Favourite Canadian Authors or Books by Canadian Writers

Storyteller5 · Jun 3, 2007

One of my goals is to read more Canadian books.

Some of the books recommended to me (or that I've read pieces of) waiting on my Amazon wishlist are...

* Requiem for a Giant: A.V.Roe Canada & the Avro Arrow (Palmiro Campagna)
* Between the Walls (Paul Vermeerch)
* Wild Daisies in the Sand (Paul Sando)

Canadian books & Authors I love...

* The Diviners (Margaret Lawrence)
* Gail Bowen's Joanne Kilbourne novels
* Dave Duncan's King's Blades & King's Daggers novels

What Canadian writers and/or books do you love?

J. Weiland · Jun 3, 2007

Love is a big word, but here are some Canadian works that I like.

Monkey Beach, Eden Robinson

Life of Pi, Yann Martell.

Oryx & Crake, Margaret Atwood.

Voices in Time, Hugh MacLennan

No Great Mischief, Alistair MacLeod

In my opinion, all brilliant novels.

historian · Jun 3, 2007

My favourites:

Anything by:
Thomas H. Raddall
Will R. Bird
Ralph Connor (okay my age is showing)
Harold Horwood
Thomas King
W.P. Kinsella
Mazo de la Roche's earlier books.

historian

Silver King · Jun 3, 2007

For nonfiction, you could try, What Fish Don't Want You to Know, by Frank Baron, available here.

It's a masterpiece.

Storyteller5 · Jun 3, 2007

Silver King said:
For nonfiction, you could try, What Fish Don't Want You to Know, by Frank Baron, available here.

It's a masterpiece.

For the purposes of this thread, a link to Amazon.ca would have made more sense. :tongue

aka eraser · Jun 3, 2007

Silver King said:
For nonfiction, you could try, What Fish Don't Want You to Know, by Frank Baron, available here.

It's a masterpiece.

What he said.

lkp · Jun 3, 2007

I love Carol Shields. Begin with Republic of Love. No, Larry's Party. Wait, no, Swann.

Among younger authors, I liked Russell Smith, Noise. Also try Alison Pick, The Sweet Edge.

Inkdaub · Jun 5, 2007

Michelle Sagara West is a Canadian fantasy writer whose work written under the name 'Michelle West' I love. She also writes under 'Michelle Sagara' and her full name. She lives in Toronto and works at Bakka Books, or did last I heard.

I don't know if he's Canadian, but William Gibson lives in Vancouver.

KTC · Jun 5, 2007

I just found a new favourite in TODD BABIAK's THE GARNEAU BLOCK. I laughed all the way through it. A spectacular read!

CaroGirl · Jun 5, 2007

Anything by Barbara Gowdy, Miriam Toews (A Complicated Kindness or Summer of My Amazing Luck) or Lori Lansens (Rush Home Road is particularly brilliant. wait, so is The Girls). Gail Anderson Dargatz is very good as well (A Rhinestone Button and The Cure for Death by Lightning). And anything by Rohinton Mistry. Anything, really, he's brilliant.

Chumplet · Jun 5, 2007

I read a lot of Canadian Literature in high school, and forgot most of it, I'm ashamed to say. My favourite is anything by Stephen Leacock -- he's so subtly funny -- and I also enjoyed Life of Pi very much.

An author I must check out for research purposes is Joy Fielding, a romantic suspense author from Toronto. She's had some bestsellers.

KTC · Jun 5, 2007

I will second Caro with a thumbs up to Toews and add that I love everything she's written, especially Complicated Kindness and the biography of her father.

ChunkyC · Jun 5, 2007

Jack Hodgins is one of my favourite authors, period. I met him once at a reading and he's as witty and charming in person as he is in print. His A Passion for Narrative is the first book on writing I ever read and it was such a thrill to have him autograph it, dog-eared pages, post-its and all. I also have two of his novels and loved them both:

Innocent Cities
The Macken Charm

In the Science Fiction/Fantasy realm, I'm a big fan of Robert J. Sawyer and Charles de Lint.

J. Weiland · Jun 13, 2007

ChunkyC said:
Jack Hodgins is one of my favourite authors, period. I met him once at a reading and he's as witty and charming in person as he is in print. His A Passion for Narrative is the first book on writing I ever read and it was such a thrill to have him autograph it, dog-eared pages, post-its and all. I also have two of his novels and loved them both:

I have Broken Ground standing on my shelf. Hopefully, it will not be staying there for too long.

Click to expand...

Flay · Jun 13, 2007

Anything by Alice Munro.

Make that everything by Alice Munro.

akiwiguy · Jun 14, 2007

Michael Ondaatje for me. The English Patient is way better than the movie.

licity-lieu · Jun 15, 2007

E. Annie Proulx is the one for me. The Shipping News was great but my fav all time book in the whole wide world is Postcards.

Also Margaret Atwood. The Blind Assassin and Alias Grace for starters, then, of course, The Handmaiden's Tale.

lkp · Jun 15, 2007

E. Annie Proulx is American. Born in Conneticut, lives in Vermont.

KTC · Jun 15, 2007

Yes, her parents were Canadian, I believe? But not her. She lives part time in Newfoundland.

lkp · Jun 15, 2007

I think she is descended from French Canadians. But then again, so is half of New England.
Maybe not half.

zenwriter · Jun 15, 2007

I’ve been enjoying Michael Crummey and Wayne Johnston (The Divine Ryans and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams).

Jon Clinch · Jun 15, 2007

Alistair MacLeod's Island

If I could be any other writer, I'd be MacLeod.

licity-lieu · Jun 15, 2007

lkp said:
E. Annie Proulx is American. Born in Conneticut, lives in Vermont.

*runs to book shelf--scratches head* That explains why nobody had mentioned her. For the life of me I swear I always thought she was Canadian. Maybe the setting of Shipping News gave me the idea. Anyway, that explains why Postcards is set in Vermont :e2smack:

* mutters "idiot" under breath*

ChunkyC · Jun 15, 2007

Jon Clinch said:
Alistair MacLeod's Island

If I could be any other writer, I'd be MacLeod.

I read No Great Mischief a while ago. Great writer.

Woof · Jun 15, 2007

My fav. Canadian books:

Barometer Rising ~ Hugh MacLennan

Two Solitudes ~ Hugh MacLennan

The Handmaid's Tale ~ Margaret Atwood

Alias Grace ~ Margaret Atwood

The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz ~ Mordecai Richler

Barney's Version ~ Mordecai Richler

Hamish X And The Cheese Pirates ~ Sean Cullen

Favourite Canadian Authors or Books by Canadian Writers

Say something...

Lurker

Megalops Erectus

Say something...

Fish Whisperer

wrapped in plastic

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Living the dream

This hat is getting too hot

Stand in the Place Where You Live

It's hard being green

Lurker

AW Inmate #90976

drying and defragging...

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Jon Clinch

drying and defragging...

It's hard being green

Outward Hound