Day One of the Canada Reads debate: recap

Posted by Fiction Editor, 2 years ago

I'm not going to try and give an in-depth analysis of the debates since that's been done by much better writers elsewhere, but I thought I would share a few thoughts. :-)

This year marks the first time the Canada Reads debate has been taped in front of a live audience, and it was a pretty entertaining first round of debates. The mix of personalities made for some fairly spirited discussions, and the panelists seemed to have fun joking around with each other. Even the spectators got a bit of recognition when Lorne Cardinal commented that the audience was very good looking.

As a live audience member, you almost felt like an active participant in the debate since you could see the passion in the faces of the panelists as they debated the merits of their respective books, often accompanied by much gesticulation. (In the case of Ali Velshi, at one point Jian Ghomeshi commented on how he almost felt a bit threatened by Velshi's impassioned gestures.)

The most contentious part of the debate was definitely when the panelists started discussing whether they felt graphic novels could deliver the same reading experience compared to the traditional literary novel, and that's where the always-diplomatic Jian Ghomeshi had to rein in the panelists before complete chaos occurred.

And in the spontaneous debate that occurred post-taping, audience members were quick to commiserate on the elimination of Essex County and defend/debate the merits of graphic novels.

But the prize for most light-hearted moment would have to be the pre-taping discussion around Jian Ghomeshi's socks, which were very striking. (Sadly, I do not have a picture of said socks, but maybe tomorrow I can sneak something!)

I'm looking forward to Day 2, and would love to hear everyone's thoughts on today's debates and which book will likely get booted off next...


Visit www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/canadareads2011/ for more details about the nominees...

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