“The Disappeared” // Canadian Literature

The first summer that my Ottawa besties and I were living in different cities I had the most magnificent idea: Life Line. It’s our ultra secret – no longer secret – and private group on Facebook where we can share our biggest fears, our life challenges, our greatest accomplishments, our ugliest photos of each other – face masks at our sleepover, enough said – and happiest moments with each other all in one shot. This way there is no repetition and re-telling stories to each individual at different times.

This summer Cammie and I shared a similar interest in reading The Sentimentalist by Johanna Skibsrud. I had just started indulging in this text and hadn’t felt it out yet. All I had heard was good things, but I didn’t want to recommend it unless I was sure.

On lifeline Cammie suggested another Canadian authored text that was receiving rave reviews. Sadly, I had already established my off-season summer read list and hadn’t had time to look into the book she loved so much.

Last night while sitting in Cammie’s bedroom – as new roommates – I was complaining about the prices of books for University courses. It’s ridiculous! I bought books yesterday for 2/3 courses and was dollar shocked. My first destination Mother Tongue Books on – Bank and Sunnyside – I had to purchase 9 novels, which were all Broadview editions – a scholar based print house – for my 18th Century Lit class. Considering it was 9 books and the print house the 160.00 dollar price tag made sense. I figured that at Haven Books the 6 required texts for my Canadian Lit class would be much more affordable. I was wrong. They were all new books and so the price tag was $158.00. NOT cheaper. I was instantaneously suffering from consumers remorse, anxiety, and inner sickness by the expensive costs.

While informing Cammie of my depressed state as a result of the ultimate cost to being a student – which I deem unfair – I told her that I began reading for my classes out of fear that had resulted from the amount of texts I’ll be required to read in one semester. I began describing The Disappeared – having already forgotten the title – and guess what?  The Disappeared by Kim Echlin was her summer read that she had recommended to me. Whoops!

We immediately began discussing…

Cammie & I express our love & excitement for one another in Whistler.

P.S. I had a brilliant idea. Since school is so expensive Cammie should just read all the books I’ve purchased after I read them. I’ll discuss with her what I’ve learned and this will perform a double duty. First she’ll continue her love of learning – as she wants to be doing her masters in english lit now that she’s hearing my experiences – and so she will practically gain a free masters degree but without the paper. Second I’ll be “studying” and prepping for class discussions through our intellectual chats. What are friends for?

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