Beauty Tips From Moose Jaw - Softcover

Ferguson, Will

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841956902 ISBN 13: 9781841956909

Publisher: Canongate Books, 2022

Synopsis

Will Ferguson has spent the past three years criss-crossing Canada: in a helicopter above the barren-lands of the sub-arctic; in a canoe with his four-year old son; on seaplanes; and on the Underground Railroad. Ferguson's travels have taken him from Cape Spear on the coast of Newfoundland to the sun-dappled streets of Olde Victoria.

Delving into Canada's history and landscape along the way, Ferguson's discoveries are fascinating and provocative. Funny, poignant and insightful, Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw is a personal tribute to a quirky and enthralling country.

About this title

About the Author

Will Ferguson was born and raised in the former fur-trapping settlement of Fort Vermilion in the backwoods of northern Canada. Fortunately, he managed to escape, and he has since travelled throughout Latin America and East Asia. Indeed, he prides himself on having gotten utterly and hopelessly lost in more than a dozen exotic locales, including Ecuador, Peru, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Korea, and Japan.

'How I ever became a travel writer is beyond me,' he confesses. 'I have absolutely no sense of direction.'

Ferguson has a BFA in screenwriting from York University, Toronto. His first three books were plucked from the slush pile: he is the author of the satirical bestseller Why I Hate Canadians, which was all but banned from export (though it can be ordered online at chapters.ca, he advises), and his other works include a nuts-and-bolts traveller's bible, The Hitchhiker's Guide to Japan, as well as a humorous expos� about his experience in a misguided drunken government youth program, entitled I Was a Teenage Katima-victim! He has also written an insightful and highly scientific political analysis: Bastards & Boneheads (it was a study of our leaders).

From the Back Cover

Any which way but Moose ...

"An entertaining, insightful adventure. Like all good travel writing, it gives you very itchy feet." Metro

Will Ferguson has spent the past three years criss-crossing through Canada and back again. In a helicopter above the barren lands of the sub-arctic. In a canoe with his four-year-old son. On seaplanes and on the Underground Railroad, Ferguson's travels have taken him from Cape Spear on the coast of Newfoundland to the sun-dappled streets of Olde Victoria. Delving into Canada's history and landscape along the way, Ferguson's discoveries are fascinating and provocative. Funny, poignant and insightful, Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw is a personal tribute to a quirky and fascinating country.

"Ferguson is adept at breezily whacking the underbelly of his sprawling, haphazard country." Scotland on Sunday

"With a remarkable ability to examine the weird quirks and cultural absurdities of his motherland through the eyes of a bemused, excited and sometimes cynical tourist he brings humour and real life to his search." Observer

"Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw is an idiosyncratic travel guide to the highs and lows of Canadian culture, history and landscape." Big Issue

From the Inside Flap

Will Ferguson's first book in three years, following on the back-to-back successes of How to Be a Canadian (over 110,000 copies sold) and Happiness(TM) (Winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour).
Will Ferguson has spent the past three years criss-crossing Canada and back again. In a helicopter above the barrenlands of the sub-Arctic, in a canoe with his four-year-old son, aboard seaplanes and along the Underground Railroad, Will's travels have taken him from Cape Spear on the coast of Newfoundland to the sun-dappled streets of Olde Victoria.
In his last book, Will told us how to be Canadian; now in this book, he will tell us what it means to be Canadian. And what Will finds out along the way is that Canada in its development and in its current state is really a series of outposts -- not only geographically but culturally.
Will's journey takes him to far-flung isolated communities as well as deep into Canada's urban centres. From the "million-acre farm" that is P.E.I. to the tobacco belt of southern Ontario, from the architectural mess that is Montreal to the glorious jumble that is St. John's, from a renegade republic in northwestern New Brunswick to a tundra buggy in the polar bear migration paths of Hudson Bay, Will explodes the myths of who we are.
Funny, poignant and insightful, Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw is a provocative tribute to our quirky and fascinating country.
Excerpt from "Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw
"In one particular seedy St. John's pub, I was adopted by a work crew from Portugal Cove who took an immediate, almost antagonistic liking to me. "You're from Alberta, you say? I have a cousin in Fort McMurray, maybe you know him." (Everybody in Newfoundlandhas a cousin in Fort McMurray.) The crew from Portugal Cove tormented me with screech and second-hand smoke as they regaled me with tales of how their families were so poor "back when" that all they could afford to eat were lobsters. This was not the first time I had heard this. Apparently half the population of Newfoundland has subsisted on lobster at some point or other.

"From the Hardcover edition.

Edition details

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1841956902
• ISBN 13: 9781841956909
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352