Canadian, eh?

[jaynebosco]

I was just wondering if anybody here has read any Canadian books, other than the ones by Lucy Maud Montgomery and Margaret Atwood; it can be fiction or non-fiction and what did you think of it? I'm just curious is all and would like to know what you guys thought of it.

Personally, I haven't read a lot of Canadian books, although I did try to read "Peace Shall Destroy Many" by Rudy Wiebe a few years back and never really got into it; me thinks I should try and read it again sometime soon to see what the big deal was all about when it first came out.

 

[Stewart]

The Canadian authors I've read that I can bring to mind are Margaret Atwood and Douglas Coupland.

I have the first book in the Deptford Trilogy (Fifth Business) by Robertson Davies sitting on my desk and begging to be read. I also have Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. And, I suppose, Yann Martel's Life of Pi, which just sits on my shelf without ever being read.

As I was shown earlier today, Penguin Canada have started the Modern Classics series of Canadian authors which you can view here in all their must-haveness. Authors here are, again, Robertson Davies, Mordecai Richler, Alice Munro, Brian Moore, and Timothy Findley. Books by Joy Kogawa, Mavis Gallant, and Northrop Frye, it would seem, are due to join the series later.

If you are looking to dip in and around with Canadian literature then you could do worse than having a look at the 351 Canadian novelists listed on Wikipedia.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

I have read (and loved) both The Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald, and I have The Way the Crow Flies by MacDonald waiting on my shelf to be read. Atwood is one of my favourite writers - I hope to own her whole set of works one day (at the moment I only have Oryx and Crake, Alias Grace, The Penelopiad and The Blind Assassin).

 

[ValkyrieRaven88]

You know, I rarely know the nationality of whatever author I'm reading. I just don't pay attention.

 

[nomadic myth]

I read lots of "good" books, but I just finished As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories by Alistair MacLeod, and it puts many other books I've read in shadow.

 

[jaynebosco]

I just want to know what you guys think of Canadian authors in general and if you have read any other authors besides the usual. I know of plenty of Canadian authors and have some of their works in my possession and would just like to know what you think of them in general.

I guess i confused everybody

 

[Prairie_Girl]

I have read (and loved) both The Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald, and I have The Way the Crow Flies by MacDonald waiting on my shelf to be read. Atwood is one of my favourite writers - I hope to own her whole set of works one day (at the moment I only have Oryx and Crake, Alias Grace, The Penelopiad and The Blind Assassin).

Would you PLEASE read Crow already and then rebirth my thread from like six months ago, I REALLY want to discuss it with you!!!!!

Myself, I've read and enjoyed Stuart McLean (he wrote the Vinyl Cafe series), Miriam Toewes (A Complicated Kindness)

 

[lady.cordelia]

As I was shown earlier today, Penguin Canada have started the Modern Classics series of Canadian authors which you can view here in all their must-haveness.

Thanks for that link, Stewart! I found a ton of stuff for schooling my girls! They have a whole resources section for teachers and academics. I can't wait to use it!

Sorry to get off-topic. That was just too great not to properly note.

As for authors I haven't paid much attention to where my authors come from, except for just knowing that some were obviously from certain areas (Montgomery for one). Obviously, I'm a Montgomery fan (but mainly because if you knew me you would know just how much like Anne Shirley I really am).

I am interested in this thread, though. Always looking for new and great authors to check out!

 

[nomadic myth]

I just want to know what you guys think of Canadian authors in general and if you have read any other authors besides the usual. I know of plenty of Canadian authors and have some of their works in my possession and would just like to know what you think of them in general.

I guess i confused everybody

Well, I don't trust Atwood. She seems to have some sort of hidden agenda.

I thought this article was interesting. It talks about books that "define" Canadians. I guess critics would say most Canadian writing can be traced to the immigrant experience and yearning for a lost homeland, the roughing it in the bush type experience, or a multicultural experience. I thought good Canadian writers tackled anything that would get them closer to truth and beauty, just like any other good writer.

I still think I'm going to stop reading anything but Alistair MacLeod's writings, which consists of his small collections of short stories, and his novel. Luckily I only read half his short stories, and haven't read his novel yet, so I have a little new material to get through before I start repeating. His short story "To Every Thing There is a Season" is the only piece of writing that ever gave me that shivery feeling where I get goosebumps and the hair on my neck feels tingly. Usually that only happens when I listen to beautiful music. He is a man devoted to art for sure.

Just because a Canadian author is popular doesn't make them good, but on the other hand obscurity doesn't qualify them either.

 

[Anamnesis]

Recently (okay, this spring) I read A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews. It was about this rebellious 17-year old who grew up in a Mennonite community. Although the main character tended to ramble at times, I enjoyed it.

I've also read some Douglas Coupland novels: All Families Are Pyschotic and Miss Wyoming. I liked AFAP and thought that Miss Wyoming was okay, but felt incomplete at times.

 

[Prairie_Girl]

Recently (okay, this spring) I read A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews. It was about this rebellious 17-year old who grew up in a Mennonite community. Although the main character tended to ramble at times, I enjoyed it.

I've also read some Douglas Coupland novels: All Families Are Pyschotic and Miss Wyoming. I liked AFAP and thought that Miss Wyoming was okay, but felt incomplete at times.

I really didn't enjoy Douglas Coupland. Miriam Toews has another book called A Boy of Good Breeding that has been sitting on my TBR pile for months.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

Would you PLEASE read Crow already and then rebirth my thread from like six months ago, I REALLY want to discuss it with you!!!!!

It's going to have to wait until the next holidays, I'm afraid - I'm too busy with school to read a book so long! I'm definitely looking forward to it, though, as I loved Fall on your Knees

 

[Shai]

(Argentian born) Alberto Manguel (writes in English, also does translations from French) lives in Canada and is considered a Canadian author.

If you like Borges (quite fittingly, considering his birth country), you'd like something like Into the Looking-Glass Woods (non-fictionish). Otherwise his single novel, News from a foreign country came, is much more (broadly speaking) N.American in style.