Agent Palmer

Two years after the first publication of Douglas Coupland’s Souvenir of Canada, a brilliant if unconventional guide to Canadian culture, he published Souvenir of Canada 2. After all, it all couldn’t be distilled down into just one singular volume.

Unlike the first book which contains a smattering of personal anecdotes, this book is much more personal to Coupland, in both the stories of his family and the way this book is written. It feels like he’s telling you these things personally.

Two years after the first publication of Douglas Coupland’s City of Glass, a brilliant if unconventional travel guide for his hometown of Vancouver, he published Souvenir of Canada. The would-be sequel is as brilliant and unconventional as City of Glass, excepting that it is about his home nation of Canada.

The format remains the same, but the scale is understandably larger. The goal, after all, was to share Canada with the world, and it also seems to re-introduce Canada to itself. At least, that’s the way I sometimes read it.

Every major city in the world has a talented writer. Every city in the world has a travel guide of some sort, but what City of Glass: Douglas Coupland’s Vancouver does is marry the talented writer with the travel guide glued together with a passion for one’s own hometown, to create not just a travel guide, but a glimpse into local life.

I read the 2006 Revised Edition, but originally published in 2000, this book is Vancouver’s ABCs, a local tourism perspective, the likes of which you’d need to find a very good local blogger to get from anywhere else.