Ibis3’s Comments (group member since Sep 06, 2010)

Ibis3’s comments from the CanLit Challenge group.

Charlotte Gray

Nellie McClung

Sisters in the Wilderness: The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill

Mrs King The Life And Times Of Isabel Mckenzie King

Gold Diggers

Reluctant Genius

Cheryl wrote a post asking for recommendations for a more general understanding of Canadian history.

This folder is for discussion of fiction books about Canada whether or not the author is Canadian, or by Canadian authors whether or not the subject is related to Canada. Feel free to start your own discussions about the books which interest you.

If there is a discussion about a book in one of the CanLit Challenge folders, please use that thread instead of this one. Thanks.

This folder is for discussion of non-fiction books about Canada whether or not the author is Canadian or by Canadian authors whether or not the subject is related to Canada. Feel free to start your own discussions about the books which interest you.

If there is a discussion about a book in one of the CanLit Challenge folders, please use that thread instead of this one. Thanks.

Oh, and I don't mind a bit of self-deprecating humour. So please feel free to go for it in the future. I'll only step in as mod if I feel someone's crossing the line into viciousness.

Glen wrote: "If you think it would be a good idea to include all Canadian literature I think it should be set up in a way not to detract from what you already have done. I'm glad someone has the expertize and c..."

You've probably noticed I've been playing around with discussion folders today. I'll set up a few discussion threads for general fiction and non-fiction (these will include books by Canadians and those on Canadian subjects). My main concern is to keep the CanLit Challenge books clearly differentiated. However, I also want the group to welcome discussion of all things CanLit (I include non-fiction in that label).

I've heard that Champlain's Dream is very good but I hadn't heard of the Taylor book.

I've just finished The Stone Angel and have The Imperialist waiting for me on my shelf (I have some library books to finish first). Both CanLit Challenge books.

What Canadian books are you currently reading and what do you think of them so far?

Glen wrote: "Perhaps we should have a Canadian History (Pierre Berton) section,Canadian Biography (Charlotte Gray) and general nonfiction section for Canadian writers such as Elizabeth Abbott. From what I see you are much involved with this site. If this is not the intent of this site I will look or create another site. "

Do you mean a special discussion thread in this group or a separate group? //ETA: I can create a discussion thread for Canadian non-fiction (or one for history specifically and another for biography and another for general non-fiction) here in the General folder. Or I can create a folder with subthreads for discussing Canadian non-fic. I do want to keep the "main" folders (the ones with dates as headers) and bookshelf for CanLit Challenge books specifically though.//

There have been, and in the future will be non-fiction selections in this Challenge (past Challenge books include
The Backwoods of Canada and Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada; upcoming/future selections include That Summer in Paris and some Pierre Berton, for example). So I definitely agree with you about how pleasurable non-fic can be.

Well, I wasn’t disappointed. I love books like this, with several stories going on at once and jumps back and forth in time. I figured out most of the “surprise twists” but it didn’t detract at all from the novel. I really got to know and to like Iris (and to detest her sister-in-law!! not to mention her husband…). I enjoyed the pulp erotic sci-fi parts and the biographical-family history parts in which Iris chronicles the rise and decline of the Button Factory and Port Ticonderoga. Another fantastic book by Margaret Atwood.

***spoilers ahead***
Now we know by the end (though I suspected much earlier) that Richard had had his way with young Laura. I kept getting the sense throughout that there was also something incestuous going on between Richard and Winifred—she seems awfully attached to him…

I imagine some people will be annoyed by Iris’s lack of independence and will to be so controlled like that and not to apprise herself of what was going on with Richard and the factory and Richard and Laura and actively change things, but I think the point is that she was “sold off” at a fairly early age and was taken advantage of by Richard and Winifred.

I was prepared to like this book but not to love it (mirroring my general feeling about the companion book, Arcadian Adventures). However, I found myself liking this one even more. The first chapter/sketch was a little slow and not so humourous but I found it improved immensely from there on in. Of course everyone talks out The Marine Excursion (i.e. the chapter about The Mariposa Belle) and yes, it was laugh out loud funny, but I think my favourite story was about The Reverend Mr. Drone and the Beacon on the Hill. Of course the ever-resourceful Mr Smith to the rescue again! I thought it bogged down a little in the election parts (to have it just a bit shorter would have been fine) but still amusing and apropos to today’s politics. I also really enjoyed the final chapter, with its nostalgia and poignancy. I’ll definitely read more of Leacock and at least parts of this book will be joining my list of all-time favourite humourous lit.

This was my review when I finished it on Thursday.

*** spoiler alert ***

Brilliant book, just as good as I remembered (though I remembered no details, so it was like reading it fresh). I'm all teary and goopy 'cause I just finished it. Hagar's a great character to read about but she would be hell to live with (and I don't mean just when she's old). I felt much more sympathy for Marvin and Doris than I did the first time reading it. I mean, imagine being in your sixties and having to deal not only with your own issues, but having to take care of a woman who seems unable to make anything easy for anyone. My own mother is 68 and suffering from Graves disease which is giving her double vision, photo-sensitivity, and constant tearing. I can only imagine what a burden it would be for her to have an even older, sicker, and more difficult parent to take care of.

Anyway, I'm wondering if Laurence was writing with a moral—since anyone can see that Hagar would've had a happier life if she'd married someone her father (coincidently or not) approved of—i.e. pride was her undoing. Or are we supposed to admire her independence and willingness to speak the truth as she sees it? Or are we just supposed to be neutral, afforded a glimpse into the mind of someone who finds some strange comfort in being miserable and keeping others distant?

A supremely well-crafted book.

I agree with most of what you say, I just objected to the characterisation of Ontario thinking it is Canada. I'm not a Torontonian, but I also think the notion that Torontonians think they live in the centre of the universe is also kind of silly. They're not so nearly self-absorbed as the stereotype makes out. Ontario is just really more keen on federalism than the other regions. Whether or not that's a result of having been benefitted more by it than other regions is a question for the historians.

Full disclosure: My father was from Alberta, my mother from Quebec. I was born in Ottawa, grew up in Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, and Ajax, ON.

Glen wrote: "Because nationalism is in its infancy, provincialism often dominates,particularly in Quebec and Newfoundland. They're so different, they often confuse the rest of us. B.C. doesn't like to be inclu..."

Yet put a team on the ice against Russia or the US and suddenly we're all cozy. :)

p.s. You're awfully hard on Ontario there, mate. I think that delusion you're describing is a fictional one. I'd say Ontario is more like a self-assured older sibling that thinks all the other parts of Canada are cool and just wishes everyone would stop quarrelling and get along better. This often comes across as being arrogant and self-entitled.

I've read about 20pp in and so far it looks promising, but as I feared, the setting is too close to that of The Stone Angel, so I'm putting it on hold until I finish that one. Hopefully, as soon as possible.

That one I watched. I kind of felt a little sorry for the American team. It was like they were run over in the first few minutes and weren't ever able to recover. Having the opposition goalie as effectively a sixth skater surely didn't help. I'm going to miss the bronze medal game today, but it should be a doozy.

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood was my best of the year.

Oh no! A game I would have loved to watch & I missed it. Hmm. Maybe I'll catch the stream on CBC tomorrow or something.

I forgot to post my final thoughts on this one.

***spoilers ahead***
I was kind of turned off by the whole mass conversion thing. Surely Tom Finch, Hughie, and Craven could think of doing something better with their lives than becoming ministers.

Apart from that, we had the expected deathbed martyrdom of the female saint, which was also rather...I dunno, can something be maudlin and twee at the same time?

All made up for with the shinny chapters. Really got me in the mood for the World Juniors which started the day after I finished the book. It's worth reading those chapters alone.

From the description this sounds like it's the same kind of book that Edith Wharton or perhaps Henry James would write, but with a distinctly Canadian twist.

Since I didn't get to The Stone Angel yet, I'll be reading them both together. Unless that gets too confusing...

Sara Jeannette Duncan

So, does anyone out there have this on their holiday reading list? I'll likely be starting this one and The Imperialist this weekend.