October = Arts Apparently II

Mocks over, on to GB Reads.
I'm thrilled to be taking part in this very fun evening for a second year in a row. It's a takeoff of the hugely popular Canada Reads that runs on the CBC, but is in honour of Literacy Week, and involves all the libraries in our area.

Last year, I choose to defend Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye as a novel we all should read; a story of a woman who can only be described as a frenemy and the nasty things she does to her friends. The 'defenders' voted one another out, rather than letting the audience decide. I'm not entirely sure of the format this year. I can only say I was not the first voted off and I landed a few zingers before the night was out.

This year, my suggestion for all of us to read or re-read, is Douglas Coupland's Generation X. It has stuck with me since it came out, back in 1991, and has stood the test of time, being just as fun and current when I read it again a few weeks ago. I feel as though the characters are universal, a rare thing in a literary tradition which generally sees Canadian characters weeping in the maritimes or dashing across the prairies. I don't think Canadian writing needs to been so parochial, so provincial, to be good.

Gen X, of course, was so well received worldwide, it became the moniker for an actual generation, one to which I belong, of course, and the members of which were sometimes noted for a certain cynicism but also a sharp-eyed belief that they've been somewhat screwed by their older, boomer brothers and sisters, simply by dint of birth date. When I was reading it, I realized I've been unwittingly been quoting it for years.

The other novels up for consideration are two of Timothy Findley's: The Wars and Not Wanted on the Voyage, Tierry Grigg's Rogue's Wedding, Michael Crummey's Galore and Cathy Buchannan's The Day the Falls Stood Still. Three of the five are 'sweeping historical tours de yadda yadda yadda', one set in Newfoundland, one in Georgian Ontario and one in World War I. Findley's Not Wanted is really quite fun, a look at Noah's ark, if Noah were rather a jerk.

I think my book has a pretty good shot, especially if I take the tack that Generation X was iconic, and so is its author, who is currently doing the Massey Lectures, continuing his musings on the future and how we relate to it.

I'm ready for a scrap- I hope you'll join me at the library in Thornbury on Saturday night, 7 pm. the Leafs are likely to lose, but readers always win.