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Alright Cannitors, let's have it... what is your favourite Canadian Literature? (self.canada)

submitted ago by NMW

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Maybe you resented being forced into Margaret Atwood in high school, or maybe you loved Richler's Jacob Two-Two books when you were young. Nevertheless, there's got to be some CanLit out there that you enjoy; what is it?

My personal favourite is Stephen Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912), which gets more and more hilarious every time I read it. How about you?

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[–]Airtech77 9 points10 points ago* 

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Gordon Korman was the funniest fucking writer in the world when I was growing up. I highly recommend the Macdonald Hall books.

[–]daisy0808 3 points4 points ago* 

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I read every one of his Macdonald books. 'This Can't Be Happening in Macdonald Hall' was a classic! I remember a group came to my school perform it as a play. It's also amazing that Korman wrote the book as a jr. high school assignment.

[–]iconic_and_ironic 2 points3 points ago

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Came here to upvote Gordon Korman. "Don't Care High" was my favorite. With the guy who draws llamas in all his artwork. Well, it was funny at the time.

[–]Airtech77 1 point2 points ago

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I believe you are thinking about the guy that paints Camels, in the book Son of Interflux.

[–]iconic_and_ironic 1 point2 points ago

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Hmm, you're right it was camels. Man it's been awhile; I'm 34 now! Plus, I just watched The Emperor's New Groove, and so I have llamas on my mind.

[–]Airtech77 1 point2 points ago* 

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Still a great book I forgot about the Camels until you reminded me, that was the funniest part.

[–]iconic_and_ironic 1 point2 points ago

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I was going to try and start collecting some of his books, then I found out he wrote, like, a million books [citation needed]. But I want to get some of my favorites to share with my son when he's old enough. I remember a character who built a car from scratch. It wasn't any particular make or model, he just built it himself. Ha ha.

[–]Airtech77 1 point2 points ago

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I haven't read that one. I know eh, there's a million of them. I thought I read them all until today as well.

[–]crassy 5 points6 points ago

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Not gonna lie, I love LM Montgomery. I also dig Ian and Will Ferguson, Margaret Laurence and Timothy Findlay. I believe Findlay is probably my favourite Canadian writer and Famous Last Words my favourite book by him.

[–]coureurdebois 3 points4 points ago

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LM Montgomery books are so comforting and nostalgic, I dig them too. Have you ever read any biographical material about her? Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings by Mary Henley Rubio is really interesting.

[–]crassy 2 points3 points ago

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I haven't read that one but I will try to find it. A little OT but a while ago I was looking on mls.ca and found a house quite close to Green Gables for sale. Oh how I wish I could've bought the house!

[–]arczi 3 points4 points ago

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Douglas Coupland

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points ago

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Farley Mowat

[–]MegaRouge 2 points3 points ago

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Who has seen the wind? W.O. Mitchell. I love that book.

[–]iconic_and_ironic 0 points1 point ago

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My high school English teacher had a thick Jamaican accent. We thought he was saying, "Wussie in the Wind."

[–]drhugs 0 points1 point ago

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The fictional town of Crocus stands for the real town of Weyburn, Saskatchewan.

Mine might be: Farley Mowat nature stories and Scott Young hockey stories. I've heard Margaret Atwood and Douglas Coupland hold promise as authors. Peter Watts.

[–]coureurdebois 3 points4 points ago

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Anything by Margaret Laurence, Ann-Marie MacDonald and Joseph Boyden. Also, I think a lot of people are very wary or dismissive of Margaret Atwood, but she is a solid writer.

[–]ShogunGould 1 point2 points ago

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Upvote for Boyden. I cannot wait for his next book to come out.

[–]dixoncase 1 point2 points ago

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Frederick Philip Grove, Fruits Of The Earth.

[–]fungah 1 point2 points ago

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Anything by Ken Babstock or Irving Layton for poetry. I enjoy Robertson Davies as well.

[–]daisy0808 1 point2 points ago

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Some of my favourites are: - The Diviners by Margaret Laurence - Thirty Acres by Ringuet - The Nymph and the Lamp by Thomas Raddall (I just found out my house is on a former Marconi wireless site where TR worked) - Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munroe - The Wars by Timothy Findley

I really enjoy Canlit!

[–]royrwood 1 point2 points ago

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Paul Quarrington, hands-down. Galveston and Spirit Cabinet in particular are fantastic. If you think life is comic and a little dark, then Quarrington is your guy.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

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Three Cheers For Me by Donald Jack (and the rest of that series)

[–]NMW[S] 1 point2 points ago

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Woah! Seriously? I've never encountered another person (other than my father, who introduced me to them) who's even heard of the Bandy Papers, much less counts them as favourites. I just finished up It's Me Again for the third or fourth time last weekend; it never gets old.

How did you get into them?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

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Ex military guy introduced me to them, was a "Big Brother" of my buddy who didn't have a Dad.

Very funny stuff. Very Canadian. I think Bartolemew Bandy is the archetypal Canadian hero, succeeding despite himself. And rather confused. But well meaning.

Gotta dig those up again. Even thinking about them makes me smile. That scene (forget the book, was it the first one) where he gets trapped naked in the bathtub is classic.

[–]NMW[S] 1 point2 points ago

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Sorry for the delayed reply; work, etc.

Yes, the scene with the awful, monstrous bathtub is in Three Cheers for Me. I think it sets the tone for the rest of the series in a lot of ways, though it's pretty much an isolated incident when it comes to Bandy's interactions with unfamiliar technology otherwise. He's always stealing trains, aircraft prototypes, field guns, etc. without any real problems.

[–]mollycoddles 1 point2 points ago

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what about michael ondaatje? in the skin of a lion was pret-ty good.

[–]GuffinMopes 2 points3 points ago

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Oryx and Crake may be Atwood but it's amazing.

[–]Ken_Breadbox 0 points1 point ago

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Atwood alert: I'm a guy and I loved THE ROBBER BRIDE. More recently, I enjoyed the hell out of GALORE, by Michael Crummey.
I know the Lit'rary snoots tend to look down on genre writing, but we have a couple of fantastic sf writers right here in Canada: Robert J. Sawyer and Robert Charles Wilson.

[–]the_ugly_truth 0 points1 point ago

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Far and away, "No Great Mischief" . What a great novel.

[–]iorgfeflkd 0 points1 point ago

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Eunoia by Christian Bok.

[–]Peinchorran 0 points1 point ago

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I think I'd have to rate Alice Munro above all other CanLit I've read.

Certainly her brand of rather intimate slice-of-life short stories aren't going to appeal to all--and I find her female characters are generally more fleshed out than the male ones--but her prose style so perfectly illuminates the material.

[–]sivatonight 0 points1 point ago

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Ann-Marie MacDonald really is great. But I guess if I had to pick one, Douglas Coupland takes the cake. "JPod", "Eleanor Rigsby", "All Families Are Psychotic" and "Girlfriend in a Coma" are some of my favourites.

The book "How To Be a Canadian (even if you already are one)" by Will and Ian Ferguson is good for some light, humorous reading.

[–]Milligan 0 points1 point ago

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I came in her to post "Sunshine Sketches", but I see you beat me to it. I make it a point to re-read it every year, and you're right, it gets funnier every time.

"There must be sandwiches in that. I can hear them clinking".

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