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Books I have enjoyed, pt. 1

About 10 years ago, as I waited in a Canadian airport lounge for my flight to be announced, I found some unused Canadian currency in my pockets and went to browse in the airport stores to find something on which to spend the money. I chose a small bottle of Canadian maple syrup, and then decided to get a book to read on the plane. Among all the usual bestsellers and other typical airport books, I found a small shelf of Canadian literature and gave it a browse. One of the books I picked up had a whimsical image on the front, of a block of small shops. The title was Home from the Vinyl Café and the author was Stuart McLean. I opened the book and found myself engrossed in reading a story of a hapless husband charged with cooking the turkey for the family's Christmas meal and running into all sorts of difficulties, starting with forgetting to buy the turkey.

I promptly bought the book and read most of the short stories therein on the flight home, with frequent giggles and stifled laughter. The stories revolve around a record-store owner named Dave, his wife Morley and their two children, and their adventures and mishaps. They apparently feature frequently on McLean's radio show, which I would love to listen to. Ever since I bought the book I have pulled it off the shelf occasionally to read a story or two. I even translated the story of Dave and the turkey as a project in one of my translation classes. I give it a great big thumbs up.

From the information in the book I knew there was a previous book, Stories from the Vinyl Café, but I gave no further thought to it until I was building my wish list on BookMooch. I entered it into the list, and some months later it popped up. I promptly mooched it, but for some reason I didn't read it right away. Now I have and I enjoyed it just as much as the previous collection, although none of the stories stood out as much as the turkey story did. It was also fun to read about Dave and Morley's friends and neighbours, some of who got stories of their own in the book.
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Anonymous said…
Hey bibliophile!
I enjoy your Website.
If you haven't yet, check out Stuart MacClean's Vinyl Café website:
http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/.
The show can be heard on the Internet. It's hilarious. MacClean is a great storyteller. Have fun!
luciek
October 21, 2009 5:05 pm
Bibliophile said…
Thanks, Luciek. I will certainly check it out.
October 21, 2009 6:47 pm
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