March 12, 2010
Ray Smith's Century tops Canada Reads: Independently!
Taking 35% of the popular vote, Ray Smith’s Century has won top spot in the Canada Reads: Independently picks. Thank you to everybody who took part, to everybody who voted, to Jian Ghomeshi for mentioning our humble little extravaganza on yesterday’s CBC Canada Reads broadcast, to Dan Wells for nominating Century (and for publishing it), and to Ray Smith for writing it.
Thanks also to the rest of our celebrity panel, for donating their time and for the wonderful books they introduced to us. The five Canada Reads: Independently selections made clear that Canadian Literature is multitudinous, rich, and full of surprises. Which makes it much like literature in general, and in particular too.
Now, why don’t you celebrate by buying the book?
Awesome news. Well deserved.
And Kerry, congrats on running such a successful campaign on your blog. Canada Reads: Independently was fantastic. You should be very proud of what Pickle Me This has done to promote all the wonderful books on this list. Excellent job!
Peace,
Mark
I second that. Great job, Kerry. Although I ran out of steam at the end (I didn’t read Wild Geese), I thank you for being the vehicle that introduced me to at least two wonderful Canadian authors I had never read or even heard of.
Yes, Kerry – big congrats to you on such a fine job with this campaign.
I’m disappointed that Hair Hat didn’t win (sob, sniff), but I’ll get over it, I’m sure. I’m just so glad that Carrie Snyder’s lovely book has had another opportunity to get some much deserved attention, along with all the other nominated novels!
Horray for Century! I left reading it ’til last, and so I think I hadn’t enough time to think it over before voting, but it is a wonderful, deserving winner of any competition!
You know my biggest surprise? That it was published in 1986 but I’d never, before now, heard of it. I would honestly have thought a book of it’s caliber would have a more prestigious position in the CanLit canon. KUDOS to Biblioasis for bringing it back to print.
Well, I guess if Moody Food couldn’t win, Century is an acceptable second choice …
Honestly, with that list of books, any one of them could have and should have been the winner. I’m thrilled with how it all worked out and so glad so many of you played along.