The winner of last week's Great Wednesday Compare (
John Steinbeck Vs. William Faulkner), with a final score of 9-8, was John Steinbeck.
As much as I wanted a tie in past debates, I really didn't want the 1st round of Great Wednesday Compares to end on my vote. But here we are, and I assure you my tie-breaking vote for Steinbeck was honest. I've read only one Faulkner book (
As I Lay Dying) and don't care to read another. I found it confusing, yet dull. A few people voting in Faulkner's favour last week suggested that his books caused them to think and work harder, but they found the effort worth it. Perhaps had I studied Faulkner in a group setting or in a class, I'd appreciate the complexities. My first exposure to Steinbeck
was in a classroom (
The Pearl) and I reject the notion that there was anything less to think about or consider. Steinbeck's messages are at least packaged in a more straightforward story. If I wanted to delve deeper, I could. With Faulkner I didn't feel I had any choice.
Before I get into the first contenders for the 2nd Round, let's have a look back...
In the premiere edition, Stephen King took on J. K. Rowling beating her (though not all the way to the bank)
15-5 . Quickly though we found that the true king of horror was Edgar Allan Poe, who beat him
17-5. Poe, however, was no match for Jane Austen, who slaughtered him
48-8. Then in the first all-female edition, Austen was the first author to win two weeks in a row, taking down Lucy Maud Montgomery
38-13. But her winning streak wouldn't end there, she took on Kurt Vonnegut the next week and gutted him
22-10. Which literary genius finally proved superior to Austen? Dr. Suess
23-21. His rhymes struck a chord with people and Seuss was able to win a 2nd match, this time against Narnia creator C. S. Lewis
15-14. But, rhymes are one thing and poetry is quite another. Who took out Seuss, I think I know...Robert Frost
21-4. Frost is cool, but no match for the Canadian winter. Margaret Atwood took over
18-6. And though she professed her admiration for Toni Morrison, there's no room for niceties here. Toni Morrison wasn't much beloved at all, losing
15-2. Atwood could not, however, tie Austen's 3 week winning streak. According to Garp fans, John Irving is better
9-8. Irving continued on, without any care for atonement, beating Ian McEwan
10-4. But the time for phoniness had passed and J. D. Salinger put down Irving
9-5. Salinger then cast out William Goulding
9-3. Again with no one seeming able to tie Austen's record of three, Salinger lost to Ray Bradbury
12-2. Then, in a sci-fi showdown, Bradbury took out Isaac Asimov
6-2 (a pretty sad number of votes!) Again reliving our childhoods, Bradbury lost out to E. B. White
10-2. Next E. B. White proved that caterpillars are no match for spiders, getting rid of Eric Carle
21-4. Then, perhaps proving we were all a little tired of juvenile fiction, Agatha Christie took the lead, killing off White
10-6. Who's the better sleuth master? No mystery here: Arthur Conan Doyle
8-6. The following week not even Halloween could save Bram Stoker. Sherlock thrust the stake through his heart
13-4. Then Harper Lee took out Doyle
17-5. In my first cold-war match-up Lee lost to Tolstoy,
8-7. Tolstoy then returned to his own country and offered punishment to Fyodor Dostoevsky
9-7. Tolstoy is good, but George Orwell is better
8-6. And Leonard Cohen? Orwell took him down to that place near the river
9-8. Next it was the best of times for Charles Dickens who beat Orwell
14-4. Dickens then went on to beat Mark Twain
10-9 and Virginia Woolf
9-8, finally tying Austen's record. But the record was not to be beat until Steinbeck came along. Immediately he set his wrath upon Dickens
12-8, Ernest Hemingway
16-7, Carol Shields
13-6, Karl Marx
15-2, and finally William Faulkner 9-8, bringing his total wins to five, which was the magic number to end the first round and declare
John Steinbeck the first champion.
For the second round, I've decided to start off with a couple Canadians (actually I believe Munsch has dual citizenship with the U.S.). I've not yet had an all-Canadian match-up and since I'm hosting the
Canadian Book Challenge, I figured it was as good a time as any to promote that. Not to worry though, upcoming week's will see the compares going global once more.
Remember, vote simply by adding your comment below, base it on whatever merit you choose, voting does not end until Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. (Feb 12, 2008), and please spread the word!
Who's better?