Happy Canada Day: TOP 5 Things I love about Canada + Blogger/Readers Favourite Canadian Authors!

Image Credit:  http://copetoons.blogspot.ca

To celebrate Canada Day I've asked some of my blogger/twitter friends to share with me their favourite Canadian authors! I got an overwhelming response and can't wait to share that all with you today, BUT first! Here's my ..

TOP 5 Things I love about Canada!

1. Nature. No other country out there (or at least not many of them) have such abundance of fauna and flora. Canada is the Nature Nation. Now, I am a person who enjoys nature A LOT. I love hiking, swimming, biking, snowshoeing, skiing... you name it! I loved living in BC, because there we got both the mounties and the ocean - how absolutely wonderful is that?! 

Plus, I love the Canadian Rockies: Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Glacier Park... I don't think I can ever get enough of the breathtaking sceneries and absolutely exhilarating views. 

Some picture highlights:

 Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver

Suspended Bridge in Capilano

Jasper National park

Driving from Jasper National Park to Vancouver

On the way to Lake Ohara, Rockies

Lake Ohara

Jasper

Emerald Lake

Glacier Park

Cypress, North Vancouver

And you can snowshoe and READ on top of a mountain, too!

Skiing in Vancouver

2. Friends. Friends are extremely important to me, and so I can't tell you how much it means to me to have so many of them here! Whether they were born here, or immigrated here just a few years ago - Canadians are always kind, warm, open-minded and welcoming. 

I'm especially glad to have my friend, Ewelina - without her my life in Canada wouldn't be nearly as happy.

And of course, all my wonderful blogger friends - I love them all. 

Picture highlights?

with Ewelina

3. Canadian authors.

And there are so many of them! And I love, love, LOVE them all! 

Here's a list of my TOP 17, in no particular order:

1. Kenneth Oppel, author of This Dark Endeavor and Such Wicked Intent

2. MR Merrick, author of Exiled and Shift

3. Genevieve Graham, author of Under The Same Sky and Sound Of The Heart

4. Courtney Summers, author of This Is Not A Test

5. Lesley Livingston, author of Once Every Never (among many!)

6. Ada Adams, author of ReVamped

7. Lena Coakley, author of Witchlanders

8. Alice Kuipers, author of 40 Things I Need To Tell You

9. Hiromi Goto, author of Half-World

10. Elsie Chapman, author of Dualed.

11. Robert J. Sawyer, author WWW Trilogy

12. Maureen McGowan, author of Cinderella The Ninja Warrior

13. Joanne Levy, author of Small Medium At Large

14. Leah Bobet, author of Above

15. Megan Crewe, author of The Way We Fall

16. Denise Jaden, author of Never Enough

17. Kathleen Peacock, author of Hemlock

(I could seriously keep on going till I reach 50 or more!)

4. Author/Book events. I don't think I even need to explain this one, do I? Who doesn't love them?! And Canada, especially Toronto, has plenty!

Pictures?

With Lena Coakley and Bonnie at the launch party for ABOVE

With Leah Bobet, author of Above

with Bloggettes and Lena Coakley

with Nikole from Scholastic Canada

With Megan Crewe, author of The Way We Fall

With Lesley Livingston

with John Boyne at The Random House YA Blogger Event

with Shane Peacock at the Random House YA Blogger Event

with Teresa Toten and Eric Walters at the Random House YA Blogger Event (BTW - The Taming ROCKS!)

with Tahereh Mafi at the HCC Frenzy Event

5. If not for Canada, I wouldn't be able to be with my husband. let's face it - he doesn't speak Polish, I don't speak Korean (well, we do swear in both languages, but that's not the ideal conversation-starter), and Canada took us in. Where else would we live together? Where else could I blog about books and enjoy my life so much? How about USA? - you might ask. Well, at the time when I met Jason, US wasn't taking Polish immigrants (I don't blame them, honestly, we never leave.. we're like.. clingy little things - you can't get rid of us!). If not for Canada, I wouldn't be where I am now, and I wouldn't be able to do, what I'm doing now, and, therefore, I wouldn't be writing this post right now.

You gotta appreciate that, right?

Pictures?

And now, Blogger/Reader picks! 

I asked my blogger/twitter friends to talk about their favourite Canadian authors, here's what they said:

Emilie from Emilie's Book World said:

One of my my favourite authors, who also happens to be Canadian is Lesley Livingston. She writes incredible stories with characters that are just as incredible. What I especially like about them is that while the main girls have love interests throughout the story, they don't rely on those love interests to do what they need to do. If you've ever read anything by Lesley Livingston you'll also know that her stories ten dot be laced with humour that often has me laughing, if not laughing out loud. I've also been lucky enough to meet Lesley in person and she's just as fantastic as her books are.

Monica from Cover Analysis said:

MEGAN CREWE!!

I haven't read her debut novel, Give Up the Ghost, although I have heard that it is a remarkable debut. I have read her novel THE WAY WE FALL and I just completely fell in love with it. I don't know a lot of Canadian therefore I haven't read a lot of their work but Megan's writing style is ...incredible. You see THE WAY WE WALL from a girl's journal and when I read it. It didn't like a novel or fictional but I felt as if I was actually reading a JOURNAL and I think that takes extraordinary talent to make me, a reader, feel that way and other than that. Megan Crewe is sweet and nice and I hope to meet her one day!

Christina from Just A Girl Geek said:

Guy Gavriel Kay is my favourite Canadian author.

He's a master at high fantasy--a genre that's very close to my heart.

I remember the first time I read The Fionavar Tapestry. I was so impressed that I'd visited some of the locations written about in the books.

That just made it feel more real and special to me as a Canadian.

Sarah from Workaday Reads said:

My favourite Canadian author is Robert J Sawyer. He is one of the best known sci-fi authors, having written many books and won many awards. He's my favourite because his stories pull you and make you believe things are possible. Nothing is impossible in his mind, and that translates well to paper. His stories are exciting and full of adventure and characters you care about. For those reasons, he's my favourite Canadian author.

Siobhan from Conversations of a Reading Addict said:

The reason I chose Kelley Armstrong is because she has such range in her prose. She is able to clearly define her writing to the adult market with her Otherworld series, yet can switch to her YA genre just as swiftly. Both genres seem to have embraced her, and I have loved every single book!

Amanda from RippledStar said:

Alyxandra Harvey :)

Alyx has a special talent of drawing the reader in from the very first moment. 

Her books have that "OH MY, DID THAT REALLY JUST HAPPEN?" factor that I adore so much. 

In her Drake Chronicles series, she spoils us with point of views from almost every character. 

I'm simply hooked and fascinated by her writing, her imagination, and her passion.

Cathee from Forever Lost In Books said:

I love Kelley Armstrong's The Darkest Powers Trilogy. I have reread it many times. I guess the thing I love the best is everything magic in it, especially when we discover all about Chloe and everyone's powers (I don't want to say to much; I don't want to spoil the fun). I also loved how fast-pace Kelley Armtrong's novels are, and The Darkest Powers Trilogy is one of my favorite series. I definitely like the other series that is kind of related to it (Darkness Rising), but I like The Darkest Powers Trilogy way better. I am proud to be Canadian with awesome authors like Kelley Armstrong around! ;D

Izzy from Blissful Chaos said:

I picked Kelley Armstrong because 1. She's an amazing writer; she created the Otherworld with adults, and made a YA series in the same world without sounding as if she was repeating herself. I suppose that means, I quite respect her flexibility as an author. 2. She's Canadian, and an awesome author, and that's what this is all about, right? xD

And here's some Twitter buzz! 

Question: Who and why is your favourite Canadian author?

Who is YOUR favourite Canadian author?

What are your favorite things about Canada??? :)

Share some Canada love in the comments!

Happy Canada Day, everyone!!!! <3