All in Canadian Authors
Confession: I definitely chose this book for its cover. I was intrigued and almost bought it several times before finally getting it from the library after a long wait. But whatever I thought it would be about, The Birth House sucked me into a world and story that I never dreamed existed, and taught me some Canadian History at the same time.
It’s hard to categorize this book, and I am sure I have never read another one like it. Part mystery, part thriller, part brain teaser, every page you turn the story gets weirder and more engrossing.
When I started this book I knew absolutely nothing about Mt. Everest or any of the people who have climbed it. I had no idea who the first person was to make it to the top. But even if you are someone who knows a lot of Everest history, I think this will still be an extremely enjoyable book, just a bit less suspenseful.
If you are looking for an absorbing read about lives falling apart, look no further. Set in a small town in Connecticut, the book begins with a beloved teacher and town hero being accused of sexual misconduct by several of his teenage students. He is arrested and held without bail until his trial.
In my continuing quest to learn more Canadian history without actually picking up a textbook, Jane Urquhart is becoming one of my favorite authors. I absolutely loved her book Away about several generations of Irish women and their family’s immigration to Canada. The Stone Carvers is similarly well written, if slightly less absorbing.
This debut novel by a young Cree woman was the first I’ve read by a First Nations author. It has been widely praised and publicized in Canada, and has been on my reading list for quite some time. I think, if you are open to her writing style, and a more metaphorical subject matter, this book might just break your heart and give you hope.
As most of my family know, I have made it my goal since moving to Canada almost three years ago, to read more Canadian fiction. I like getting a sense of the country’s history without actually having to read a history book. So I was excited to receive Clara Callan, a winner of the Governor Generals Award, for Christmas this year.
Right off the bat I want to say that this Giller Prize winner is deserving of the honor, and well worth the lengthy commitment. Thien’s prose is gorgeous and evocative and the story subject was one completely foreign to me.
Endicott is an award winning Canadian author, though this book could easily have been set in small town New Hampshire or Connecticut. I mentioned at my book club that this was perhaps the first Canadian novel I had read that was set in Canada, but not aboutCanada, and how, as an American, that actually took me a moment to wrap my brain around when the first clues about place were laid out.
To be perfectly honest, the idea of reading a dystopian novel didn’t really appeal to me. But Station Eleven was a National Book Award Finalist and it came highly recommended to me by a friend whose taste in reading often matches mine. And it is set in Canada, my book review co-editor’s current country of residence. So, I decided to go for it. It definitely exceeded my expectations.
From the author of Room, you will not want to put this book down. The story follows an English nurse named Lib, who has been hired by a small town in Ireland to watch an 11-year-old girl who has reportedly been living without food for over four months. Most in the town believe this to be a miracle, but Lib is tasked with watching closely for any trickery, before the girl can be declared officially miraculous.
A compelling story of a down-on-his-luck theater director making the most of a bad situation by accepting the challenge of directing Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST in a local prison using an all-male cast of inmates.
