Margaret Atwood's latest “memoir of sorts” is just one highlight in a stellar roster of Canadian authors.
The Book of Lives: A Memoir of sorts
Margaret Atwood
McClelland and Stewart
Margaret Atwood in the flesh is witty, personable and funny. On the page, she's a shrewd visionary – insightful, funny, and sometimes dangerous. Like Jekyll and Hyde, she argues that every writer is “at least two beings: one who lives and one who writes.”
In The Book of Lives we see both creatures. Her “material” is naturally taken from her life and times, which cover a variety of topics, starting with her birth in November 1939.
She writes about her life partner, the late writer Graham Gibson, encounters with wildlife and celebrity life, politics and the arts, with chapters dedicated to each of her major works. The book is over 500 pages long and includes a selection of photographs.
Atwood once rejected the idea of a memoir, but reconsidered: “I could portray myself in a flattering light, casting a hazy haze over my stupid and evil actions, blaming others for them. At the same time, I could thank my benefactors, reward my friends, defeat my enemies and settle accounts long forgotten by everyone but me. I could spill the beans. I could make tea.”
Sorry, Not Sorry: An Unapologetic Look at What Canada is Worth Fighting for
Mark Critch
Viking
Satirist (“This Hour Has 22 Minutes”), author and actor (“Son of Critch”) Mark Critch waxes poetic about a nasty little germ that has unleashed a nationwide wave of patriotic fever.
“We had an all-consuming pain in the ass, and after a painful colonoscopy and self-examination, we learned that it was not hemorrhoids or cancer, but Donald Trump.”
Touching on historical events, Critch writes with heart and humor about what it means to be Canadian and why we should all keep our elbows up.
Ghost Light: Wars, Memory and Families
R.H. Thomson
Vintage Canada
After most performances of his devastating First World War play The Lost Boys, based on hundreds of letters his great uncles sent home during the Great War, R.H. Thomson was visited by visitors who shared their family stories of the war.
The father of the actor and playwright fought in World War II.
A new paperback, By Ghostly Light, encourages Canadians to explore their history, especially as it relates to war. It's worth remembering this on November 11th.
Smiling Land: Around My Newfoundland and Labrador
Alan Doyle
Doubleday Canada
Author (Where I Belong) and Great Big Sea frontman Alan Doyle was a tour guide at the Newfoundland Museum in St. John's for 10 years. He regaled tourists with fascinating facts about historical sites that he had not personally visited.
Since then he has gone on a grand tour. Along with tales of Viking settlements, fishing villages and lighthouses, Doyle shares stories of “iceberg-like things,” including one that resembled the Virgin Mary and one that earned the nickname “Dickie Berg.” This photo went viral after it was photographed by a berg watcher, where else? Dildo, Netherlands.
