Welcome back, Canadian readers!

Whew! I’m still trying to catch my breath after that dramatic final debate. I hope you were all listening as the Canada Reads 2008 winner was revealed, but if you weren’t, please download the podcast or catch the show online before reading any further. Trust me, today’s broadcast contained some truly shocking moments you will want to experience first hand.

The plot thickens as a third book is voted off

After taking their seats ‘round the studio, Jian and his fearless five wasted no time in tossing another book, since there were two titles destined to go back to the shelf today.

At first there was a certain déjà vu vibe to proceedings, with three of the panelists remaining consistent in their positions from previous rounds — Steve voted against King Leary, Lisa nixed Not Wanted on the Voyage and Jemeni held firm in dismissing Icefields. Only Dave Bidini put an X beside a new title, Thomas Wharton’s Icefields (for the record, though, he’d previously voted against From the Fifteenth District and Brown Girl in the Ring, and they were both gone at this stage). It came down to Zaib’s decisive vote, and to no one’s surprise (he and Dave are in cahoots, I swear!), he opted to send Icefields packing.

Steve MacLean, who had predicted his book’s fate earlier when he remarked, “I sense I’m in a storm,” was characteristically clear-headed about the result, and took one last opportunity to make a dignified plug for his book’s intricately structured “quest” story.

The final two duke it out

And then the moment we’d all been waiting for arrived. And no, I’m not talking about the final vote — I’ m talking about the sight of former partners-in-crime Dave and Zaib being forced to square off against each other! Now that’s karma!

This resulted in some of the finest debating I’ve seen across all five broadcasts, with Zaib using his Stratford chops to deliver a tour-de-force reading from Not Wanted on the Voyage. Not to be outdone, Dave Bidini joked about “reading wars,” and promptly proceeded to match Zaib note for note in his warm delivery of a scene from King Leary.

But the most dazzling defence came before the reading wars ever began. When asked to comment on the most moving book, the normally deadpan Dave Bidini offered up a description of the first time he read King Leary that was so personal, passionate and vivid (he conjured up albums! cigarettes! a Delta 88!), it stopped me in my tracks and made me abandon my previously diehard hockey-hating stance. Dave Bidini won Canada Reads fair and square in that very moment — the ensuing votes were just a formality.

And speaking of the votes, I’m still reeling from Steve MacLean’s last-minute decision to abandon his hockey-hating stance and turn against Not Wanted on the Voyage. I’m not sure what triggered Steve’s about-face — was it skating monks or peer pressure from his Leary-loving panelists? Whatever the reason, Steve provided what had to be the most shocking moment in a week that was full of dramatic twists and surprises.