13 books from Canadian authors or about Canada
Now until June 30, 2008
Hosted by John at The Book Mine Set
My list of possibles. Titles in bold are likely. Do you have any opinions on any of them, or do you have any suggestions? Let me know! Especially if you’re from Canada. Some of the titles are a little obscure, but one reason I picked them is because they’re short. This won’t be an easy challenge to complete, so I need a little help somewhere! I won’t pick more than 2 books from a single author.
- Mad Shadows by Marie-Claire Blais
- The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
- Sitting Practice by Caroline Adderson
- Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
- Kanada by Eva Wiseman
- The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
- The Road Past Altamont by Gabrielle Roy
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
- Jacob Two-Two’s First Spy Case by Mordecai Richler
- Bear by Marian Engel
- The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson
Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Unless by Carol Shields
The Collected Stories of Carol Shields
Last of the Curlews by Fred Bodsworth (136pp)
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Surfacing by Margaret Atwood – 208 pp.
Jest of God by Margaret Laurence – 218 pp.
Tent by Margaret Atwood – 176pp
Beggar Maid by Alice Munro – 224pp
Good Bones Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood – 176 pp
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson – 320 pp.
Wall of Light by Edeet Ravel – 272 pp.
Tin Box by Holly Kennedy
The Wheel Keeper by Robert Pepper-Smith
Tay John by Howard O’Hagan (272pp)
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock (200pp)
The Incomparable Atuk by Mordecai Richler (192pp)
As for Me and My House by Sinclair Ross (224pp)
The Book of Eve by Constance Beresford-Howe (191pp)
More Joy in Heaven by Morley Callaghan (200pp)
Still Life by Louise Penny (336pp)
I’ve read the first three on your list, and I loved them all! I’m not Canadian, however the Anne books give a good sense of place. Pi doesn’t really have much to do with Canada, but it’s still good!
I’m Canadian but I’ve hardly read any Canadian books.
I don’t like Margaret Atwood. I loved Anne of Green Gables and the next few books in the series.
Good list! I haven’t read Penelopiad but Oryx and Crake was really good. Personally, I’d skip Shipping News and maybe replace Atuk/i> with Barney’s Version though that one’s a bit longer.
I hear that Crow Lake is really good. Anything by Atwood or Munro is usually good and thoughtful. I love Shields although I didn’t read that one. And Life of Pi is very interesting!
I’m reading Anne of the Island right now. The Anne series is sweet and sentimental with down home humour.
I was so pleased to see Holly Kennedy’s novel The Tin Box on your list. It truly is unputdownable, a compelling story that made me laugh and cry many times. Half of it is set is small town Alberta and it was sold in many countries, so that must say something. The author has a blog and a website where many of her fans leave comments.
I recently moved to Canada and my cousin (who is in Iraq with the 101st airborne division) recommended Ms. Kennedy’s Tin Box. He and half a dozen other men in his division picked it up at the USO in Kuwait and said they almost didn’t read it, that they thought it might be geared more towards women. It wasn’t. They were touched by it and wrote the author who then blogged about it. I finished the book weeks ago and it’s a great story. What a find, this new Canadian author. I hope she writes many more.
Great list, and you have plenty I’ve never heard of. Obviously, I love LM Montgomery and she has tons of books. You can’t go wrong with her; Atwood can be hit or miss. Life of Pi was excellent – it might bog down a bit at 3/4 way, but the ending was worth it.
Some for you and your boys: Gordon Korman’s Bruno and Boots series, at MacDonald Hall. His humorous books are what I got my son hooked on reading with. Our favorite is I Want to Go Home. Also, Owls in the Family by Farley Mowatt is an excellent book for under 12s; my daughter loved it when we read it aloud.
I loved a little book called The Good House by Bonnie Berard(?) a few years ago, and it’s a Giller winner.
You cannot go wrong with LM Montgomery. Apart from the glorious Anne books she wrote so many others and they are all so enjoyable.
Margaret Atwood – you really have to be in the right frame of mind for her I find. She is not a writer you can just pick up now and then, concentration is the key here! Alias Grace is stupendous as is The Blind Assassin. Surfacing I found slightly odd and if I had read that first I would probably not have read any more.
Good luck!
Mom and the younger sisters read all of the Avonlea series by LM Montgomery. I am surprised that you have not read them yet. They were a great bedtime story series.
Hi, Mom! Well, you know I read the Little House series, but maybe someone never bought me the Anne of Green Gables series.
Guess I could have gotten them from the library, though!
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