No Canadian books, but we probably make good candles
Indigo’s CEO and chief booklover Heather Reisman was on the tube the other day announcing her favourite books of the year. (In Other Media had Canada AM on because we were waiting for Live! with Regis and Kelly to start — their banter is genuine and delightful!) A couple of the picks were standard, like Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, which now officially has to be included on all year-end best books lists or else the taste police will confiscate your library (or Indigo Rewards) card, and the latest Doris Kearns Goodwin book about Lincoln or Taft or somesuch. But you know what wasn’t on the list? That’s right, a Canadian book. Adam Gopnik’s kids book, The King in the Window, could, in some marginal way, qualify, since he lived in Montreal, but otherwise, there were none.
The full list is on the CTV site, where your official Giller Prize network has listed James Frey’s memoir, My Friend Leonard, under “good fiction.” They also have a link to the video of Reisman’s appearance. Take one drink every time Reisman says “delicious.” And two drinks every time you think you see a little part of host Seamus O’Regan’s soul leaving his body.
Related links:
Click here for the CTV story
Isn’t it obvious by now that Heather doesn’t give a damn about Canadian publishing?