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Summer Reading List
June 15, 2003
Alistair MacLeod's Suggestions
Author of No Great Mischief, Island: The Collected Stories of Alistair MacLeod, The Lost Salt Gift of Blood, and As Birds Bring Forth the Sun.
Anything from the canon of Charles Dickens.
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (Random House Canada, 1982)
Speaks to issues of our time, such as racism, genetic engineering, parenting.
Butterflies Dance in the Dark, by Beatrice MacNeil (Key Porter Books, 2002)
Beautiful book set in the East coast. Young girl born out of wedlock has a difficult time in school, redemptive in the end.
Simple Recipes, by Madeline Thien (McClelland and Stewart, 2001)
Set in Vancouver. Series of beautiful short stories that deal with real issues that are not judgemental. One is called House, about two little girls with a father away in the mines who are left with their mother who is a pleasant alcoholic.
The Sojourn, by Alan Cumyn (McClelland and Stewart, 2003)
Young man goes overseas during WWI. Has to deal with difference between life in Britain and Canada. Also deals with the contrast between life in the trenches, and being a young man on leave in London.
The Last Crossing, by Guy Vanderhaeghe (McClelland and Stewart, 2002)
A beautiful book about the West. It’s also about language and art.
True History of the Kelly Gang, by Peter Carey (Vintage Canada, 2001)
A book beautifully written in the voice of a man who is semi-literate. It’s based on the true story of the notorious gang. Very good story even if you know how it ends.
Deafening, by Frances Itani (Harper-Flamingo, 2003)
First novel by an Ottawa short story writer. Set in WWI, about a woman in her twenties who has been profoundly deaf since age five, and her hearing husband.
Marci Crossan's Suggestions
Spokesperson for abebooks.com, an online marketplace for used, rare and out-of-print books.
The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare, 1676.
Marked as it was acted for his Highness the Duke of York’s theatre in London. Currently listed at $95,000.
Letter Signed (‘Your affectionate father, Np’), by Napoleon I.
Written in 1812 to his stepson, Prince Eugene de Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy.
The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss, 1957.
Listed at $18,000. First edition. There’s a strong trend in collecting Dr. Seuss books.
The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos, by Anne Carson (Knopf, 2001)
Noah Richler's Suggestions
Literary columnist at National Post and host of CBC Radio One’s Richler on Radio.
Ascension, by Steven Galloway (Knopf Canada, 2003)
Story of a gypsy clan from Hungary. One man comes to Canada and becomes a high wire walker, a metaphor for his desire to rise above his lot.
A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, by Gil Courtemanche (Knopf Canada, 2003)
The main character, Bernard Valcourt, is making a documentary about the ravages of AIDS just before the genocide of 1994. Grisly and profoundly unpleasant book about what mankind is capable of, but quite brilliant.
The Viceroy of Ouidah, by Bruce Chatwin (Viking Penguin, 1988)
Tells the life of a man in West Africa who will always be a vassal. Pithy book that is perfectly written.
Fog Magic, by Julia L. Sauer (Penguin USA, 1986)
Captivating story of a child growing up by the north mountain on the Digby neck of Nova Scotia. She discovers that she can walk through the fog into a secret world of her own.
The Cutting Room, by Louise Welsh (Canongate Books, 2003)
A man who works at an auction house is asked to sell off the contents of an estate. It becomes clear that this man was involved in a pornography ring. Riveting, dark overtones. Set in Glasgow.
Cross Country Checkup Callers' Suggestions
Holes, by Louis Sachar (Seal Books, 2000)
Story of young boy who is always in the wrong place at the wrong time, and is wrongly accused of a crime. He is sent away to reform school but will not let adversity keep him down. For readers age 10 – 14 years.
1984, by George Orwell (Penguin Books, 1989)
Scarier than any horror book. Very relevant in these times.
Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor Books, 1999)
Science fiction. Centres around ideas of evolution and articficial intelligence design. Could start many interesting debates at the cottage if read by the entire family.
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883, by Simon Winchester (Harper Collins Canada, 2003)
Nonfiction. Tells of the volcanic eruption that killed 35,000 on this island off the coast of Java in 1883.
No Great Mischief, by Alistair MacLeod (McClelland & Stewart, 2001)
A wonderful book that shows Alistair MacLeod’s Celtic feelings.
The Complete Guide to Sharpening, by Leonard Lee (Wilshire Publications, 1996)
About sharpening tools. Well-written even if you aren’t a woodworker.
Notes from a Small Island, by Bill Bryson (McClelland & Stewart, 1998)
Very humorous travel book about England. What distinguishes Bryson from other travel writers is the details he notices.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon (Penguin Books of Canada, 1996)
This book is a very good read at this particular time in history. Easy to read despite its length and dense subject matter.
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, by Simon Winchester (Harper Perennial, 1999)
About the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. The “Madman” is a very powerful character.
The Hours, by Michael Cunningham (SMP, 2002)
Starts off with the suicide of Virginia Woolf and then ties in the lives of two women from later generations.
Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre, by Simone de Beauvoir (Penguin Books of Canada, 1990)
De Beauvoir’s celebration of a long and fruitful partnership. Book confronts age and death and dying.
Parliament of Whores, by P.J. O’Rourke (Random House Canada, 1992)
O’Rourke goes to Washington to find out why government is so big and why it costs so much. This book is not only about the United States, it’s revealing of any democracy. Takes something that would be otherwise dry and boring and makes it exciting.
The Earthsea Trilogy, by Ursula K. Le Guin
Four books in the “trilogy”: A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Tombs of Atuan (1970), The Farthest Shore(1972), and Tehanu (1990).
Story of a young wizard not unlike Harry Potter, but written more poetically.
Each Man’s Son, by Hugh MacLennan (McLelland & Stewart, 2003)
Wonderful job in developing characters, especially doctor of small Cape Breton community and boxer who comes home after a career in the United States.
Serpent in Paradise, by Dea Birkett (Doubleday & Co., 1998)
Birkett travels to Pitcairn Island which is where the Bounty mutineers settled.
Too Close to the Falls: A Memoir, by Catherine Gildiner (ECW Press, 1999)
About author’s quirky life growing up on the American side of Niagara Falls in the 1950s.
On Dialogue, by David Bohm (Routledge, 1996)
A book about a way of communicating that author says hasn’t been tried yet on this planet.
The Toughest Indian in the World, by Sherman Alexie (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2000)
Collection of short stories from Native American writer. Wonderful use of the English language. I took a bite and couldn’t stop eating.
Sane Trapper Cooped Up in Remote Cabin With Crazed Wife, by Ingi G.Bjornson
(To order this book, send an email to: info@nesolakeadventures.com. $19 CAN)
Collection of short stories from writer in Northern Manitoba. Every reader dreams of reading a book that has a voice. This book has one. You hear author’s Icelandic voice as well as a northern voice. Funny and thoughtful.
A Pattern of Islands, by Arthur F. Grimble (Ulverscroft Large Print Canada, Ltd., 1965)
A gentle, wonderful memoir about Grimble’s time as a British administrator in the South Pacific Islands during the 1920s and 30s.
Twenty Years A-Growing, by Maurice O’Sullivan (Oxford University Press, 1983)
About growing up on Ireland’s Blasket Islands in the early part of last century. Gorgeous little book about people living a simple life.
The Vanishing Country: Is it Too Late to Save Canada?, by Mel Hurtig (McClelland & Stewart, 2002)
About the Americanization of Canada. This is the most important book I’ve ever read as a patriot and a Canadian.
Out of the Depths, by Isabelle Knockwood & Gillian Thomas (Roseway Publications, 1993)
Mi’kmaq woman writes about her life at the residential school in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia in the late 1930s.
The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence (NCL, 1988)
Amazed after reading it in my early 20s how much more powerful it is in my 50s.
Suggestions from the Online Discussion Forum
These are only the ones read on-air by Rex.
For the others go to Checkup's Discussion Forum.
The Guns of Normandy: A Soldier's Eye View, France, 1944, by George G. Blackburn (McClelland & Stewart, 1996)
One of the finest and most evocative accounts of Canadians at war ever written. Blackburn chronicles the supreme awfulness of the Normandy campaign from the viewpoint of a combat soldier who was there.
Salamander, by Thomas Wharton (Emblem Editions, 2002)
This is one of the most sumptuous and intriguing books I've ever read. A commentary on the nature of books and our relationship with both their physical reality and their content, Salamander is layered, exquisitely written and utterly engaging.
Also Mentioned by Rex or Guests During the Program
Animal Farm, by George Orwell (Alfred A. Knopf, 1993)
Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson (Dover Publications, 1996)
Caught in the Web of Words: James A. H. Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary, by K. M. Murray (Yale University Press, 1995)
Elegy for Iris, by John Bayley (St. Martin’s Press, 1999)
Barney’s Version, by Mordecai Richler (Knopf Canada, 1998)
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad (Penguin UK, 2000)
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