Back-to-back haul posts! Though there was quite a gap between the book-buying excursions – and this one was all the way to Canada. I’ve just come back from a couple of weeks visiting Calgary, Banff, and Vancouver, which were really fun. Some lows along the way (emergency dental trip; heavy rain and storms in apparently-usually-sunny Calgary) but lots of highs (beautiful Lake Louise and Moraine Lake; aquabusing in Vancouver; having lunch with Claire the Captive Reader; strolling through parks and eating a lot of pancakes, poutine and Dairy Queen). And our flat in Vancouver was so beautiful, with the most extraordinary views out over the city.
And, of course, the bookshops. We didn’t have any hold luggage, so I decided that I would be very abstemious with the books I bought.
Reader, I was deluding myself.
I bought plenty of books, relying on the fact that they don’t weigh cabin bags, and throwing out a pair of jeans that had a well-timed hole in them. I also left behind the plaid worn above, which was an emergency thrifted item when we realised that Banff was going to be about 20 degrees colder than originally forecast.
As on my previous trip, I was trying to buy only books that are hard to find here – and I stuck even better to my resolve to buy Canadian authors, with only one American author sneaking in alongside them. Here are the books I bought, divided into categories of why I bought them…
THE BOOKS I WENT HOPING TO FIND
There were a handful of books on my wishlist for this trip, and I found pretty much all of them! I don’t think any of them are very hard to track down in Canada, but they’re all pretty unusual in the UK.
The Innocent Traveller by Ethel Wilson
My Golightly and Other Stories by Ethel Wilson
I think I have everything by Wilson now. And had the happy bonus of the man in the bookshop telling me that Mr Golightly and Other Stories was one of his favourite books – I was looking for both of these throughout my trip, and eventually located them in the enormous MacLeod’s in Vancouver. It thankfully had a section devoted to Canadian authors.
Crackpot by Adele Wiseman
I didn’t know anything about this before, but when I saw it listed in the back of This Side Jordan by Margaret Laurence (which I read on the trip) and saw it had an afterword by Laurence herself, I was keen to stumble upon a copy – and stumble I did.
Wild Dogs by Helen Humphreys
And A Dog Called Fig by Helen Humphreys
Humpheys’ novels are usually historical and usually set outside Canada, and neither of those things were what I wanted – but I knew that she had an early novel, Wild Dogs, set in modern-day Canada. Not only did I find it in the basement of a shop in Inglewood, Calgary, but it was signed by her! Staying on the dog theme, I was also keen to read her newish non-fiction that traces her writing life alongside the dogs she has loved.
THE BOOKS I WAS RECOMMENDED
When I was in the lovely Pages, Books bookshop in Kensington, Calgary, I asked a couple of people for recommendations – firstly one of my fellow shoppers, who recommended the Urquhart, and then the people behind the desk. It was really fun. All I said was that I wanted Canadians writing about Canada, so I didn’t tell them a lot about my actual tastes, but fingers crossed.
Prairie Edge by Connor Kerr
I’ve already finished this novel, about a couple of disaffected young Métis people releasing Bisons into downtown Edmonton, Alberta, and I thought it was excellent. Good recommendation!
River Mumma by Zalika Reid-Benta
A New Season by Terry Fallis
The Whirlpool by Jane Urquhart
I don’t know much about these, other than that Fallis is apparently funny and Urquhart’s novel is set in late-19th-century Niagara Falls, but the enthusiasm of the recommendations won me over.
THE OTHER BOOKS THAT TEMPTED ME
The Irrational Season by Madeleine L’Engle
The Summer of the Great-Grandmother by Madeleine L’Engle
Here is my sole non-Canadian. I’ve already enjoyed the fourth of her autobiographical books, Two-Part Invention, so now I can read some of the others.
Ordinary Wonder Tales by Emily Urquhart
No relation to Jane, so far as I can tell. A new-books bookshop in Calgary had a little slip inside all books by Canadian authors or Canadian presses (or, as in this case, both) and I went through every single one of them. None were crying out to me, until I got to the very last one in the shop – and I was very intrigued by this essay collection. I’ve finished it already, and it’s a brilliant combination of folklore with Urquhart’s (and other women’s) everyday experiences. Really well done.
Deep Hollow Creek by Sheila Wilson
A Canadian classic, according to the blurb, and written in the 1930s about a woman taking up a teaching post in a one-room schoolhouse in a frontier settlement. Yes please!
The Student by Cary Fagan
I can’t remember why I picked this one up, but fingers crossed!
The Book of Eve by Constance Beresford-Howe
Another one picked from shelves dedicated to Canadian authors (in Fair’s Fair in Calgary, possessors of the excellent sign at the top of this post) – I was tempted by the story of a 65-year-old woman walking out of her stagnant marriage and setting up in a boarding house. I read it on the plane on the way home, and really enjoyed it.
So far, I’ve read five of my new purchases already, and they’ve all been very good – watch this space for full thoughts on them all… anything that particular catches your eye?
Constance Beresford-Howe is one of my favourite Canadian authors.. Night Studies is excellent as well.
I’m so happy you love Canada. I’m heading to the Uk in the fall to buy a load of books on our trip 😀
I am so glad! She isn’t a name I’d heard before, but the description really intrigued me and it clearly paid off. Glad that we are exchanging books across the Atlantic as you come to buy up the UK’s :D
Hi Simon. Before even writing this, I have immediately bought Deep Hollow Creek due to your description! “Canadian classic” gets me every time, I’ve read so many wonderful books in that category that turned out to be great discoveries. Offhand, Marie Chapdelaine comes to mind, and some of my grandmother’s friends’ novels, like Laura Goodman Salverson’s The Viking Heart and Confessions of an Immigrant’s Daughter (though she was really Icelandic), and…well I could go on, but I don’t know if you remember that my grandmother, Winnifred Eaton (Onoto Watanna), the first Asian American novelist, was born and grew up in Montreal, fled to New York and Hollywood to become novelist and screenwriter, and spent the greater part of her life as a leading light in literary Calgary. Yes, there was and is such a thing! And there was also a big conference in Calgary in 2023, celebrating the centenary of her Calgary novel, Cattle, and I had the joy of meeting all the scholars and fans, and (as her biographer) giving the keynote talk!
But I digress: I mostly wanted to tell you how delighted I was to hear about your wonderful Canadian trip. Seeing you at Moraine Lake made me smile with pleasure. It’s also a belated opportunity to thank you for mentioning me – your old friend the movie studio story analyst! – in your piece on Helene Hanff. So kind of you to remember, and I’m glad that it sounds as if you have warmed to her now, perhaps more than your initial reaction. As for me, my life and background had so many similarities to hers (except writing such works of comedic genius!), that I’ve always felt a kinship.
Now, I’m just about to embark on a two-month trip to the UK – first spending five weeks in Edinburgh cat-sitting for a friend whose lovely home is filled with a most enormous collection of girls’ literature (I’ve been steeped in the works of Josephine Elder and D.E. Stevenson lately, so I may not see much in Edinburgh apart from her bookshelves!). My friend teaches in Edinburgh but is Canadian and will be spending time at her lake cabin in Northern Ontario. After Edinburgh I’ll be going to the Hebrides with my Cambridge friend; then a Dorothy L. Sayers conference in York; and finally ten days in London with a side trip to Oxford. Rather a dream trip! If you have any time or inclination to reconnect for tea or the like, that would be lovely. Alas, I’ll have no room in my carry-on bag for book acquiring, plus I’ve reached the stage of life when de-acquisition takes on new meaning, but I’m glad to see you are keeping it up! Sorry for this long message, warmest regards from Diana
I saw Winnifred/Onoto’s books in a couple of bookshops and thought of you! I hadn’t realised they’d been reprinted, and how wonderful to have had the conference and to be the keynote speaker.
Yes please, do give me an email (still on simonthomasoxford@gmail.com) about your upcoming trip – if we can make it work, that would be absolutely wonderful.
Thanks for the trip to Canada, that itinerary was part of my honeymoon. Beautiful landscapes. Have you been to Peyto Lake too?
Many thanks for the book lists as I’m currently trying to read more Canadian lit. Sadly several of them aren’t available in French translation (meaning people from Québec can’t read them either unless they are fluent enough in English to read the original) and I would have liked to include them in a buddy read with a French reader.
Unless I’m mistaken, there’s no Francophone writer in your list. Did you purposely look for authors from the provinces you visited or weren’t there any writers from Québec in the bookstores you visited?
I didn’t purposefully avoid Francophones, and I was drawn a bit more to authors if they were writing about cities/provinces that I was in, but I think I just know a bit more what I’m looking for with the Anglophones. Very open to suggestions!
I very much enjoyed reading this post Simon and especially liked seeing the photos too. I was in Canada in 2001 but that was before I found your blog and knew many Canadian writers. We also visited Vancouver, Banff and Lake Moraine and Louise. We tried a little hiking but somehow clapping to frighten away any bears did not fill me which much confidence should we meet one on the path!
I am jealous of your Ethel Wilson books as I have enjoyed the two of hers I’ve been able to find. I have read Helen Humphrey’s ‘And a Dog Called Fig’. I suspect you will appreciate the bits about solitude and writing more than the dog bits which made me cry! I look forward to more reviews in due course.
I did indeed enjoy the sections on writing maybe more than those on dogs (I kept thinking, if she loves dogs this much, she should try cats!) but overall a very enjoyable book.
What an amazing trip, Simon – very jealous. I’ve never been to Canada, although I do have a sort of connection as my Dad was born there (as his parents were working there at the time). And a marvellous haul, none of which I had read but all of which sound intriguing!
I am sure I’ll be back at least a few more times over the years to come – particularly Vancouver, which I love so much.
I wish I had known you were coming to Calgary as that is where I live. Pages is my favourite bookstore. Sorry you got here in time for all that rain. Thanks to you, I bought a couple of Ethel Wilson’s at the big book sale a month ago. Looking forward to reading them.
If you do come again, do let me know.
Ah, I didn’t realise! Pages is such a lovely bookshop – and a cat, too!
Abstemious buying books! Ha ha ha!
I do not know myself…
I first read The Innocent Traveler for a Canadian Literature class in Montreal. It served as my introduction to the author and made me a lifelong fan. A decade later, as a young father, I waded into Vancouver’s English Bay holding the hand of my red-haired toddler daughter.
English Bay features in The Innocent Traveler.
Wilson’s career seems too short, but then her first book was published on the cusp of her sixtieth birthday. Her last book, Mrs Golightly and Other Stories, hit bookshops when she was seventy-three.
As a young pup of twenty-one, I didn’t understand why there weren’t more. After all, Ethel Wilson lived to be ninety-two!
Now that I’ve entered my sixties, I understand.
Simon, do you know Ethel Wilson Stories, Essays, and Letters (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1987)? If not this is where the trail ends. Sadly.
I remember you saying that you started with The Innocent Traveler, so I’m glad to finally have the chance to make its acquaintance! And funny, yes I can see why she might want to have a retirement. I don’t know the stories etc, but good to know there is at least one book still out there.
I have no particular memories of The Whirlpool (perhaps time for a reread) but I loved her “Away” to bits when I moved to Canada for a while at age twenty (afraid to reread it now all those years later in case it does not hold up). And The Stone Carvers was fantastic as well.
Susan in Berlin
Good to know, thank you! If I enjoy this one, I’ll keep an eye out on a future trip…
I’m reading backwards apparently. heheh Oops. Here I was, wondering HOW was he buying books in Canada?! If you’re ever missing something like the “last Ethel Wilson” please don’t hesitate to ask, as it’s just as you’ve said, often those kind of gems are a couple bucks over here, but nowhere-to-be-found where you are. It wouldn’t be the first Ethel Wilson I’d’ve popped in the post!
I echo the other comment about Constance Beresford-Howe (but TBofE is my fave). The Whirlpool is my favourite by JU (but most people would say Away, as above). The Student is fabulous: I think you’ll be charmed. Conor Kerr’s book of interconnected stories, Avenue of Champions, is just as good as the novel. And with Sheila Watson, just be prepared to feel a little disoriented (her The Double Hook is where most people begin, but I”m not sure it really matters). Ok, I’ll stop now. (PS Always, I think of you now, whenever we pass the Dairy Queen!)
Really good to have your intel on these, and glad I made the stab at trying Constance B-H! It was very much from a place of total ignorance, but it worked out well (though doubt I’ll be able to find more by her here). And thanks so much for your kind offer, I will certainly let you know!
Emily Urquhart is Jane’s daughter :) I reviewed a couple of their books in tandem back in 2017: https://bookishbeck.com/2017/05/12/two-mother-daughter-author-pairs-for-mothers-day/ I’ve read a few J. Urquhart novels now and have several more awaiting me on the shelf — I was lucky to find a trove in Wigtown the other year. The Whirlpool hasn’t been one of the best but her work is well worth exploring.
I admire your priorities: books over clothes, every time!
Thanks! I did think it might be too much of a coincidence.
I have seen mention of Prairie Edge a few times and I think I’ll be justified in picking that up when next book-buying. A lovely selection and well done for fitting them all in! I usually take trainers on holiday that are about to expire and ditch them for (when in Spain) books, notebooks and coffee sweets.
Ha, yes, very wise!