CanadianContent discussion

Books/authors from Ontario

So many....some of my favorites

Anything by Timothy Findley, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, Mary Lawson, Jane Urquhart and of course Joseph Boyden.

I prefer the earlier works of Margaret Atwood, up until (and including) Alias Grace. Everything after that I simply did not enjoy with the exception of The Penelopiad and her short story collections.

The Outlander by Gil Adamson
Fall on Your Knees and The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Astray, a short story collection by Emma Donoghue that I LOVED!
Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai

After reading Fifth Business, I am adding Robertson Davies here. I am inspired to add the rest of the Deptford Trilogy to my ever-growing TBR pile.

I'd like to suggest The Amazing Absorbing Boy, which I felt gave a really great window into an immigrant experience in Ontario's capital, Toronto. It gave me a view of a side of Toronto I had no experience with.

❀ Susan wrote: "After reading Fifth Business, I am adding Robertson Davies here. I am inspired to add the rest of the Deptford Trilogy to my ever-growing TBR pile."

Robertson Davies is the bomb! The Deptford Trilogy is really good.
The trilogy that comes to mind most often, though, is The Salterton Trilogy: Tempest-Tost; Leaven of Malice; A Mixture of Frailties. I recommend this one (but I recommend all of Robertson Davie's books).

I would also like to give a shout out to Ontario author Alison Pick who wrote a memoir about her conversion to Judaism, which was interesting, but also an incredible novel called Far to Go, which was one of my best reads of 2015 and so informative about the Kindertransport in WWII. I learned a great deal from both books.

Also Timothy Findley, Alice Munro, and Margaret Atwood

Lawrence Hill. My coworker went to school with him at University of Toronto School :D

Some Toronto reads:
Girls Fall Down by Maggie Helwig
Kicking the Sky by Anthony De Sa
The Wondrous Woo by Carrianne Leung
Consolation by Michael Redhill
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels

All interesting reads - Consolation and Kicking the Sky particularly stuck with me!

Yes Emmkay, I second Kicking the Sky. It's a powerful book.

Up Ghost River: A Chief's Journey Through the Turbulent Waters of Native History should be added to this list as a chronicle of the aboriginal experience in Ontario through the residential school system and afterward.

Can I point back in time? I'm a wee bit of a fan of the late Farley Mowat.

Stephen wrote: "Can I point back in time? I'm a wee bit of a fan of the late Farley Mowat."

Me too Stephen. My favourite is Never Cry Wolf. I have read it a few times.

Has anyone read the books of Robert Rotenberg? I think there were three, written in Toronto. I enjoyed them the most because they were written in my stomping grounds and familiar places. The first one was called Old City Hall.

Robert Rotenberg

Lost Girls by Andrew Pyper, who lives in Toronto, is an amazing work of sort-of detecting work. A mystery is indeed solved but by a very unusual detective.
The Only Child is his newest one that I look forward to reading.

One of Etobicoke favourite sons Dave Bidini. Not only is he a great writer of books but he knows he way around a song lyric.

Dave Bidini lives a few houses down from me. He and his wife are about to release a new monthly newspaper for this neighbourhood. There was an article recently about him Which posed the question,who would possibly want to start a newspaper these days. He’s very passionate about this project.

Alan wrote: "Dave Bidini lives a few houses down from me. He and his wife are about to release a new monthly newspaper for this neighbourhood. There was an article recently about him Which posed the question,wh..."

Oh that's pretty cool, @Alan. I wonder if he will make it available online.

I used to be editor for a small community newspaper within Ottawa. I passionately believe that small communities need to have an identity about themselves and that can be wonderfully created by a small community newspaper. Advertisers love a targeted audience and people love to promote what they do and love so it does not take much to fill many pages. The greatest cost is the paper so going online is a very attractive option.

Alan wrote: "Dave Bidini lives a few houses down from me. He and his wife are about to release a new monthly newspaper for this neighbourhood. There was an article recently about him Which posed the question,wh..."

The project is generating alot of support. I believe that they may have surpassed their initial subscription goal. Even the likes of Margaret Atwood and Yann Martell (and they are not the only "names") have lent there support to the West End Phoenix.

I started and published a community newspaper in Invermere, B.C. called The Columbia Valley Pioneer from 2004 to 2010, and it is still going strong. Our focus was entirely on community news that people couldn't find anywhere else. We did features about local people, local history, local landmarks, and local events. The readers loved it!

I found this novel set in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The Concrete Vineyard
Oh golly, it's mine.

I love anything Eric Walters based and almost every one of his books is based in Canada. The most recent book I read from him was The Rule of Three and it's based in Mississauga by Erin Mills Parkway!

Also my shameless promotion here: I'm from Ontario and wrote a book that's based in the horseshoe regions ;)

I see this thread has been around a few years. I'm happy to see it resurface.
A few of my favourite authors have been mentioned.

Robertson Davies . One of our best authors ever. Loved his writing from his first to his last novel.

Lawrence Hill Really enjoy Hill's writing.

Farley Mowat Read everything and enjoyed them. Long ago.

Other favourites, I didn't see mentioned:

Steven Leacock - great sense of humour.

Giles Blunt Forty Words for Sorrow is a good place to start.

Charles Wilkins In the Land of Long Fingernails was a good read.