For nine years, the John Meier “has been trolling the Internet, used-book stores and libraries, as well as stalking publishing houses, in his quest to collect a copy of every English-language first edition book to win the Governor-General’s Literary Award for fiction. Through detective work, a wide network of scouts and sheer tenacity, he has managed to amass multiple copies of every winner going back to 1936, for a collection nearing 500 books.”