Civilians Read: Day 5

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the moment you’ve all been waiting for . . . the unveiling of  the Civilians Read champion.

Listen to the final podcast [Running Time 20:22]:

If you’d like to bring the Civilians with you everywhere you go (and who wouldn’t?) all the episodes are now available for download at Audio Archive.

Today’s video confessional is a little bit less of a mash-up (and don’t worry folks, Nic has all his clothes on this time) and we let the panelists  get in their final two cents:

And our last series of behind-the-scenes photos, which prove that despite the lovey-dovey opening photo series, we don’t always play nice:

. . .

A big thank you goes out to the panelists, who were as prepared, animated, and eloquent as I hoped they would be, and more. And as a final recognition for their hard work, gentle listeners, please help me give out an MVP Award to one of our panelists. Vote for whichever panelists you think was too good for this ramshackle operation and should be going straight to the hallowed halls of the CBC:

Next week, I’ll be taking on my regular coverage of the Canada Reads competition, with daily posts right after the 11:30 broadcast finishes. Finally, after a lengthy stint as a (mostly) neutral host, I’ll be able to let my opinions fly. As a warning, if you plan to listen to the evening podcast, do not come here until then, because otherwise this will be spoiler central. Our panelists may even weigh in on the conversation here or on twitter, and we’d love to keep up the fantastic discussions we’ve started here.

The week following Canada Reads, come on back to the KIRBC — we’ll have some discussions with our panelists as the weigh in on their experiences, compare Civilians Read with Canada Reads, and tell us whether or not they ever want to hear the words “Canada Reads” ever again.

And the week following that and following that? Well . . . just come back forever.

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Civilians Read: Day 4

We’re closing in on the end of our Civilians Read competition and another book gets the axe today. In today’s podcast we talk books in schools, great characters, Ann-Marie MacDonald’s particular brand of emotional abuse, and how Nic’s never been a sister. Oh, and we forget to plug in the mic post-confessional — but hey, we warned you this would be rough and tumble.

Listen in! [Running Time 24:06]

After another elimination, more debate, and certainly more wine, another confessional:

And here’s another chance to scour (some of) my bookshelves, plus Nic’s thousand words on Good to a Fault:

Thanks again for tuning in, and don’t miss our thrilling conclusion tomorrow! It’s pretty exciting stuff. You might even pee a little.

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Civilians Read: Day 3

We’ve reached Day 3 of our Civilians Read competition and it’s elimination time. Yes, my friends, by a vote of 3-2, one of our books has been evicted from the Big Brother House, must go back to the top model home, pack her belongings and go home because the tribe has spoken (or something like that).

So today we’re going to switch things up and have the podcast first, followed by the video confessional. If you watch the confessional first, it’ll be a bit of a spoiler (though episode 3 does of course start with the reveal of the previous day’s vote).Today we talked about “Canadian-ness,” why we read, and give the panelists to call out the book that they had more fun throwing across the room than reading.

And today’s video confessional (Again, SPOILER ALERT!):

And some more exclusive behind-the-scenes action!

Slideshow photos by Nic Boshart & Sarah Labrie, Top group photo series by Geoff Thomlinson

We’re past the halfway mark and another book is going home, so tune in again tomorrow. And feel free to join the debates here by leaving a comment or on twitter with the hashtag #CiviliansRead.

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