Summer begins on June 21st. One of my greatest joys is the cache of books I have hoarded through the winter. For every holiday since September (Christmas, my birthday, Mothers’ Day, Easter) I request books. Some are soft cover, but many are hard cover. They get stashed away and almost forgotten until the weather turns. Now it is time to pull them out, pack them up, and transport them to the cottage and the weekend read-fests begin.
I’ve always enjoyed the feature in Oprah Winfrey’s magazine that has famous people reveal what’s on their bookshelves. Some of my winter buys have been suggested by their descriptions of why they love certain books.
Here’s what’s in the cache this year:
Feed My Dear Dogs – Emma Richler
The Underpainter – Jane Urquhart
The Piano Man’s Daughter- Timothy Findley
The View from Castle Rock – Alice Munro
Cellophane – Marie Arana
To all appearances a lady – Marilyn Bowering
Sweet Land Stories – E.L. Doctorow
A spot of bother – Mark Haddon
Stolen Lives – Malika Oufkir
Ten Little Indians – Sherman Alexie
The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
The Shadow Boxer – Steven Heighton
Stick out your tongue – Ma Jian
The Courage Consort – Michel Faber
Remember me – Trezza Azzopardi
Mosaic – Soheir Khashoggi
The Constant Gardener – John Le Carre
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
The other side of the bridge – Mary Lawson
This long weekend I’ll be starting. I don’t have a system – I just pull from the box and begin. This blog will be a great place record if I liked them. Let me know if there are any in particular you’d like a review on (I promise not to ruin the ending).
Hi! I read a book by Doctorow a few years ago …. hold up in a B&B, sat in front of a fireplace (OK, just gas but it felt all cosy!) and read ‘City of God’. I wouldn’t put it on anyone’s ‘have to’ read list but for some reason it hit me at the right time, in the right way. It was probably more the time was right and that happened to be the book, but I remember liking that I thought about a lot of things as I read it, which is a great escape from the present.
Anyway, if you read his book noted above, do tell what you thought.
Thanks for sharing – I may have read City of God also – I read so much I often forget.
I’m just noticing that I’m reading books that aren’t even in the box yet….The Girls (about cojoined twins, in their voices – very cool); The Good House by Bonnie Burhard (Canadian, London, Ontario) and Smoke (Kitchener’s one community one read choice).
Let me know what books you recommend also.
Hi! I read a book by Doctorow a few years ago …. hold up in a B&B, sat in front of a fireplace (OK, just gas but it felt all cosy!) and read ‘City of God’. I wouldn’t put it on anyone’s ‘have to’ read list but for some reason it hit me at the right time, in the right way. It was probably more the time was right and that happened to be the book, but I remember liking that I thought about a lot of things as I read it, which is a great escape from the present.
Anyway, if you read his book noted above, do tell what you thought.
Thanks for sharing – I may have read City of God also – I read so much I often forget.
I’m just noticing that I’m reading books that aren’t even in the box yet….The Girls (about cojoined twins, in their voices – very cool); The Good House by Bonnie Burhard (Canadian, London, Ontario) and Smoke (Kitchener’s one community one read choice).
Let me know what books you recommend also.