Can-Lit Books for the Culturally Curious

I believe that one can learn a lot about a country by reading literature written by that country – at home or abroad. Every genre provides certain insights but my favourites are fiction, non-fiction, memoir, travel, and creative non-fiction.

Canada is blessed to have many different cultures and ethnicities making up it’s population. Each group brings a unique aspect to the nation and I value them all.

Here are a few culturally rich books that I’ve read over the years that have increased my understanding and connection with Canada.

1. The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O’Neill. Read this for glance into Montreal francophone culture in the mid 1990’s. The novel takes place leading up to, during, and after the 1995 referendum when Quebec almost separated from Canada. I’m so glad they didn’t! This novel has absolutely beautiful prose and takes the reader into the gritty and complicated when life doesn’t go as planned or even imagined.

2. The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. I realize this could be a strange pick for this list for some but I think it offers great insight into the environmentally-minded communities as well as those who are passionate about conspiracy theory (there are a few of those in Canada, believe me!), as well as technology and science. The final book of the trilogy, Maddadam is in my winter to-read pile.

3. Poets and Pahlevans by Marcello Di Cintio. This book has been described as a love letter to Iran. I must say that I don’t know much about Persian culture or Iran. I’ve met and become friends with a few Persians while I was living in Belgium and their culture is so wonderfully different from my own. In Poets and Pahlevans, Di Cintio explores the connection between poetry and wrestling in Persian culture. The two seem disconnected but historically poetry was recited before a wrestling match in Iran. Full disclosure, I’m only 50 pages into this book but I’m digging it so far.

A Pahlevan is a wrestling master and at one time they had a deep connection with their nation’s poetry as well. The story’s present-day characters give the impression that poetry in Iran is dead but by the end the reader may see it differently. As for travel writing, the prose is fantastic and gives insight into the everyday lives of Iranians, politics of the early ’00’s and the hospitality that Canadians are shown while travelling.

4. Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. An incredible novel that taught me a lot about Native culture and values. It’s descriptive in terms of setting, emotions, and events to the point where it remains in my memory. In this book, two young men join the Canadian Forces during WWI. The men were best friends and more like brothers. They have different approaches to survival while they are in Europe and we get to follow each character down the path they have chosen.

The story begins when a grandmother canoes to the nearest city to pick up her grandson’s friend, believing that her grandson died in the war. Once she arrives at the station, she sees her grandson is alive but he is suffering psychological and physical wounds. The two continue their journey together in the canoe back home. The three main characters are memorable and create a dramatic tension throughout the book as their lives intertwine. I went into this novel not knowing anything about the First Nations who volunteered for WWI. Dare I say it, but Three Day Road should be required reading for Canadians.

5. Mãn by Kim Thúy. I haven’t had a chance to read this yet but I have high hopes. I’ve listened to Thúy’s recent interviews on CBC and she is very introspective and honest. Her novel is about a woman, Man, who marries a Vietnamese man and begins working as a chef in their Montreal restaurant. It is said to be filled with tantalizing passages about cooking while exploring the complexity of relationships, both flailing and passionate. In Thúy’s interview, she described some of the cultural cross-overs between Vietnamese and French culture. I’m intrigued.

6. Boundless by Kathleen Winter. This was the first book I’ve read by Kathleen Winter and I was completely mesmerized by her writing and the stories included in this travel memoir. At the beginning of the book, Winter seems to be a crossroads of sorts in regards to her self identity and creativity. She is presented with a chance to be a writer-in-residence for a cruise ship that is retracing the the infamous trail of the Northwest Passage. While on the ship, she recollects her memories as a young person and being a 1st generation Canadian of British parents. In her stories, she manages to bind her youth, her present life, and her creative process with her experience up north in terms of the land, the people, and the sea.

This memoir taught me a lot about Northern culture, Newfoundland, as well as the European immigration experience and creating a Canadian identity. On a personal level, after reading about how Winter’s friends helped her through the death of her first husband, I hope that I’m the type of person who would arrange and execute a Viking funeral for a friend (in the terms of ritual drinking and setting a rowboat of stuff on fire in the harbour.)

7. A House in the Sky by Amanada Lindhout and Sara Corbett. I’m planning to reading Lindhout’s memoir of her abduction in Somalia over Christmas holidays. I realize that sounds a bit morbid but I’m more inspired by Lindhout’s recovery since being held hostage for 18 months in 2008.

She’s started the Global Enrichment Foundation, a non-profit, that supports development, aid,and education initiatives in Somalia and Kenya. She grew up in Red Deer, which is a 20 minute drive from where I currently live. In any case, when I flip through this book and read small passages, I’m in awe. I’m looking forward to learning more about Somalia and her career as a journalist.