FORGIVENESS

Mark Sakamoto. Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents. HarperCollins, 2014.

A memoir of growing up in Medicine Hat, Alberta, in a dysfunctional family, bookended by Canadian grandparents with similar but different experiences during World War II. Grandpa Ralph MacLean was a POW in Japan. Grandma Mitsue Sakamoto and family were removed from Vancouver and resettled in Alberta. 

The sixth selection for the Hawthorne Book Club. 

THE END OF EAST

Jen Sookfong Lee. The End Of East. Knopf, 2007.

The End of East is Vancouver. This novel was a good read to complete on BC's Family Day. The story of immigrants from China, three generations of a family, coming over, living in Vancouver. Moving from Chinatown to East Van. The grandfather a barber, the son an accountant. Subtexts involving the importance of sons and the challenges of mother-daughter relationships. 

City of Glass

City of Glass: Douglas Coupland's Vancouver. Douglas and McIntyre, 2000.

Douglas Coupland's lovingly self-deprecating visitor's guide to Vancouver. 

I think I've shared in this blog before how I once sat in the same row as Coupland at a Vancouver Museum function and eavesdropped on his chatting to another artist. He sounded just like he does in this book. So artsy-cool. 

I remember once hearing him tell of a reader who actually asked why he had chosen the title he did for this book. I shake my head. Open your eyes. 

At first, I thought that this is a pretty masculine view of the city. I am more aware of the flowers, everywhere, especially hydrangea, along with the spring blossoms he does include. I was surprised at no mention of sports teams--Canucks, Lions, WhiteCaps--or to music, or shopping. And of suburbs other than North. And of course, since 2000, there have been a few memorable additions, such as the Olympics, and the Canada Line, and changes to BC ferries. I'm reaching here. It's still relevant and an amusing enjoyable read.