Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Canadian Content!

Tonight I am realizing something, as I sit here with my freshly brushed-out birthday cat! [He is luxurious!]
See, I have just finished reading a book by Alice Munro, and now I have started one by Ann-Marie MacDonald.
I began to realize that a significant proportion of the books I am tending to gravitate towards, are by Canadian authors.
So, I thought I would have a look at the last 100 books I have read in my elite reading group, which is incidentally called The Surfacing Book Club. [named after Atwood’s book].
In other words, I have read other books in between all of these, [on my own] but these presented here are the ones I have mutually read and discussed in-depth with my reading partner. The titles in BOLD text are written by Canadians!
At the end I will present my percentage findings….

Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
Shadows on the Hudson by Isaac Bashevis Singer
The Ash Garden by Dennis Bock
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Other Side of Silence by Andre Brink
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel
The Stubborn Season by Lauren B. Davis
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Return Of The Native by Thomas Hardy
A Bed By The Window by M.Scott Peck
The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Cave by Jose Saramago
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Blindness by Jose Saramago
The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
Some Things That Stay by Sarah Willis
Olympia by Dennis Bock
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Hotel Of The Saints by Ursula Hegi
Dream Stuff by David Malouf
The Doctor’s Wife by Brian Moore
Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue
Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro
Salamander by Thomas Wharton
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
In The Name Of Identity by Amin Maalouf
The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart
The Hero’s Walk by Anita Rau Badami
The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis by Leon R. Kass
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Leaning, Leaning Over Water by Frances Itani
Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Changing Heaven by Jane Urquhart
Flight by Victoria Glendinning
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Runaway: Stories by Alice Munro
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck
The Rehearsal by Sarah Willis
The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart
All The Names by Jose Saramago
Thou Art That by Joseph Campbell
The Woman Who Gave Birth To Rabbits by Emma Donoghue
Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
Franny And Zooey by J.D. Salinger
The Willows At Christmas by William Horwood
A New Christianity For A New World by John Shelby Spong
The Double by Jose Saramago
King Lear by Shakespeare
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
The Whirlpool by Jane Urquhart
The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
Pathways To Bliss: Mythology And Personal Transformation by Joseph Campbell
The Story Of Lucy Gault by William Trevor
Through The Narrow Gate by Karen Armstrong
Poached Egg On Toast: Stories by Frances Itani
The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
The Gospel According To Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Saturday by Ian McEwan
Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo
Young Goodman Brown and Other Short Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Celestial Navigation by Anne Tyler
First Love, Last Rites by Ian McEwan
Baltasar and Blimunda by Jose Saramago
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
A Map of Glass by Jane Urquhart
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Bluebeard’s Egg by Margaret Atwood
Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
The Trouble With Poetry by Billy Collins
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Identity by Milan Kundera
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Life Mask by Emma Donoghue
Family Sins & Other Stories by William Trevor
The Tent by Margaret Atwood
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
The Book of Revelation by Rupert Thomson
The Stone Raft by Jose Saramago
The Child In Time by Ian McEwan
The Preservationist by David Maine
The Progress of Love by Alice Munro

So what this list of the past 100 Books says to me is that 30 of our books [30%] have been by Canadian authors. I think that is significant. It was not intentional.
Canadians are writing great books!
This current one I am presently immersing myself in continues to prove the point!
AUTHORS! One of our most precious of natural resources. [That and comedians!]


READ CANADA
************

3 comments:

Cheryl Tardif said...

I came across your site and thought I'd introduce myself. I am a Canadian mystery author, with 3 published novels that I think you would enjoy.

Whale Song is an emotional mystery about a young girl who moves to Vancouver Island and loses her memory after a traumatic event. A screenplay has just been completed at the request of a leading film producer. Whale Song is best read with a box of Kleenex close by!

Divine Intervention is a suspense thriller that takes you across BC as a group of psychic investigators search for a serial arsonist. This novel earned me the nickname of "the Canadian J.D. Robb" from my fans.


The River is my latest thriller, full of action and suspense. Take the ride of your life as Del Hawthorne heads north to the mysterious and deadly Nahanni River, in search of a father she had thought was dead. What she finds instead may hold the key to humanity's survival--or its destruction.

http://www.cherylktardif.com/the_river.htm

I really hope you'll check out my novels. Whale Song and The River have been read many times in book clubs. You can read my bio at:
http://www.cherylktardif.com/bio.htm or check out my site for reviews, excerpts and more. I hope you stop by and sign my guestbook.

Happy reading and I would be honored if you chose one of my books. They are available at Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Barnesand noble.com, Trafford.com and more.

~ Cheryl Kaye Tardif

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