A list of the 100 "most important" Canadian books ever ...
... has just been published by the Literary Review of Canada. The LRC emphasizes that this is NOT a list of "favourite" books, but rather, a list of works that have had lasting significance in Canada's evolution as a nation. "We wanted books that have changed our country's psychic landscape," explains LRC editor Bronwyn Drainie in a media release.
The books are listed in chronological order, starting with Jacques Cartier's optimistic Account of the Second Voyage of the Navigation of 1535 and 1536 (1545) and ending with Jane Jacobs' pessimistic Dark Age Ahead (2004).
Notable fiction titles on the list include Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1947) and Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989), Timothy Findley's The Wars (1977), William Gibson's sci-fi classic Neuromancer (1984), Margaret Atwood's distopian The Handmaid's Tale (1985), and Carol Shields' The Stone Diaries (1993). The most recent fiction title on the list is Wayne Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (1998).
Notable fiction omissions include Yann Martel's The Life of Pi and Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient (both were Booker winners). The most notable non-fiction omission is possibly Margaret Trudeau's autobiographical Beyond Reason. I mean, really, if smoking hash with the Rolling Stones and writing about it doesn't get you on a list, what will? Maggie may fare better in the LRC's upcoming "Cheesiest 100 books in Canadian history."
The books are listed in chronological order, starting with Jacques Cartier's optimistic Account of the Second Voyage of the Navigation of 1535 and 1536 (1545) and ending with Jane Jacobs' pessimistic Dark Age Ahead (2004).
Notable fiction titles on the list include Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1947) and Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989), Timothy Findley's The Wars (1977), William Gibson's sci-fi classic Neuromancer (1984), Margaret Atwood's distopian The Handmaid's Tale (1985), and Carol Shields' The Stone Diaries (1993). The most recent fiction title on the list is Wayne Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (1998).
Notable fiction omissions include Yann Martel's The Life of Pi and Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient (both were Booker winners). The most notable non-fiction omission is possibly Margaret Trudeau's autobiographical Beyond Reason. I mean, really, if smoking hash with the Rolling Stones and writing about it doesn't get you on a list, what will? Maggie may fare better in the LRC's upcoming "Cheesiest 100 books in Canadian history."
