A Book Tour of a Different Kind: Favourite Books From My Youth

We all have favourite authors and I thought I’d take a few minutes to share a few words about some of mine. I’ve been an avid reader since I was first able to hold a book and although I was probably chewing on a few in the early days of my life, I can’t remember a time when I haven’t spent anguished moments of non-book time wondering when I’d be able to get back to the story I was exploring. It’s painful, sometimes isn’t it, to be away from a good story that can only unfold when you decode the miracle of the alphabet?

Very early on I discovered the work of Lucy Maud Montgomery and I can remember thrilling to the story of Anne of Green Gables as the poor girl navigated a world where she didn’t, ever, seem to fit in. I read several books in the “Anne” series as a girl and when my oldest daughter was around seven we plowed through the entire set to the great delight of both of us.

Another set of favourites for me has always been Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” and “Little Men” books–I adored Jo, who seemed to be just like me in many ways and the winding path of her life held a fascination that few have been able to touch.

Stephen Leacock’s “Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town” warms my heart every time I read it and the delicious irony applied to the behaviour of an unsuspecting community is priceless. No wonder Orillians were perturbed by Leacock’s unflinching look at their adventures. And thank goodness he gave us that timeless snapshot of an olden-days Canadian community.

Mark Twain’s stories of “Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn” were both told with great deftness and I’m due to re-read both of them. I’m sure to find new aspects of his writing to admire and his dry wit absolutely tickles my fancy.

Anything by Charles Dickens buries me immediately in a completely irresistible world of times we will never see again. And Charlotte Bronte has brought me to tears every single time I’ve read “Jane Eyre.” Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” has been made into a movie more times than I can count. But the movies are never as profound a pleasure for me as the reading of the book.

Perhaps my most precious childhood books, however, are represented by the set of original “Winnie the Pooh” books that I treasure, both for the dear ratty covers that testify to how much my sister and I loved them as children and for the illustrations that evoke for me the remnants of a childhood spent in the absolute certainty that the Hundred Acre Wood really did exist. Is there anything more precious than childhood certainty?

The writing of “Shades of Teale” and “Passages to Epiphany” have undoubtedly been influenced by many other of the countless books I’ve read over the course of my life. But I think there’s something formative in the early stories we absorbed and I have great fondness for the books I’ve listed here.

I’d love to hear about the books that have shaped your love of reading: what are the books you would love to share with your friends and colleagues, and, more importantly, with the young people of our generation who are increasingly drawn away from words and into the hypnosis of an online world? Drop me a line and let me know!