CanadianContent discussion

Welcome June!!

what are we reading???

I'm back to reading something by a Canadian, Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui along with a couple of other books. She grew up in Vancouver and I'm from BC (but not the city--I did move there for university, though.)

Things were so different. I used to go to Chinatown there when it still functioned as a Chinatown and even though it was starting to change, Cantonese cuisine was still the majority one. Yes, I've eaten authentic Cantonese cuisine (and some other Chinese regional things), but in many restaurants you couldn't get it if you were western because you were given different menus if they had two of them. This is due to complaints (I once ate a bowl of a Cantonese tripe soup when someone wanted to send it back because he had no idea what he was ordering--he was a bit of an idiot that way). But I did start off with fake Chinese food, and the first time I ate it we went to a restaurant in San Francisco with American born Chinese friends of our family.

Back then I also ate Peruvian influenced Cantonese food in the home of a university friend whose Chinese parents lived in Peru (where she was born) so I can relate by experience to eating food that had changed. This is actually very normal with many types of cuisine, not just Asian.

But I moved back east before Hong Kong reverted back to Chinese rule and now have too many allergies to eat most foods :(

Hello June!

I recently finished Shake Hands with the Devil written by French Canadian General Roméo Dallaire. I am late to the party on this one because it was published in 2003, and I know a lot of you have probably already read it.

For those who dont know, it's the story of the 1994 Rwanda genocide as recounted by General Dallaire who led the UN Peacekeeping Mission. Canadians were seen as valuable intermiadiaries during this conflict due to being bilingual and our lack of colonial history in the region (presenting us as less bias than the French or Belgiums).

As you would expect, the content is very dark and hard to read, but provided a lot of insight on how UN peacekeeping missions operate.

I would recommend this book to those looking to fill this gap in their world history and learn about the devastating consequences of our failure to act. But, ensure you are in the right head space to take on such a heavy topic first!

I would of liked to read this in the original French, but my library only had it in English.

Good morning!! I have been distracted by Renos so reading little and posting even less. I am not reading Canadian this weekend but am excited to start The Covenant of Water which is a large tome!! I loved his book, Cutting for Stone which I read years ago.

I am also reading The Comfort Zone: Create a Life You Really Love with Less Stress and More Flow in my quest for learning about self-care and burnout to learn and share with my colleagues.

what are you all reading?

I am in a bit of a reading slump and read nothing all week... anyone reading anything inspiring?

@Susan- sorry to hear about your reading slump. I certainly can relate...I am currently reading The Birth House by Ami McKay and am loving it! Her books are entertaining as she encorporates visual pieces, ex. historical letters, invitations, ads, drawings etc. I find it quite refreshing. Not sure if may have already read this as it's an older book now, 2006 date. Hope you find a good book to sink into soon.

@Wanda- I read The Birth House over ten years ago, and I loved it, too.
@Susan - Sorry about the reading slump. I just finished reading All the Broken Places by the Irish author John Boyne. I found the novel interesting and intriguing.

❀ Susan wrote: "I am in a bit of a reading slump and read nothing all week... anyone reading anything inspiring?"

Nothing brilliant at the moment. I checked out books in common but none of the ones in your column are marked to-read (to see if I loved any of those.)

I just finished Obasan in my quest to finish all the books from the 100 books that make you proud to be Canadian list. (18 left to go)

It is a well written book based loosely on the authors own experiences about her family of Japanese descent, and their experience during WWII.

I believe someone else commented in this group, that so many of the books on this list are about how poorly Canada has behaved in the past, it hard to say they make you proud. However it is an important part of history that should not be forgotten.

I came close to finishing The Other Black Girl on audio but I need to start again in print. I’m really underwhelmed by the book even though it got a lot of hype when it first came out. It’s told by three points of view and I’m confused so I need to set restart.
Now I’m listening to The Pledge which I really liked in the beginner and now not so sure. But I carry on.

Just finished Greenwood. Wow what a book.

I so wish I would have gotten this read before Canada reads, I think I would have rooted for it a bit more.

Along with the 4 generational drama, the messages about taking cae of our forests are really potent. I haven't read the Secret Life of Trees yet, but I think this book has made me want to take that plunge

So glad that you read and enjoyed Greenwood, Heather(Gibby).

I first heard about Greenwood here when several of you raved about it. I got a really cheap copy from Book Outlet-the paperback is much more beautiful-but I hadn’t started it yet. My partner never buys books so he’s always asking me if I have something for him. I suggested Greenwood and he was completely blown away by it. He said he found it to be very interesting and extremely well-done. He taught high school English for 25 years so he looks at books to see how successful the author is in creating his world. Book Outlet sent me two copies so I told him to give one away to someone who loves to read. Then I realized I also have a kobo copy.
I finished reading The Guest List by Emma Cline last week and was totally blown away by it. Just the best narrative and a story maybe not for everyone but very well-done. I can’t remember the last book I read so quickly because I had to know what happens next.

I am very close to finishing on audio Tell the Wolves I’m Home , a book I’ve wanted to read for almost ten years. I hate it,I grind my teeth while listening to it. The narrator is a twelve-year old and I really don’t like young narrators. And I find the book so boring and irrelevant to today-I have thought of dumping it many times but I can’t do that yet. It’s a waste of time but…next up on audio is Donna Morissey’s memoir.

I have not heard anyone say that the did not love Greenwood!!

I just downloaded Mavis Gallant’s Paris Stories, looking forward to digging in as I had not heard of her before.

She’s an extraordinary short story writer,one of the greatest of the 20th century,hugely overlooked during her lifetime. Died pretty much in poverty.exceptional writer of short fiction-very dense work.

I recently finished two Canada-related books, The Lost Wilderness: Rediscovering W.F. Ganong's New Brunswick and The Monthly Epic.

The Lost Wilderness is a must if you are interested in natural history or Canadiana or both. The physical book is very handsome, benefiting from beautiful color photographs well-reproduced.

The Monthly Epic might seem esoteric (except for a Canadiana junkie like me!), but this is a terrific and very absorbing read for anyone the least bit interested in journalistic and publishing history, or in Canada generally.

Serendipitously, just a few days before the Canadian wildfires hit the US news big-time, I started reading The Chinchaga Firestorm: When the Moon and Sun Turned Blue. That occurred in upper Alberta and British Columbia in 1950, the largest fire complex recorded in North America up until that time. It also dumped massive amounts of smoke into the atmosphere, with global effects.

Patrick I believe there is a brand new book about forest fires in Canada by John Vaillant. It’s maybe one month old and got good reviews.

I’ve had such a great reading week-the best in years. I’m twenty minutes from the end of Donna Morrisey’s memoir of growing up and becoming a writer-Pluck.and it’s great that she reads it herself because that wonderful Nfld. accent is a great treat. The early part about growing up in rural Nfld. is fascinating,but the book goes on for too long and I ended up getting tired of hearing about her daily trials. I’ve never read her fiction but want to now.
I’m also almost finished two new Canadian collections of short stories both by first time writers. The first is called Have Mercy on Us by Lisa Cupolo. All the stories are good but few are great. One story which takes place in Africa is heart-breaking. The second collection I’m almost finished is called The Private Apartments by Idman Nur Omar. This collection is exceptional. All of the stories are about Somali women living around the world and the author has a very gentle touch which I think will lead to bigger and better things for her. Very talented. Both collections are on craving Canlit and I think the Somali collection has a good chance of being long-listed.

^ Yes, someone mentioned the Vaillant book in another forum. I guess it’s getting a little attention! The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed was very good.

@Alan- start with Kit's Law - it is a great book. Morrisey came to Burlington before the pandemic and she was a treat to listen too... such a sense of humour!

I have been in a bit of a reading slump but finished Scenic Routes and Coastal Drives of New Brunswick: A curated guide to towns, festivals, heritage and nature this morning. so much to explore!!

I seem to be starting many books so need to work on finishing some including:
a reread of: Cutting for Stone
his tastes book: The Covenant of Water
after a speaking event: Calm Within the Storm: A Pathway to Everyday Resiliency
after Grimsby author series, a reread of: The Glass Castle

I popped into a thrift store yesterday and they had multiple new copies of books by Helen Humphreys to add to my collection. she is such a beautiful writer! it does make me curious as to how they had so many copies!

Susan I am planning on starting with Kit's Law. Her interviews on you tube are wonderful. She comes across as being a very genuine person.
Funny you should mention Cutting for Stone-he has a brand new one out which has been receiving rave reviews. Have wanted to read Cutting for Stone for ages.

I just finished Such Is My Beloved by Morley Callaghan. It’s a very sweet book,very quick read and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Gets a bit too religious for me but still an enjoyable read.

Was off from work last week, and part of my vacation reading was Canadian content.

This Cake is for the Party: Stories This was enjoyable enough at the time, but now, a week later, I don't think I could tell you what a single one of the stories was about.

Miss September Another fun enough book, and more memorable than the story collection, but it didn't blow me away. I think I might have liked to see it from pre-heist with some of the planning, rather than just the aftermath.

One of the next up books for me will be Fayne.

Hello. I'm reading this for a book club, "Missing from the Village," by Justin LING. I like crime drama/mystery, and this is true crime in Toronto.

Patrick wrote: "^ Yes, someone mentioned the Vaillant book in another forum. I guess it’s getting a little attention! The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed was very good."

I enjoyed The Golden Spruce, too, Patrick. It's been awhile since I've read it.

I'm planning to read a new-to-me Canadian author, Jade City by Fonda Lee--since she was born & raised in Canada, she's Canadian by my reckoning :)

Coming up on the final chapters of J.M.S. Careless’s Canada: A Story Of Challenge, the revised 1970 edition. Not the name I would want as a historian 😏 , but Careless was good. This is is the second comprehensive history of Canada that I have read, after Roger Riendeau’s A Brief History of Canada, 2000 edition.

I love thinking about geography, and one of my retirement goals is to know the INTERNAL geography of countries much better. Lately I’ve been working on Italy, the UK, Australia, trying to get the counties, regions, features more firmly fixed in my mind. So I appreciate that Careless opens with a consideration of the geographic regions of Canada. I have really never thought much about the Canadian Shield, or even been aware of the water-logged Hudson Bay Lowlands, so this is wonderful material. YouTube travel and geography videos, if used very selectively, can help with the visualization.

Hi everyone, it’s been a while since I checked in. I’m currently reading Life in the Court of Matane by Eric DuPont as well as The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks. I first discovered DuPont when he was shortlisted for the Giller a few years ago and absolutely loved his writing.

I also recently finished If You Tell: a True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood by Gregg Olsen. I became very interested in the story and I’m now in what I’m calling my true crime era. 🤣 Does anyone have any good Canadian true crime book recommendations? Before I realized there was a book, I watched the Crave docuseries, so I know too much about the case to be interested in The Billionaire Murders: The Mysterious Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman, but I bet it’s excellent. The author is also behind the docuseries and he really knows his stuff.

@Allison- I have been fascinated with true crime since my teen years. I recommend any book by Mike McIntyre, Winnipeg journalist who has written multiple true crime novels that are Canadian. The Billionaire murders was a good one, we read this for book club.

I’ll check him out. Thanks Wanda!

Wanda wrote: "@Allison- I have been fascinated with true crime since my teen years. I recommend any book by Mike McIntyre, Winnipeg journalist who has written multiple true crime novels that are Canadian. The Bi..."

I read his book To the Grave: Inside a Spectacular RCMP Sting It was a difficult read , but the author did the story justice without over sensationalizing

I just finished Secret Daughter, I loved this book. and now have started Six Metres of Pavement which also has been an attention grabber.

I also started to listen to Fayne in audio, otherwise I wasnt going to be able to fit it in.

Alan wrote: "Susan I am planning on starting with Kit's Law. Her interviews on you tube are wonderful. She comes across as being a very genuine person.
Funny you should mention Cutting for Stone

Hello there - it has been a minute since I have been on here - really super busy at work - My bookclub is doing The Covenant of Water - from the author of Cutting for Stone for our summer read - it is a beast - 775 pages so we will connect in September to discuss

have a great summer, everyone

@Rainey- I grabbed a used copy of Cutting For Stone today. I've wanted to read it for years. Then I thought I'd tackle Covenant of Water thereafter- but still getting through Fayne! And currently laughing out loud to Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson, it is a comedy mystery murder.

The new Vergease(sp) is the book of the summer-so much excited word of mouth.
I just finished a fairly new collection of short stories called The Disappearance. All of the stories are set in Texas and Ioved the book so much I polished it off in three days. Just beautiful short story writing.

The Canadian Thomas Murtha (1902-1973) never got a collection published during his lifetime, and his best work was buried in old magazines (some quite obscure), one anthology, and in his manuscript papers. His family spearheaded a re-launch of his writing, Short Stories by Thomas Murtha (1980).

It’s a terrific book. These stories of quiet desperation in 1920s/1930s Canada make an unusually unified impression, demonstrating that Murtha truly had a voice of his own. The hitherto unpublished stories are every bit as good as the previously published ones. The introduction (by Murtha’s son) is very informative.

There must be many similar story writers who have not received even this much posthumous justice. Novels at least are almost always BOOKS, with a physical dignity and potential findability. A great short story hidden in an old magazine - that is another level of obscurity.

It is possibly too much to hope that any of Murtha's several unpublished novels might see the light of day, but his stories can now form a permanent part of Canadian literary history.

I read Ties That Tether for my Canadian book this month, which is a cross-cultural romance novel set in Toronto. I've also been reading a few other things, but too many to list :)

When is a Western not a Western? When it’s a Northern!

The Wikipedia article on this subject is quite good:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North...

“The Northern or Northwestern is a genre in various arts that tell stories set primarily in the late 19th or early 20th century in the north of North America, primarily in western Canada but also in Alaska. It is similar to the Western genre, but many elements are different, as appropriate to its setting. It is common for the central character to be a Mountie instead of a cowboy or sheriff. Other common characters include fur trappers and traders, lumberjacks, prospectors, First Nations people, settlers, and townsfolk.”

Some authors that are associated with this genre are Jack London, Rex Beach, Robert Service, Ralph Connor, and James Oliver Curwood. I am reading Beach’s The Spoilers at the moment, famously filmed five times (1914, 1923, 1930, 1942, 1955), the highlight always being an epic fist-fight towards the climax. The novel is rousing good fun, based on an actual incident of corruption during the Yukon Gold Rush * , which Beach had witnessed first-hand.

* The key malfeasor was Alexander McKenzie (1851-1922), whom I encountered in my recent reading in North Dakota history. A very nasty guy and machine politician who served prison time for corruption. He conspired, in collaboration with officials he helped place in office, to cheat Alaska gold miners of their winnings by fraudulently claiming title to their mines.

Hi all... I have been in a bit of a reading slump but finished Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada which was powerful and a book Canadians need to read. I did find it a bit repetitive in a couple of spots but it reinforced the importance of truth and reconciliation.

I also finished All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy who recently died. it was the first of his books that I had read and I am now partway through the second in the series of 3. although maybe not my typical book, I enjoyed it although am not really a fan of the lack of quotation marks.

what else have we been reading in this group?

@Susan - Fayne, a whole lot of Fayne lol- it's such a big book :). Not one I can say would interrupt your reading slump. Something funny and light sounds in order!

Hi Everyone
I just finished The Birth House as a re-read for our Library Book Club.
I am not a rereader so this was interesting for me. It had been so long since my first go it was like a new story for me with some familiar highlights. I still loved it. I once saw the author in person at an author event at McNally Bookstore in Winnipeg, Ami McKay was incredible and so personable. I would highly recommend this book!

Currently reading Age of Vice. Saw a comment on it that Part 1 is fabulous, Part 2 is good, and then it falls apart in Part 3. I'm in Part 2, and so far that's right on point. Maybe it's just that Ajay, our Part 1 POV character is so great, I'm missing him in Part 2. But we'll see if that comment holds for the third part.

For some Can con, I'm already reading past Canada Reads contender, . Enjoyable so far, but man is that a misleading cover - I was expecting something with a YA tone and it isn't at all.

Both books also tell their stories out of order, jumping around in time, and for both of them, it's not really working for me.

Hi everyone! I haven't posted in a while.

Canadian books I've read this summer (so far): The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism, Shelterbelts (graphic novel), Some Maintenance Required, and Factory Summers (graphic memoir).

I'm currently reading The Librarianist and enjoying it! I'm excited that I will be seeing Patrick deWitt on a panel at the Mississippi Book Festival later this month.

I bought a Canadian author's book at Logan Airport yesterday--a fluffy romance for flying. I haven't read the first but there is a very helpful bit at the start so I could still read it. Not loving it but am going to finish it because I bought it.m24 Hours in Italy by Romi Moondi

Has anyone else noticed that there are more references to Canada in novels now?

I am reading a romance novel set in Modern England that mentions Canada and a translated audiobook setting Hing Kong that mentions someone emigrating to Canada. They are both passing comments in a conversation. I have also noticed Canada mentioned in nonfiction books too, with quotes from studies done at McGill and from Canadian scientists.

I have been noticing more references to the big cities in Canada when reading books set in the US or other countries as well. Have you noticed this as well, or am I nuts?

Are they Canadian authors?

No Heather one was a Chinese national and the other British.

I'm hoping to finish A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians this summer, and The Woman with the Blue Star. I picked up The Porcelain Moon by a semi-local author and I'm excited to start that.

Anastasia, I've not been reading enough new content to really say, but two of my most recent books by American authors made reference to Canada. Granted, once by referring to a province as a city, but who's counting??

@Julia, that is too funny.

I have been in a reading drought this year.... am slowly picking my way through The Crossing after reading All the Pretty Horses earlier this summer. Also finished a couple of light reads: The Last Thing He Told Me for book club which was a page turner and Tom Lake which was enjoyable although a bit slow. Now I want to familiarize myself with the play Our Town.