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❀ Susan wrote: "@Shvaugn - Thx for sharing - are you ok if I rename this Current Events so that we can group more of these updates together? I am thinking we will have a lot of this type of news in the future. tho..."That's fine by me.
@ Susan That's a pretty good list. I don't want to clog this thread up but I think it'd be nice to have a thread to post other suggested reads for pride. Thoughts?
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Shvaugn wrote: "Robert J. Sawyer named member of the Order of Canada" Robert J. Sawyer is one of Canada's best known and most successful science fiction writers. He is the only Canadian (and one o..."
I have owned Flashforward for quite awhile, but something keeps me from picking it up and reading it. this gives me another little push.
calculating god is the one Sawyer I read. i thought it was okay, a bit underwhelming. confession: I had no idea he was canadian
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Just found this one twitter - must be hard to have events of life such as a divorce all over the news. I guess when you write a book about your experience such as Eat, Pray, Love it opens your private life to others. Thoughts?
http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/eli...
❀ Susan wrote: "@Heather(Gibby) that sounds like an interesting read.Just found this one twitter - must be hard to have events of life such as a divorce all over the news. I guess when you write a book about you..."
Oh. Bummer. But so Real Life that it kind of adds to the experience that is Elizabeth Gilbert somehow.
❀ Susan wrote: "@Heather(Gibby) that sounds like an interesting read.Just found this one twitter - must be hard to have events of life such as a divorce all over the news. I guess when you write a book about you..."
I heard this over the weekend. I love Elizabeth Gilbert, don't get me wrong, but the cynic in me wonders if she's the type that's never satisfied.
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Here is a sample of the facts: After her first story collection won the Governor General's Literary Award in 1968, Munro felt a lot of pressure to write a novel. She tried, to no avail. Her publisher, Douglas Gibson, told her, "Alice, they're all wrong. You're a great short story writer. If you want to go on publishing short stories for the rest of your life, I'll go on publishing them."
What a great quote!I met Douglas Gibson at the Gananoque Literary Festival in April. So, so lovely! One of the authors that I was signed up to see was sick and couldn't come, so he stepped in. His book Across Canada by Story looks really neat -- I bought a copy, but haven't yet read it! It's his collected stories about working with some of Canada's best writers, including Alice Munro.
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In honor of Alice Munro'a b-day I just took "My Best Stories" off the one bookshelf I've filled from my boxes of books and placed it on my bedside table. I'll dive in a little later this evening. Thanks for the motivation @Susan!
@ Susan - Thank you for sharing that list of facts about Alice Munro. She is a national treasure!
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I am just finishing up his short story collection and am so sad that there is nothing else left to ready by him. His ss collection is truly the most perfect stories I have ever read.
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Not a current event, but when I was in high school in the 70s, there was a grade 12 english class on Canadian Literature. I am now ashamed to say I thought it would be dull so i took the European Literature class instead which i did enjoy mostly but had to suffer Lord Jim by Josef Conrod for my sins!
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I've reread a couple of the European lit books within the last few years. One that I remember as being very boring was actually quite good and just the opposite with another, that I remembered enjoying and found it a bit draggy on reread. I also regret not taking the Russian History class, which I know now would have been fascinating.
I was very fortunate that my high school in Toronto - Go Jarvis - had a Canadian Lit Class in Grades 12 & 13 that I took - taught by an excellent teacher.
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I took a second year English course at Memorial University a couple of years ago, purely for pleasure. Since I did Commerce and French in university, I didn't have the prerequisites to take anything higher level. It was called Modern Canadian Fiction and I loved it. We did some short stories and picked two of three novels from: Green Grass, Running Water
The Diviners
The Handmaid's Tale
I didn't read Green Grass, Running Water at that time so I'm looking forward to reading it next month!
❀ Susan wrote: "Nice @Rainey - do you remember all the books you read?"wow okay you are taking me back:
Margaret Atwood - The Edible Woman - thought it was weird at the time - love and get it now; Surfacing; Dancing Girls
Robertson Davies - The Deptford Trilogy - LOVE IT - still re-read
Sinclair Ross - As for Me and My House - Love it still
Timothy Findley - The Wars - still a favourite
Margaret Laurence - The Stone Angel
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Those are some that I remember.
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From what I recall, in high school in Ontario back in the early 80s we read:As for Me and My House
Barometer Rising
The Stone Angel
Not Wanted On The Voyage
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
I don't know what's happened to my memory. All I can remember from high school is Who Has Seen the Wind and A Prayer for Owen Meany. Everything else has completely slipped my mind...
I think my first encounter with CanLit was in grade 6. I was in an accelerated reading group and we read something by Morley Callaghan (maybe Luke Baldwin's Vow?) and Lost in the Barrens. I didn't like either and it put me off Canadian literature for years.I don't remember reading any other CanLit in school until grade 13, when we read The Edible Woman and Son of a Smaller Hero, both of which I really liked. That prompted me to take a Canadian literature course in university, which introduced me to many other authors, including Timothy Findley, Margaret Laurence, Robertson Davies and Michael Ondaatje. We had Al Purdy visit us too, which is sort of amazing now when I think back on it. I didn't really appreciate who he was at the time.
I"m planning to dig into more classic Canadian authors like Timothy Finlay and Robertson Davies.
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Diane wrote: "I"m planning to dig into more classic Canadian authors like Timothy Finlay and Robertson Davies."Both are wonderful authors. I look forward to your thoughts and finding out which of their books you choose to start with.
I remember reading Farley Mowat and W.O. Mitchell in elementary school - and being terribly bored. The only Canadian novel I recall having read in high school English was The Stone Angel, which I didn't like at all, but I suspect it's not a great pick for teens, and I'd be interested to re-read it now. So school did not exactly set me up for a love of Canadian lit! Better late than never ;-).
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The Alchemist is the only one I've heard of (and read) as well, Susan.
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I have read a couple including The Girl Runner which is a neat story written by a Kitchener author who I have heard speak a couple of times.
To those who love to get lost in a good book, this day is for you. August 9 is Book Lovers Day!
I guess this falls under current events... I'm attending the Tragically Hip concert in Kingston on Saturday. The whole city is abuzz, as you can imagine. This will be Canadian history for sure. Gord Downie has been called our city's Poet Laureate. I went looking for books he's been involved in, and found just one: Finding the Words: Writers on Inspiration, Desire, War, Celebrity, Exile, and Breaking the Rules. I may try to find it today and fill up on more than just his lyrics before the concert. Does anyone know of any others?
He really is prolific and thoughtful, although I much preferred his older music, which floated me through my university days. Going to be an emotional night!
Gord Downie published a book of poetry: Coke Machine Glow.A lot of my friends in Toronto and western New York have gone to recent Hip shows. It's nice seeing all the photos and all the love on social media. I don't think I could go to a show, though. Far too sad and I'm a big crybaby. I hope it's a good experience for you, Allison.
Susan wrote: "Gord Downie published a book of poetry: Coke Machine Glow.A lot of my friends in Toronto and western New York have gone to recent Hip shows. It's nice seeing all the photos and all ..."
Thanks, Susan. I expect there will be A LOT of tears, yes.
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have an amazing time tonight!
I heard Boyden on a show last night on CBC radio. It was an emotional listen, the whole show! It's going to be an incredible night. Thanks for the link, Susan!
I just read this article about "why the 9/11 novel has been such a contested and troubled genre" and all I could think was, it's too soon. Yes, it's been 15 years, and there are several books out there, but think also of the influx of WW II historical fiction in recent years. Art as an interpretation of events takes time, several decades in the case of extremely traumatic events. I'm interested to know if anyone agrees with me on this, or if I'm totally out to lunch! http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...
Allison, I've been thinking about this issue since you raised it. It seems as if there have already been quite a few good novels about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so I was wondering how that has happened so quickly but the 9/11 novel has not for the most part. Maybe it's because 9/11 was more of a communal event that we were all traumatized by, and so we have that "too soon" reaction, whereas war is more abstract to those of us not in the military or with family in the military and therefore it's easier to read about as a way of trying to understand it? We don't need (or perhaps want) to read about 9/11 to understand it, because we experienced it. It's an interesting question!
I agree Susan. You could be onto something comparing the the Iraq/Afghanistan novel to the 9/11 novel in that Iraq/Afghanistan feel abstract for those outside of military life whereas everyone was so deeply affected by 9/11. I'm not sure what the answer is, and the plight of the 9/11 novel wasn't something I'd thought much about before reading that article either. It will be interesting to see if any new 9/11 works of fiction will be successful in coming years.
Has anyone mentioned Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as a post 9/11 novel?Also, there are several sites with books about Iraq/Afghanistan -- this is one: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles....
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" Robert J. Sawyer is one of Canada's best known and most successful science fiction writers. He is the only Canadian (and one of only 7 writers in the world) to have won all three of the top international awards for science fiction: the 1995 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, the 2003 Hugo Award for Hominids, and the 2006 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Mindscan."
I'll admit that I haven't read anything by Sawyer although The Terminal Experiment has been in my to-read pile for a little while. Has anyone read any of his work or is planning on it now?