16 - North Shore News -— Friday, November 10, 2000 Sgt ¥ B Do cn Coupland reads from City of Glass at West Vancouver Memorial Library, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14. Katharine Hamer News Reporter khamer@nsnews.com FOR all his years of soul-searching and globe- roaming, Douglas Coupland still calis Vancouver home. Coupland grew up in the British Properties, and his youth- ful memories of place often find their way into his fictions: night-time skiing on Grouse; day-glo burger restaurants on Marine Drive; the trail up to Cleveland Dam. City of Glass: Douglas Conpland’s Vancouver (Douglas & Melntyre, $24.95) is Coupland’s new book: a photo-led trib- ute of the way the city is today, In it, he sings the praises of Vancouver's laid-back, experimental culture, explains dim sum to the uninitiated, makes disparaging remarks about the “dead English guys” (Lord Stanley, the Guinness family), whom city streets were named after, and nominates Park Royal shopping centre as the biggest architectural evesore in town. The book is “both a love song to Vancouver and a shrewd assessment of what makes the city unique. According to Coupland, talking about real estate is one of our most popular hobbies —- and despite all that furore about the PacitiCar, we mostly have fond recollections of travelling with BC Ferries. Along with the number eight (you'll have to read the book to find out w hy), several North Shore landmarks feature prominently in City of Glass, like thase huge yellow mounds of sulphur on the waterfront, and the Tomahawk restaurant, whose map is tucked into the last quarter. Coupland’s favourite meal there was “the one with the hot dog and egg. I used to think that was so outrageous — hot dogs on a ham- burger! I'm glad they've stayed the saine there. And Im really G photo submitted WORLD travelier but a citizen of Vancouver: Douglas ; ’ Coupland sings the praises of his hometown. Go-for-it Canada more attractive than negative England From page 13 direct communication.” After leaving art college in England, Bantock earned his living as an illustrator, creat- ing ad posters, book and _ magazine covers. He and his family moved to Canada in 1988, settling first on Bowen Island and “then moving to West - Vancouver Jast year. He miss- - es England’s “rolling green hills and the soccer results,” but says he’d never go back: » “there's a lot of negativity : there. Here, you have breath- "ing space, and people who = say, ‘Yeah, sure, go for it’.” “It was an enthusiastic edi- tor at Chronicle Books in San’ Francisco who gave the green ight to Griffin and Sabine. -The books, with their’ : vivid colours and extractable handwritten envelopes, were like “voyeurism with permis- .- sion” for readers, says . Bantock: “a kind of feeling of entering a forbidden land, but it's OK.” Does he think the ubiquity of e-mail heralds the death of old-fashioned letter-writing? “I think it’s dormant, rather than dead. We live in a society so geared to the fast response — but I think most people are aware of the differ- ence between short, sharp messages and a longer, slower letter. If you're going to declare your love for some- one, you really have to think: about how to express that. It’s a far slower act, one with more feelings of genuine- oness.” Bantock trawls beaches, flea markets, and “gutters here and abroad” for his own “found objects. “I’m a constant collector “of things — usually the things that others don’t want. I usu- " APerfectly Romantic Broadway Musical . “The best rausical ~ since My Fair Lady” + Mapongl Post «resus arsha SBahorpe {Comune Deagn ty Nancy Bryant Soseterg by Chris Daniels: Nov 16 - Dec 31,2000 wc Book by Jue Masteroff Masic by Jerry Bok ~ hyrics by Sheldon Hamick From the play by Miklos Laszlo Sased on the story made Famous by the hit movie YOUVE GOT MAIL Supported by Ea. Marie AetTs * Grarvsille @12th “Ticketmaster 280-3331 - Box Office 687-1 644 Corporate & Group ' Seles 687-5315 wwwartdub.com : Taienem ay Po Canadian , SB « cae > Televiion happy to put t their placemat i in the book. It’s amazing how many people have intense, happy feelings about that place- mat.” ally only spend abour $5 or $10. I'd much rather spend 50 cents, not because I’m tight, but because it’s better not to be obvious. When you bring owo objects cogether, you create a whole new world. It creates the idea of a new place, a sense of the object’s being. “There are old bits of stuff that speak to you. Something has a quality about it that draws you to it, a “get me* qualizy.” Bantock also scours the library once a week. He used to read voraciously, but is now too busy to do so except on vacation. Instead, he picks up books on tape, to listen to in the car. He’s concise about his literary likes and dislikes. He favours a good thriller. “I love storytelling. I real- ly like good readers: Will Patton reading James Lee Burke, Campbell Scott, and John LeCarré reading his own stuff.” Not on Bantock’s Christmas list: “I’m not into mushy romantic stuff or new- age goo — and memoirs of Canadiana, the kind of thing that’s the backbone of the CBC. I can't handle that stuff at all, you know, ‘How my granny scrubbed carrots on a washboard..." I guess it’s because I don't have that fier- itage.” He does remember, from his youth, the “wonderful” main library in Bristol: “There was this particular guy there who was head of the art department. You could go and ask him anything, and he would scratch his head and disappear into the vault and come back with zhis marvel- lous stuff. I used to love the idea that he was really ener- gized by tracking something down.” ” Under the - Influence Fan ed ager Pt By Michele Rimi Pr cLUe. THEA TF Granville Island Stage Ticketmaster 280-3311 - Box cftice 687-1644 Corporate & Group Sales 637-5315 - www.artsciub.com THE VANCOUVER SUN Candin = {Masi ‘ate Canavan omes hom It’s the quality of the food here that he thinks has changed the most: Coupland says Vancouver's restaurants are second only to those of New York and San Francisco on the North American gourmet tail. “Finally getting rid of the stoplights at Lonsdale and Westview after 35 years” was an added bonus. Coupland’s favourite city icon and many North Shore resi- dents’ favourite bugbear — the Lions Gate Bridge — is “a liv- ing metaphor for our disastrous and fractious political system here” (in City of Glass, Coupland refers to the series of “charis- matic bumpkins” we've elected as B.C. premier.) “The reason a new bridge or tunne! will never be built is that it passes through so many jurisdictions: the Parks Board, BC Highways, West Van, North Van, the Squamish Indian Band, the Ci ity of Vancouver, the West End Residents” Association... Coupland, whose favourite authors include Nancy Mitford, See Vancouver page V November 11th, 12th & 13th * SELECTED ITEMS ONLY a