Scotchman's Return and other Essays (Hugh MacLennan)

Ever since I read Two Solitudes for an independent English assignment in my last year of high school, I've loved Hugh MacLennan. While exploring Old Goat books, a bookshop that was new to me, I came across Scotchman's Return and other Essays. Normally, I would consider $15 too much to pay for a used book that I had never read, but I bought it anyway. Maybe I bought it because I'd scoured the shop and found nothing else which stuck out to me--it is so disappointing to go out intending to buy a book and come home empty handed--or maybe I just liked the golden-green cover and the feel of the pages. The 1960 publication date and that old book smell was also appealing.

I loved reading this book. It's light, personal and satisfying. MacLennan touches on everything from Canadian cuisine, the classical tradition is education, tennis, roses and the difficulty that Canadian authors who set their writing in Canada faced during the early and middle half of the 20th century.

This is a book that anyone can appreciate, but only a reader familiar with Canada can understand completely. Unfortunately, this book is out of print, so if you look for it you'll have to buy used.

I'm also quite pleased with the bookmark Old Goat Books gave me. I can never have enough bookmarks.