The Lake Effect

Ever since I discovered Paris 1919 –and with it my love of non-fiction—I have eagerly anticipated reading the winner of the Governor General’s Literary Awards each year. This year’s winner, Lakeland: Journeys into the Soul of Canada by Allan Casey was no exception. Although it was different from the type of non-fiction I normally read (being a bit of a history/politics/society type) it was no less enjoyable. My first surprise came when I tried to order a copy online through Chapters. They were completely out of stock, and didn’t expect to get any new orders in for weeks; Sentimentalists all over again it seemed, but without the excuse of the book being hand printed and bound. As it turns out, my initial disappointment merely paved the way for my surprised excitement when the book came in just over a week, perfectly on time for me to delve in after finishing Clio in the Clinic. Sometimes I guess the universe does get things right.

The next surprise came from the content of the book itself. I’ll admit that it wasn’t even on my radar before the GGs were announced. I like lakes as much as the next Canuck, but I never really thought about reading about them; the whole point of lakes was always to swim in, camp next to, and go “yuck” at the thought of even putting a toe into Lake Ontario. It didn’t help that the book description was vague. So I was again pleasantly surprised to crack open the book and find the memoir/environmental slant/travelogue style a joy to read. Following the author through his journeys into Canada’s wilderness, via its iconic lakes, seemed like the perfect form of armchair travel in the dead of winter. I learned about swimming races in small town Quebec, the scourge of development on Lakes Emma and Okanagan, the abysmal level of government funding for non-Great Lake freshwater research, and the role of European immigrants in Nova Scotian lake towns. My only complaint was that a lack of a map resulted in my reliance upon Google Maps to locate the specific location of the less-known lakes portrayed in each chapter. I unavoidably felt more Canadian by the time I closed the cover for the last time.

So then, why has Lakeland remained off the radar of most readers? A quick check reveals that it never made it to a bestsellers list, and only has one and two online reviews on the Indigo and Amazon.ca websites, respectively. All this in contrast to the hype and selling-frenzy that emerges following a Giller award, or even short-listing. Perhaps this says something about Canadian reading habits, poor marketing by the GGs, or a failure on the part of Greystone Books to capitalize on GG fame. Not to mention that the cover could easily sell the book on its own if it was given some prime book store real estate. Either way, for those who are missing out on this slice of Canadian literary heaven, the paperback comes out February 11^th.