The CBC literary website, Words at Large, has a feature on The Line Painter here.
I put together a reading list for the feature--the top 10 books for a road trip across Canada. Here is the intro:
A road trip across Canada is something a lot of people dream about doing. The dream is fueled by the myths and stories about road trips, movies like Fandango and Easy Rider depict a road trip as a right of passage, or in books like Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, as a way to discover your true self, or searching for meaning like in Badini's On a Cold Road.
But, let's be honest. Unless you're spiritually enlightened or in a rock band, nothing much happens actually on a road trip. In truth, you sit in a metal box, eat bad food and watch places go by. Why all the good stories?
My current theory is that road trips are so boring that people use all the empty time to make up great stories. For example, if I've just graduated and set out across country with a group of friends, chances are something will happen that I can say was a right of passage. Or, if I'm moving across the country and decide to drive, I'm bound to have epiphany about my new life ahead--what else do I have to think about?
So, I have put together a reading list for your road trip across Canada. These books all have a strong and distinct sense of place, meaning they will help you cook up more authentic sounding stories as you go. Remember, it's not the trip itself, it's all about the stories you tell your friends when you get home.
To read the top 10 list, click here for the CBC website.
p.s. I was in Nova Scotia for the past 3 weeks. It was nice to be gone and now it's nice to be back. A few things happened. I'll get caught up this week.
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