Tamas Dobozy, Siege 13
Robert Hough, Dr. Brinkley’s Tower
Vincent Lam, The Headmaster’s Wager
Carrie Snyder, The Juliet Stories
Linda Spalding, The Purchase

So Hough becomes the only Giller longlister to make the G-G list, just as Ohlin was the only one to appear on the Writers’ Trust list. But both Dobozy and Spalding make the G-G and Writers’ Trust.

I have only reviewed the Hough and Lam — did not find either exceptional, although both had their strong points. I do have both the Snyder and Spalding on hand and intend to get to them as soon as my Giller reading is completed. Both have received good reviews and were regarded as Giller possibles — as much as I have found this year’s list weak, I have to admit that I have not read very many books that I thought the judges should be criticized for overlooking. And I must scout out Siege 13.

The spread on the shortlists for the three prizes tends to confirm my impression that this is a pretty “even” year for Canadian fiction — last year both The Sisters’ Brothers and Half Blood Blues made all three lists, Lyon and Hage were on all three in recent years as well. Unfortunately, in my reading so far, that “even” seems to be a notch or two below the best books of recent years.

The G-G list is out today — I’ll come back with a comment later when it does.

Am I right in thinking the GGLA shortlist is announced today? It will be interesting to see what is on that and if Alix Ohlin can make it three out of three. I have to say I find the Writers’ Trust shortlist far more appealing than the Giller’s and have Tim Bowling’s ‘The Tinsmith’ near the top of my tbr pile.

And whilst I don’t want to bang on about the books I wish had been on the longlist, I would just say that I’m two stories into Miranda Hill’s ‘Sleeping Funny’ (I haven’t even got to her Journey Prize-winning story yet) and already I’m wondering what those Giller judges were thinking!

I’d agree that Ohlin’s reflects another aspect of the “Canadian” experience (her husband heads off to the Arctic on temporary assignment when his next relationship breaks up — the ultimate Canadian copout escape).

And both books are good at exploring some of the tensions of being non-Francophone in Montreal, although I would not suggest that is a major theme in either. I did find Nancy Richler’s take on Jewish Montreal a very interesting contrast to Mordecai Richler’s — much humbler and less bombastic. (As I understand it, their grandfathers were brothers.)