The books 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize judge Randy Boyagoda is reading right now
This interview originally aired on Oct. 5, 2019.
Randy Boyagoda is a literary critic, English professor, novelist and The Next Chapter columnist.
He was the chair of the five-person 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize jury, a $100,000 prize that poet and author Ian Williams ended up winning for his debut novel Reproduction.
After months of reading 117 "excellent" books that were submitted for Giller Prize consideration that year, Boyagoda tells Shelagh Rogers that he needed to clear his head and change his reading habits after such an intense judging process.
These are a few of the books he read after he was on the jury.
How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul & The Enchanted Hour by Meghan Cox Gurdon
Both books look at how to change reading habits: How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul looks at encouraging better reading habits in children while The Enchanted Hour by Meghan Cox Gurdon looks at why reading aloud can help adults and children improve their reading habits in the social media age.
"After reading all the Giller Prize books, I wanted to think about a different approach to reading itself," Boyagoda said. "I was thinking about the reading in a family context and reading out loud. These are two excellent books that any parent who cares about books and cares about their children's reading should be aware of."
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Originally published in 1968, A Wizard of Earthsea is the first book in the Earthsea Cycle by American speculative fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin. The series features wizards, dragons and the quest for power in a fantasy world.
"Reading these books aloud with my children on a daily basis was a good and important break from the solitary experience of reading for the Giller Prize," Boyagoda said.
The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton
The Famous Five is a series of children's adventure novels written by British author Enid Blyton. The books, first published between 1942 and 1963, chronicle the adventures of siblings Julian, Dick and Anne with their cousin Georgina and her dog Timmy.
"I bought a shelf load of Enid Blyton adventure novels and started reading those with my children and then reading aloud on a daily basis," Boyagoda said. "My mother gave them to me to read when I was growing up in Oshawa and she had read them herself growing up as a girl in Ceylon."
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
Lucy Ellmann is an American-born author living in Edinburgh. Her latest novel is a 1,000-page stream of consciousness epic about an unnamed middle-aged Ohio woman living in Donald Trump's America. The novel is on the 2019 Booker Prize shortlist.
"Told by an Ohio housewife, the novel is about making sense of her life and of the world," Boyagoda said. "This book is so good. I couldn't stop reading this."
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
Born in Florence in 1265, Dante Alighieri was a poet and civil leader. He has been called the single, greatest poetic consciousness in human history. His literary masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is composed of three books: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso.
"I read a canto of Dante's Divine Comedy every single day. This is done first thing in the morning before I do anything else. It sets the rhythm, shape and structure of my imaginative life," Boyagoda said.
Randy Boyagoda's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
