# Canadian Novels: Name Your Favourite and Least Favourite **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-novels-name-your-favourite-and-least-favourite/594823 "2011-09-01T04:03:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hap\_Shaughnessy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Hap\_Shaughnessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hap_Shaughnessy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-novels-name-your-favourite-and-least-favourite/594823/41 "2011-09-13T10:35:49Z")
_Famous Last Words_ & _The Wars_, both by Findley, also _A Complicated Kindness_ by Toews would be among my favourites. I guess my least favourites begin with everything else. ---
**Author:** ![medicated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@medicated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medicated)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-novels-name-your-favourite-and-least-favourite/594823/42 "2011-09-13T10:49:25Z")
_What’s Bred in the Bone_ by Robertson Davies, probably. I loved the Cornish Trilogy as a whole, though the final installment was a bit thin compared to the other two. As for least favourite, that would have to be _The Tent Peg_ by Aritha van Herk. Utter drivel. My (at the time) gf and I used to mock it mercilessly. I only read it because a friend of hers recommended it, and she found it so funny she forced me to read it too. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-novels-name-your-favourite-and-least-favourite/594823/43 "2011-12-24T22:17:21Z")
Just popping back in to say how much I enjoyed the comments from everyone. There’s some books here that I’ll have to read (or re-read). Every so often the Folio Society asks its members what books they would like to see published by Folio; I keep plugging Davies and Mitchell, but so far to no effect. ☹ [QUOTE=Spoons] They’re not really novels, but I rather liked Farley Mowat’s early work; in particular The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be and The Boat who Wouldn’t Float. Stephen Leacock remains a favourite, especially his Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town. [/QUOTE] We appear to have been reading exactly the same stuff in our youth. 🙂 It helped that the Dog Who Wouldn’t Be is set in Saskatchewan, and begins with a description of the Mowat family re-entering Canada at Estevan, during the Depression, ravaged by strip-mining - that was the first piece of literature that actually mentioned an area that I had personal familiarity with, which really helped to connect. (Similarly, British authors like Wodehouse and Mortimer occasionally mention Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, but I think it’s just because they think it sounds funny. But I like the shout-out nonetheless.) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-novels-name-your-favourite-and-least-favourite/594823/44 "2011-12-24T22:22:45Z")
> [@Ludy](#): > > Lets see, other Canadian favorites are: > > A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry An all-time favorite – didn’t know he was Canadian. > [@](#): > > A Complicated Kindness, by Miriam Toews Haven’t read that one but really enjoyed _Irma Voth_. > [@](#): > > The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill Loved that one too (the title in the US was _Nobody Knows My Name_ – another author I didn’t realize was Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-novels-name-your-favourite-and-least-favourite/594823/45 "2011-12-24T22:54:38Z")
we’re anonymous, that way - we can pass for Americans as needed. (when the invasion from the North starts, you’re in trouble – but I’ve said too much…) ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-novels-name-your-favourite-and-least-favourite/594823/46 "2011-12-24T23:04:49Z")
A little surprised there’s so little love here for Carol Shields–LARRY’S PARTY in particular, but the STONE DIARIES was also excellent. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-novels-name-your-favourite-and-least-favourite/594823/47 "2011-12-24T23:14:06Z")
Another vote for Davies; my faves are Fifth Business and Rebel Angels. I hunted down first Canadian editions of his three trilogies and a few of his other works. Great reading on a number of levels. Why he didn’t get the Nobel during his lifetime is beyond me… ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-novels-name-your-favourite-and-least-favourite/594823/48 "2011-12-24T23:25:34Z")
_Tigana_, by Guy Gavriel Kay. Obviously. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-novels-name-your-favourite-and-least-favourite/594823.md?page=2)