Canadian novels/authors?

Question

I have to pick a Canadian novel to read for school, anyone have any ideas for a good one?
so far i have A Complicated Kindness, Fall on your Knees, and Life of Pi
i'd appreciate feedback for those three and also some new ideas

Answer 1

L.M. Montgomery was Canadian author who wrote the Anne of Green Gables series. I believe it was set in Canada as well.

Answer 2

The "Jalna" series of books by Mazo de La Roche. These were written in the early 1900's and will probably only be available in a library. The author also wrote at least one history book about Canada, Quebec I think. They might be of interest to young people. They were very popular several decades ago.

Answer 3

The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

Larry's Party by Carol Shields

The Clockmaker by Thomas Chandler Haliburton

Answer 4

I like the first answer. I haven't read that book, but he's a good author.

If you like fantasy novels and you're allowed that sort of thing, check out Charles de Lint. Someplace to Be Flying is my favourite book by him.

Answer 5

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
(published in 2000)

It's about 500 pages, so it's not the fastest read, but I think it's well worth it.

It's about two sisters, Iris and Laura, growing up in Canada in the early half of the twentieth century. Laura commits suicide one day by driving off a bridge (you find this out in the first line of the novel, more or less, so trust me, I'm spoiling very little), and the older sister, Iris, never seems to get over it. She of course also spends time talking about her current situation as a fairly old lady (I think she's in her eighties).

But here is where it gets interesting, the novel is from the perspective of Iris writing her memories in the late 1990s, in a roughly chronological order, starting with events that occured (that she'd learned of) before she was born, such as what her grandmother was like.

This narrative is interspersed with newspaper clippings of things that have happened to the family or related characters at different points in their lives. One of the ones early on in the novel, for example, is about Iris' daughter and something that happens to her, I think, in the 1970s, so the overall book does jump around a lot.

The other part of the novel is a "novel within a novel." It's a science fiction book written by Laura (published posthumously). The novel is about these two forbidden lovers, though we never find out all that much abou them, who meet in these shady places to tell odd pulpy science-fiction stories to one another (perhaps in between making love or otherwise showing affection for one another). Chapters of this novel, also titled The Blind Assassin, are spaced out throughout the book, so you finish "both novels" at roughly the same time.

Of course the main narrative also makes references to the novel. Laura, even though never famous in her life, now has many fans (because of her novel), and Iris has to deal with these in her life too.

The overall novel is quite a mystery, since you're trying to find out how the two main story threads, as well as the newspaper clippings are all related, especially since you're jumping around in time, and not really getting a full sense of everything.

Other books by Margaret Atwood are supposedly very good (from what I've read and/or heard from friends) as well. The Handmaid's Tale is her most famous. I've read one of her poems and one of her short stories and they were good reads as well.

Answer 6

Life of Pi is an AWESOME book. I very much recommend it. Margaret Atwood is Canadian, I think. I've heard her things are very good, but be sure to double check my facts there!

Answer 7

"A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry.


Heart breaking, moving, just an incredible book. It was also an Oprah pick.