I made a list of Canadian authors that I want to read and the book after reading as much as I have of This is my Country, What's Yours? by Noah Richler. Here is the full list this time.
The Penelopid – Margaret Atwood
The Island Walkers – John Bemrose
The Time in Between – David Bergen
Three Day Road – Joseph Boyden
At the Full and Change of the Moon – Dionne Brand
Pieces of Map, Pieces of Music – Robert Bringhurst
The Origins of Water – Austin Clarke
Eyeing the North Star – George Elliott Clarke
Microserfs – Douglas Coupland
A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali – Gil Courtemanche
The Wreckage – Michael Crummey
Angel Walk – Katherine Govier
Make Believe Love – Lee Gowan
Barbara Gowdy
In the Place of Last Things – Michael Helm
Kiss of the Fur Queen – Tomson Highway
A Passion for Narrative – Jack Hodgins
The Song of Kahunsha – Anosh Irani
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams – Wayne Johnston
Thomas King
Dead Girls – Nancy Lee
To the River – Tim Lilburn
The Best Thing for you – Annabel Lyon
The Way the Crow Flies – Anne Marie-MacDonald
Small Island – Alistair MacLeod
Gaffer – Kevin Major
The Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Twenty-Six – Leo McKay, Jr.
A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
Alligator – Lisa Moore
Alice Munro
The City of Yes – Peter Oliva
Michael Ondaatje
Civilization – Paul Quarrington
David Adams Richards
Moody Food – Ray Robertson
Monkey Beach – Eden Robinson
Carol Shields
Muriella Pent – Russell Smith
When Alice Lay Down with Peter – Margaret Sweatman
Stanley Park – Timothy Taylor
Miriam Toews
The Pornographer's Poem – Michael Turner
Jane Urquahart
My Present Age – Guy Vanderhaeghe
M.G. Vassanji
Salamander – Thomas Wharton
Ruby Wiebe
Haiku – Richard Wright
Mercy – Alissa York
Thoughts? Bad choices? Feel free and comment! Some I own already, so I have to read.
The Life of Pi - I tried to get into that one but it just sounded so boring to me. Let me know how you like it. :-)
ReplyDeleteP.S. I never know which author is from where. LOL.
I liked the Penelopiad but I do recommend reading the Iliad first if you have never read it. I liked Three Day Road (and it just won the First Novel Award). I've been wanting to read some Alistair MacLeod who I've never read.
ReplyDeleteI started Life of Pi, read a chapter or two, decided it wasn't worth my time. Mentioned that at work (cause a coworker owned the book, he also didn't like it) and another coworker and our boss looked at us like we had three heads.
I would add something by Vassanji to the list. I'm enjoyed the collection of his stort stories that I just started.
And you know that next week you are likely going to add a couple more to the list when the Governor General nominees are announced right?
Oh no... Life of Pi is totally worth the read. You just have to stick through the first quarter of the book. Once he's on the boat, it gets very good and the ending is just fantastic. You'll be begging for someone to talk to about it.
ReplyDeleteSassy - I will always be adding to it... For starters, M-Y. I only posted up to M and haven't been home long enough to post the rest of the list.
ReplyDeleteKristina - Well, I own Life of Pi, so I am going to have to eventually read it.
Mailyn - I try to read Canadian authors.
Ohhhh Canadian writers. One of my favourite subjects.
ReplyDeleteMake sure that you read Welcome Home: Travels in smalltown Canada by Stuart McLean, which is one of the most engaging works of travel fiction I have partaken in this year.
From the golden age of the burgeoning Canadian writer try "That Summer in Paris" by the magnificent Morley Callaghan. A longtime friend of Ernest Hemingway's, this colourful memoir spins Paris of the 1920's into a beautiful tapestry... James Joyce and F Scott Fitzgerald play into Callaghan's young experiences with the literary elite. Moreover, the book climaxes in a boxing match between the two literary heavy weights with an agog "Scotty" Fitzgerald holding the stopwatch.
I have a passion for east coast writers. So do explore Kit's Law by Donna Morrissey ( if you have not done so already ).Also, anything by Alistair MacLeod ( his sole novel, No Great Mischief, or his short stories compiled in Island ). I also am an advocate of Hugh Maclennan.
I quite enjoy anything by Will Ferguson who seems to have our cultural identity wrapped around his little finger.
Deafening by Frances Itani is a moving and haunting book that deserved all of the literary accolades it received a couple of years back.
I will never fully shake my love of As For Me and My House by Sinclair Ross.
WO Mitchell is one of the rare authors who is poignant and funny at the same time. ... he would count as your "Prairie" part of the cross-country exploration.
Finally, for a delcious weekend read, you might try The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery. One of the two novels Montgomery wrote specifically for an adult audience, I argue this book is the first work of female emancipation literature to come out of this great country of ours. Moreover, and somewhat more distinctively, it is set in the beautiful Muskokan region of Ontario rather than Montgomery's trademark P E Island.
Happy reading. I too enjoyed Noah Richler's book and hope you enjoy tasting our own bits and pieces of literary wonderfulness....
Wow, lots to reply to. Let's see here. I own a Stuart McLean novel, not the one you mentioned, but when I read the one I have I will totally look into the one that you mention.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to remember why it is I have never read Morley Callaghan. Never got there, I suppose. I will be sure to look for that book, sounds interesting.
Oh, and I have read all of Donna Morrissey's books. She is one of my favs. :) I have read Hugh Maclennan, as well. Not all of his books, but one of them. Alistair MacLeod I have read several of his short stories, but while I own both Island and No Great Mischief, haven't got to them yet.
I have read one of Will Ferguson's books. I have looked at a couple others, but haven't picked them up yet.
I own Deafening by Frances Itani, but yep, haven't read it yet.
Never read any Sinclair Ross and for some reason, never read WO Mitchell. As to LM Montgomery, I have read a lot of her novels, but haven't picked one up in a while. I will have to read Blue Castle eventually.
And, there we are. The common answer, I own, but have not read...