Books, books, books.

I asked my Facebook friends for the title of thier favourite book. Then I tried to think of mine. Um, TOUGH. So here's a lovely pile of my favourite books, and my reasonings behind them.


In no particular order:
1. The Watch That Ends the Night - Hugh MacLennan. I read this in Early Canadian Lit, and absolutely loved it. My professor had to track down copies of it from all over the place since it's not in print anymore, and it's one of the few novels I had to read for my English degree that I really got into. In fact, I loved it so much that when I took Canadian Lit a few years later, I did my final paper comparing the main character of Ernest Buckler's 'The Mountain and the Valley' with Jerome from this book. I remember standing outside of my professor's office, terrified to go in and give him my proposed thesis, since it wasn't on the list he gave us. He approved, and I got an A+. Love this book.

2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows. This is a fairly new book and I read it earlier this year. Fantastic! It is sweet and light and lovely, and really, everything about it is perfect. I highly recommend it.

3. The Stone Angel - Margaret Laurence. I am sure anyone who had to read this in 12th grade is gasping at me, "Are you kidding me!?" We all hated this book. I think I hated it because my friends did, really. But I found myself wanting to read it again. And then again. I seem to have a thing for somewhat bleak stories set in poor Canadian communities, spanning the lifetime of characters, and this is no exception. It's also the reason I love several David Adams Richards books. It's sad and so precisely written. I can imagine what being an old woman is like, just reading about Hagar.

4. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden. I almost can't believe this book is fiction. It's incredible. I knew nothing about geishas before reading it, and I devoured this book. Read it. You won't regret it. I have another book about geishas waiting on my shelf to be read (soon, soon!), and I'm looking forward to it.

5. A Scandalous Life - Mary S. Lovell. True story about a woman in the 1800s who married several men, the last being a desert Sheikh, and caused all kinds of scandal. It's unbelievable. I cheered for her the entire time. What an incredible life she led.

6. The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor - Sally Armstrong. I almost didn't inclue this because I was really irritated by the author's notes at the end of the book, which contained information I really would have preferred to have known at the beginning. However, it's a wonderful book about a woman named Charlotte Taylor, one of the first woman to settle along the Miramichi. I really love local/New Brunswick history and this one is no exception.

7. Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers. First of all, Ms. Rivers is incredible. Several of her other books could be on this list - the Mark of the Lion series, And the Shofar Blew, etc. But this one gets top billing. It's a retelling of the Biblical story of Hosea, now set in gold rush country near San Francisco in the 1800s. I am not a crier--anyone can tell you this--and every single time I read this (about once a year), I sob my way through several sections of this book. It's amazing. Read it.

8. Lives of Girls and Women - Alice Munro. I also should include 'Friend of My Youth' by the same author in here, which is a collection of short stories about old friends. This book in particular is one of those wonderful coming-of-age stories, and I just really enjoyed it. In fact, I'm due for a re-read (if I haven't already made it clear, I love re-reading books).

9. Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls. This is usually the book I list as my favourite. Ever since reading it in fourth grade, I have loved every single bit of this novel. I know I had read it twenty times. I even made Dave, who isn't much of a reader, read this book shortly after we were married and he really enjoyed it. I'm sure most people have read this, so no need to sum it up, but oh, it makes me cry. Such a bond. I even took it with me to Europe. I remember sitting in a huge marble bathtub at a hotel in Austria, reading this comforting old book. Love.

10. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne. This isn't really my 'type' of book; it's more or less an adventure novel set a couple hundred years ago, and I usually prefer more character-driven stuff. However, I read the Children's Illustrated version of this as a kid, over and over and over (along with Little Women and Black Beauty), and then bought the full version and devoured it as well. It's fascinating and very imaginative.

11. The Blue Castle - Lucy Maud Montgomery. I used to be a huge Anne fan, but I rarely re-read those; instead, when I want an LMM fix, I head straight for this one. It's funny, sweet, sad, and surprising, about a young woman stuck in a loveless home with a couple of old batty women. She marries the man in town that everyone thinks is crazy and/or evil, and from there, all kinds of interesting things happen. That's a very vague description because I don't want to ruin the book for anyone, but trust me, it's a wonderful read.

12. British Kings and Queens. Erm. I've re-read this book, which basically just details the lives of British monarchs over the past two thousand years, an embarrassing number of times. I love British history, but I'm terrible at keeping facts about various monarchs straight, so I find myself wondering which king did what, and then I'm halway through this book, devouring the information like it's food. I remember reading it when I worked at the historical society, sitting in the master bedroom on a chair, watching out the bay windows for visitors. Love it.

13. Mine for Keeps - Jean Little. This was one of my favourites when I was a child. It's so sweet but packs a lot of punch, too. I'd recommend it to any young girls. I think I read it last year again, and remembered just how wonderful it is. Really, I love children's novels - Ramona Quimby and Old Yeller and Judy Blume books. This one makes the list, too.

14. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot. I read this after Christmas and WOAH. Awesome. I do read a lot of non-fiction, but this was one I just couldn't put down. It's about a woman (of the title name) who died of cancer half a century ago. Her cells did not die, and HeLa cells were cultivated by the billions, used in research for most of the cures and treatments we know of today. Her family did not know this at all. It goes back and forth between the story of the HeLa cells, and the Lacks family as they came to grips with all of this. Excellent.

Oh, there are so many more I could include. I enjoy Philippa Gregory, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Anita Shreve. 'The Kite Runner' and 'A Thousand Splended Suns' made me cry and were both difficult and easy to read. Siri Mitchell and 'Stiff' and 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter'. But I had to stop somewhere, right?

Had to ask the kidlet, too. His favourite book is Richard Scarry's 'Cars and Trucks and Things That Go'. He says it's because he gets to look for Goldbug on every page.



I love it that he loves books. I hope he always does.

Soon to come: macro photography. I got a macro extension tube kit in the mail today and oh, I am having WAY too much fun!