O Canada

Dear Charlie,
Despite not going to Canada, I'm still trying to keep up with all things Canadian. First of all, I recommend this series on BBC 6 Music, where writers present the music that inspires them, both in everyday life and in their writing. Here, Margaret Atwood, probably Canada's greatest living writer (along with Alice Munro, of course!), whom you have all studied or will be studying in the OIB section, gives a playlist of great Canadian musicians, my personal favourites being Buffy Saint-Marie (a Native Canadian singer), Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and the late, great Leonard Cohen (although I don't think she chose his best track). It's a really interesting programme plus there are about 10 Atwood books in the school library, and I invite you to try them, starting, if possible, with The Handmaid's Tale, a modern classic (OK, I've only read that, and Surfacing, which was less good. I too have catching up to do.) The programme's only available for another 8 days, so listen soon, and tell me what you think! I can lend you CDs by some of the artists. In the series Paperback Writers, those I'd be particularly interested in are Jonathan Coe (one of my favourites, and a massive music fan), Zadie Smith (White Teeth and NW are famous novels of multicultural London, and NW's in the library), and David Nicholls (One Day and Us), but they all look interesting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0802npl

Meanwhile, I've decided to read only Canadian books until Christmas. I started last week with the American novel, The Sweet Hereafter, by Russell Banks, which was memorably filmed by a Canadian, Atom Egoyan (tenuous, I know, but I really wanted to read it, and wasn't disappointed!). Then I read Blankets (a blog article, anyone?) which I THOUGHT was Canadian (!) and am now reading a really good novel called A Jest of God, by another Margaret, namely Laurence, which is really Canadian. It was filmed in the '60s by the actor Paul Newman. And I have plenty more to go, so feel free to give me any suggestions. My personal Canadian favourite is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (available in the library, if you've got the time). He's a novelist who was born in India (and has so far only written about his country of birth), but emigrated to Canada in 1975. I've also loved The Handmaid's Tale, as I said, and will be reading another Atwood. Michael Ondaatje's good too. I'll also be reading one of Leonard Cohen's two novels as a tribute. How could I refuse the title Beautiful Losers, especially coming from one of my favourite singers? I look forward to hearing your suggestions and telling you about the books I've been reading.
All the best,
Mr Leah