What is “Essentially Canadian”

The Toronto Star had a great feature over the holiday weekend. They came up with top-ten lists of Canadian books and films, but also things like architecture and children’s entertainment.

I’m not usually a huge fans of lists like these and the choices they made definitely fall on the safe side. Still, it’s a great starting point. I’ve printed these off to give out to my students this fall in my Intro to Canadian Culture class. It’s important they know who Mr. Dressup was, if you ask me.

Here’s their list of ten essential Canadian books:

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912), by Stephen Leacock

The Tin Flute/Bonheur d’occasion (1945), by Gabrielle Roy

Poésies complètes (1952), Émile Nelligan

The Watch That Ends the Night (1959), Hugh MacLennan

Beautiful Losers (1966), Leonard Cohen

The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970), Margaret Atwood

Lives of Girls and Women (1971), Alice Munro

Obasan (1981), Joy Kogawa

In the Skin of a Lion (1987), Michael Ondaatje

Green Grass, Running Water (1993), Thomas King