were promoting. That was irritating. But this year, they appeared to honestly care about the best book winning.
The theme this year was: "One Book to Move You". Perhaps that is why the books were so sad and difficult to read. The themes of the books were: war, mental illness, grief, racism, hate crimes, the holocaust, abandonment- you get the picture.
It was even hard to listen to the trailers for the books. The panel members were looking at issues that are disturbing in the world today and, of course, there are many such books.
But only two of the books had any sense of hope, and they were the last two books to be voted out. They were the two books that moved you without devastating you. I would have been happy to see a tie between these two books- ""Homes" by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah and "By Chance Alone" by Max Eisen.
And the winner was..."By Chance Alone".
Although I was not pleased with the choice of books, I did feel that the panel worked hard to promote Canadian books in a positive way. They were supportive of each other and put a great deal of preparation into making the discussion interesting.
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