Lennoxville Library hosts its own version of Canada Reads

For as long as CBC's Canada Reads has existed, LennoxvilleLibrary has hosted its own version: a one-night battle of the books in which five presenters make the case for five Canadian books.

The organizers don't deviate far from the Canada Reads model.

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In about two hours, they debated the same five books that Canada Reads will look at next week over the course of four days.

Organizer Sheila Maclean says it's a chance for library users to step into the spotlight and speak publicly about what they read.

"This is our readers who are presenting to the public, and we tend to get a wide variety of people coming in to listen as well."

The audience, packed in between bookshelves, votes at the end for who they felt made the most effective case.

"It's just generally a fun event," saidMaclean.

Sitting in the audience, Mead Baldwin saidhe relishes the opportunity to hear about new titles, books he might not otherwise pick up.

"I tend to read the same sort of stuff, so it's nice to have something different," he said.

15 minutes to persuade

With just 15 minutes of speaking time each, the five presenters didtheir best to convince the audience their book was the strongest.

Kenneth Tomlin, defending Minister without Portfolio by Michael Winter, tried to convey the poetry of Winter's writing to the crowd.

"It's a kind of poetry that helps us enjoy living in the moment," he said.

Meanwhile, presenter Shanna Bernier hoped the raw emotion of her book, The Hero's Walk by Anita Rau Badani, resonated with the crowd.

"It's very poignant. This book brought me to tears several times."

Ultimately, it was Muriel Fitzsimmons defending Birdie, by author Tracy Lindberg, who won the day.

Macleantold CBC that the Lennoxville crowd frequently picks the book that goes on to win Canada Reads.

Canada Reads runs from March 21to March 24. More information about how to follow the debate is at cbc.ca/books/canadareads.