Canadians and Literature

There are a lot of interesting Canadians sitting on the shelves of the library and they have wonderful stories to tell. Of course, the actual person is not here, but the accounts that they have penned invite you into their lives.

What compels a young, affluent Canadian to put on a uniform and risk his life for the controversial mission in Afghanistan? And how does his family cope with his loss when he is killed there?

“When I learned that my nephew, Captain Jeff Francis, had been killed by an IED in Afghanistan, I knew I had to do two things: help my sister and Jeff’s family survive his loss and—to deal with my own grief—finally understand why my nephew needed to become a soldier. Everyone thought that Jeff, who had been a thirty-year-old Ph.D. candidate in sociology, was immune to the family calling to military life. But five days before 9/11, he enlisted.” From the fateful day in 2007 when Jeff died, to his family’s long drive between CFB Trenton and Toronto where flag-bearing Canadians gathered in unprecedented numbers, Melanie Murray’s memoir For Your Tomorrow walks you through the paces of a family that has paid the ultimate price.

For years, journalist and amateur tailor JJ Lee tried to ignore the navy suit that hung at the back of his closet -- his late father's last suit. When he decides to finally make the suit his own, little does he know he is about to embark on a journey into his own past. The Measure of a Man: the story of a father, a son, and a suit is a moving and brilliantly crafted story of fathers and sons, of fitting in and standing out -- and discovering what it means to be your own man.

Can you make millions just by “visualizing yourself rich” as some business prophets suggest? Don’t buy it, says Kevin O’Leary in Cold Hard Truth: On business, money & life. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur and amass wealth, you’re going to have to work for it. But O’Leary, the much-feared and revered Dragon on the immensely popular show Dragons’ Den has good news for us: with the right guidance, focus and perseverance, you can turn entrepreneurial vision into lucrative reality and have the personal freedom that only wealth can buy.

Perhaps no other journalist has witnessed first-hand more Canadian sports milestones in the past quarter century than Hockey Night in Canada’s co-host Ron MacLean. Cornered is packed with inside accounts—some inspiring, many hilarious—from his early days as a part-time radio announcer and weather forecaster in Red Deer, Alberta, to his time hosting Hockey Night in Canada and the Olympics.

Laid up after breaking a leg, Canadian musical icon Ian Tyson learned the guitar, and drifted east, becoming a key songwriter and performer in the folk revival movement. But the West always beckoned, and when his marriage to his partner and collaborator Sylvia broke up and the music scene threatened to grind him down, he retreated to a ranch and work with cutting horses. Soon, he'd bought a ranch in Alberta and found a new voice as the renowned Western Revival singer-songwriter and horseman he is today. The Long Trail is Tyson's reflection on that journey.

Had your photo taken by library staff at one of the many past and ongoing events and activites? See if your photo made the cut by checking out the Muskoka Lakes Public Library blog, with the link to the photos, found by clicking onto the What’s New tab on the library website www.muskoka.com/library.