In books, as in music and film (and so much else), December is the time when everyone presents their "Best of" lists for the year, and while sometimes it feels overwhelming, it's also an exciting opportunity to take stock of the amazing feats of writing and creativity published in 12 months alone. Year-end lists fuel Christmas presents, holiday reading, and dinner conversations with friends throughout the most whirling month of all.
And then they get forgotten. By January, we're done with the year that was. We extend our arms for all that is new, brushing off any bits of fluff still bold enough to clinging to our updated selves. We turn our eye now to Most Anticipated lists, and the books we planned to read—even bought—last year get sidelined for the sole fact of when they were published: the dusty history of whole months ago. They might get read at some point in the future, and they might not. Their stellar reviews still stand, the author blurbs still call to us on glossy covers, but it is not last year but this year and this changes everything in terms of how we consume our culture.
In some ways, this is totally understandable: cultural products, including books, don't just represent creative output—they are an important currency for what we talk about, how we come together, and how we find a voice when we're at parties and restaurants with others. Because it is more likely that our friends are reading the newest books, we are more likely to want to read the newest books because then we get to have a say, to find things in common, to share.
But it doesn't mean that it's not sad, and even wasteful—this disposal of past years' works of genius, many of which—especially in fiction and poetry—maintain their relevancy far beyond the year they were published.
I love working on 49th Shelf for many reasons, but one of the highlights for sure is being able to cast deserved light on great books not published right this very instant. And I also have been involved with the BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction since its inception 11 years ago, and it was this project that got me thinking about today's post on Blogthecat. Specifically, I was this morning looking over past winners of the award, of which there are now ten. And it struck me how impressive the books remain:
- 2005: Patrick Lane for There Is a Season
- 2006: Rebecca Godfrey for Under the Bridge
- 2007: Noah Richler for This Is My Country, What’s Yours?
- 2008: Lorna Goodison for From Harvey River
- 2009: Russell Wangersky for Burning Down the House
- 2010: Ian Brown for The Boy in the Moon
- 2011: John Vaillant for The Tiger
- 2012: Charlotte Gill for Eating Dirt
- 2013: Modris Eksteins for Solar Dance
- 2014: Thomas King for The Inconvenient Indian
Wow. Those are some incredible books. There Is a Season is still one of my favourites, and watching Patrick accept the award a decade ago, in the company of his wife and fellow dazzling poet, Lorna Crozier, was a beautiful moment I won't forget.
Thankfully, I have many reader friends, especially on Twitter, who do an excellent job of remembering the very best books published any year. It's via them, actually, that I'm now ferociously devouring Brian Francis's Natural Order, published wayyyyyy back in 2011. Well, them and one of Brian's other marvels, Caker Cooking.
I'll read my new new stuff this December, like anyone else, but I'm glad to have ways of discovering more than that. Because there's so much more.
