Oink

You might want to try Robert Munsch, he's a little quirky but he's probably what you're looking for. Good luck with your Canadian literary adventure.

greentea3

Yeah, my younger kids really like his stuff. Thanks Oink.

Oink

greentea3

I get the feeling that I may be understanding you a little bit

MrsDV

I really enjoyed Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden.

http://www.canlit.ca/reviews.php?id=13918

I'd also go with the Margaret Atwood recommendations.

Another couple of good ones are:

Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor and
The Time in Between by David Bergen

dthomas

I read any crap (well, at least the first sentence . . .) and include the following as some of my Canlit faves (fic & and n.f.):

Gabrielle Roy - The Tin Flute *[best Canadian novel evah!]
Mordecai Richler - The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, St. Urbain's Horseman, Solomon Gursky Was Here, Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! Requiem for a Divided Country.
Susanna Moodie - Roughing it in the Bush
Douglas Coupland - Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, City of Glass
Michel Tremblay - Les Belles-Sœurs, Quarante-quatre minutes, quarante-quatre secondes
Hugh MacLennan - Two Solitudes
Michael Ondaatje - In the Skin of a Lion, Running in the Family, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
Stephen Leacock - Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town
Marie-Claire Blais - La Belle Bete, A Season in the Life of Emmanuel, L'Île
John Richardson - Wacousta
Naomi Klein - No Logo
Gwynne Dyer - War, With Every Mistake, Climate Wars
Farley Mowat - Lost in the Barrens, Never Cry Wolf,
Marian Engel - Bear
Roch Carrier - The Hockey Sweater
Timothy Findley - The Wars, Elizabeth Rex,

p.s. Can't tolerate anything Margaret Atwood (at least anything after Surfacing). She's the Canadian answer to Jeffrey Archer. Once saw Chuck Palahniuk answer, with a smirk, a question re Atwood something thus: "Who the ʞɔnɟ is Magreet Atwood?"

JonboyE

Google the list of Booker prize nominees in the last few years and you will see that Canadian authors are producing literature that is worthy of respect.

Three that I have enjoyed are Alistair MacLeod, Wayson Choy and Alice Munro.

triumphguy

Robertson Davies is also good.

Oakvillian

You just took pretty much all my recommendations. Timothy Findlay in particular - Not Wanted On Voyage is one of SWMBO's favouritest books in the whole wide world ever ever. As for Atwood, of her relatively more recent stuff I quite enjoyed Oryx and Crake and The Blind Assassin.

I'd add Mordecai Richler (Barney's Version, the Jacob Two-Two children's books), Rohinton Mistry (Such a Long Journey, A Fine Balance), Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient, Anil's Ghost) and William Gibson (Neuromancer, The Difference Engine) to that list.

Oh, I see dthomas has beaten me to it, I must actually follow some of his recommendations - I remember some of those authors from a previous CanLit thread and still haven't got round to reading Michel Tremblay, not even in translation

triumphguy

Guy Vanderhaeghe is a very good writer from Saskatchewan - which may sound like I'm damning him with faint praise, but I'm not.

I Heard the Owl Call my Name, by Margaret Craven (an American but the story is set on an Indian Reserve in BC) is also good.

W O Mitchell - "Who Has Seen the Wind" is also a Canlit must read.

W P Kinsella can also be added to the list.

I just read the "Book of Negroes" recently (mentioned above) - an excellent and very moving book.

Barbara Gowdy - The White Bone is a very moving novel written through the eyes of an elephant!

Oakvillian

wouldn't that make the nib of the pen a bit soggy?

fledermaus

Coat.


My local library marks the spines of books by Canadian authors with a maple leaf. I like the simplicity of this idea and because of it I did read a couple of excellent books by a Toronto based Chinese Canadian. Especially interesting as they were about experiences of Chinese people immigrating to small Ontario towns.

I'll google and see if it can come up with her name

edt: Judy Fong Bates, Midnight at the Dragon Cafe

triumphguy

Nice one!

It's a good book though. Or maybe I'm just attracted to cute older blonde authors?

dbd33

If you're tired of living and want something to drag unto your death bed there's Michael Ondaatje.

dthomas

Can't believe I forgot Shoeless Joe! Great novel. Kinsella's ss collection Dance Me Outside is also quite impressive.

On the topic of 1st Nations People, Tomson Highway wrote three decent plays - The Rez Sisters, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing and Rose.