Wanted: A Hitchhiker's Guide to the VPL's Book Choice

So, just curious, what are the Vancouver Public Library staff thinking with their One Book, One Vancouver book choices this year? This year's winner as the book that every Vancouverite should read, chosen by visitors to the library branches as well as via their webiste, is the reknowned and widely already-read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, written by the late Douglas Adams in 1979. The competition was The Absolutely True Dairies of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexis and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Don't get me wrong it's a stellar book. If you happen to be one of the five people who haven't already read it, you're in for a treat. It's fantastically fun, intelligent, creative and silly, but it's an odd choice after past winners with somewhat more gravity and/or local relevance such as Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor, Joy Kogawa’s Obasan, Joel Bakan’s The Corporation and The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky by Karen X. Tulchinsky. (There's more info on their website.) Terry Lavender writes a killer article that says exactly (but more eloquently) what I thought when I heard the news, which is basically that, as influential as the book has been for the tech-happy, cyber-stoked side of this planet, it's not specifically Vancouver-y at all.

Maybe it was nominated because of the potential for fun themed events. While the Hitchhiker's Guide reigns supreme this fall there will be "intergalactic events and contests" (the promotional pamphlet from the library said it, not me) which include a Vogon Poetry Slam and Vog-Off (Vogon Poetry is, according to The Guide, the worst in the universe), a travel writing workshop, a Hitchhiker's Innovation Expo of the latest gear, eco-gadgets and technology –an "electronic petting zoo", apparently– and the assembly of a 2040 time capsule to be opened in thirty years. 

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To play Vogon's advocate for

To play Vogon's advocate for a moment:

I agree that it's hard to drag anything Vancouver-specific out of this 30-year-old British book... but I have to agree with its selection on principle. It's an incisive, funny, whimsical book whose satirical relevance has, if anything, grown over time -- the titular handheld, networked computer that sprang from Adams' fertile imagination in 1979 is very much a reality today, and in fact, it's hard for us to appreciate how fantastical it would have seemed when originally published.

Now, you can argue that public reading events should focus on up-and-coming, or local, or capital-L-literary authors (or preferably all three) and ignore light popular fare such as The Hitchhiker's Guide, but that attitude is already so prevalent that it actually makes choosing a popular book a daring choice. I'm reminded of the National Post's recent criticism of Anne Michaels (as one of Canada's 10 most overrated authors): "They’re the All Bran of CanLit: books that people read because they think they’re good for them, not out of any expectation of pleasure or enjoyment."

Surely we can allow ourselves a break from the All-Bran and enjoy a nice meal of fish and chips every now and again instead?

(And yesterday *was* binary-42 day (10/10/10 = 101010 = 42 in binary notation). That only rolls around once a century.)

Brook Jones more than 12 years ago

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