Why I read Douglas Coupland

Is it because his prose is as close to singing as it gets? No, that’s [Salman Rushdie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_rushdie)  . Is it because he writes lovingly about [my hometown](http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/)  , mentioning local icons [Save-on-Foods](http://www.saveonfoods.ca)  and [White Spot](http://www.whitespot.ca/)  ? No, that’s [Google Earth](http://earth.google.com/)  \+ [my imagination](http://jurgen.ca/)  . Is it his clever blending of the real and surreal, spiritual and civil? Nooo… That’s [Paul Auster](http://www.paulauster.co.uk/)  . His effortless hopefulness? No. Wry, sometimes even dark humour? No. His correct spelling of words like “colour” that American writers still haven’t mastered? Not that either, but it helps.

It’s all of them, all together, all in one book.

Or maybe I’m just a sucker for cheap sentimentalism. And helicopter shots in the desert . They’re cool too.

I’m starting on one that’s been sitting on my “to be read” pile for a long time now, Hey Nostradamus! I’m only a little way into it so far. Action centres on a school shooting, but the book seems to be about more than that: how the people involved relate to God, and to each other. Coupland’s always a good read .