City of Glass: Douglas Coupland's Vancouver

A humorous, personal portrait of a gorgeous and quirky city. Coupland's narration is funny and dead on. The photos are generally quite good and go a long way toward capturing the mood of the place. He also plugs a lot of little known facts -- like about Greenpeace -- that Yankies like myself were not aware of. I hope he does a follow up book.

Vancouver is great city (at least for a few dry months) and deserve a good book for the visitors. This book meets my needs and is not the typical guide book with maps and names and addresses. But for those who try to get a sense of the pulse of the city, it's character and quirks, I would recommend. After reading others', suspect that my copy (recently bought) has the insert that others don't. "My Hotel Year" was a wonderful read, and for those who remember the 60's bohemian Haight Ashbury, there is an echo DC evoked at the human level here that still resonates. "Van" is "San Fran" was, with more flowers and no jobs, at least the kinds you can build wealth. Ob-La-Di! Ob-La-Da!

This is my homesick book, my security blanket, my Postcards from Home.For Vancouverites, it's a source of boosterist pride, a good chuckle at some in-jokes, and perhaps enlightenment on why things are as they are. For people who have moved away, it's a book of memories, recollections of a city of glass and the people who make it. For people who have never been there, it's the tourist guide that talks about things the Lonely Planet won't. It's like having Mr Coupland sitting next to you as you make your way through our city. It's probably as close to an autobiography as he's ever written. The mark of Vancouver is on him as it's on me, and on everyone else who was raised there.Yeah, I love my hometown.

City of Class made me both miss home and exude incredible pride in Vancouver. Now that the city has won it's 2010 bid, it'll be interesting how the dynamic of the city will change. This leaves us wondering if Mr. Coupland will release a City of Glass 2.The original, however, is what every local wants to share with visitors, and yet keep to themselves. The city is like that; a 'show-and-tell' gem you want to show off, and yet a secret you don't want to make public... afraid it will lose it's awesome value... which it never really will, but who'd want to risk it?Are you from Vancouver? When was the last time you did a tour of your own home? Take the book and give it a try. You'll find all sorts of things you never noticed before.For anyone who's never grown up in Vancouver, but loves DC's books and wants to really visualise the backdrops many of his fiction book portray, I'd suggest a read of this book.

This book presents a charming, personal view of the city of Vancouver, BC, by an author both at home in and in love with his city. It is organized as an alphabet book, but this is just an excuse. Vancouver is a major city on the edge of one of the last great frontiers. It joins the Canadian wilderness and the Pacific Rim. It is a peculiar city of what we in the USA call the "Northwest', both cosmopolitan and local. I've read the book several times, both in Vancouver and at home, and I've enjoyed sharing with the author each time.