City of Vancouver Book Award Shortlist Lacks Spice

So, the City of Vancouver Book Award finalists have been announced. I've written before about what terrible taste this city has in books, but this is a new low. IMore detail in a sec, but at fist glance we've got a history of Vancouver's marine activities, a history of Stanley Park, a posthumous artist's biography and an atlas. An atlas! Not anything that I want on my bedside table, nevermind to take with me to a deserted island. Perhaps, I'm being unfair though. The Office of Cultural Affairs explains this prize as "books in any genre that demonstrate excellence and contribute to the appreciation and understanding of Vancouver's history, unique character or the achievements of its residents." Nothing in there about interestingness, so I suppose we're good.

The books themselves don't seem all that bad, in reality. I'm just suprised that they are across the board boring, as if the judges were afraid of offending or stepping on toes. (The judges, by the way are an independent jury of a bookseller, a professors and a library associate. They will also be deciding the final winner). There are a lot of really great books written in and about Vancouver and although I haven't read any of these, I suspect they aren't it.

1. Stanley Park's Secret: The Forgotten Families of Whoi Whoi, Kanaka Ranch and Brockton Point written by Jean Barman (Harbour Publishing) looks at the history of Stanley Park. I've been intrigued about the goings on in the park since I read Timothy Taylor's Stanley Park (oh hey, look! an interesting book about Vancouver!), but not enough to read past the publisher's synopsis.

2. James P. Delgado is a Maritime archaelogist and the executive director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, so I'm sure he's really qualified to write Waterfront: The Illustrated Maritime History of Greater Vancouver (Stanton Atkins & Dosil), and that he's done an excellent job of it, but I'm also sure I won't be reading it.

3. I have a long-standing love of maps and altases and all things cartographical, so despite my earlier scoffing, Derek Hayes' Historical Atlas of Vancouver and the Lower Fraser Valley (Douglas & McIntyre), appeals to me more than the rest. But an altas is not something you read, really, and while that wasn't one of the defining characteristics, I think you come to books like that in a different way.

4. Last is a biography of local artist B.C. Binning, also called B.C. Binning (Douglas & McIntyre), compiled by Abraham J. Rogatnick, Ian M. Thom, and Adele Weder. You would think I would at least be remotely curious about this one, since I am so interested in the arts scene, but it took me a few google searches to even find this profile with a sample of his artwork, and by then I was bored of it already. The Straight seems to like it, though, so maybe it stands a chance.

The prize ($2,000) will be awarded on October 17th by Mayor Sullivan. I'm not holding my breath.