I don’t know about you, but my Christmas wish list is jam-packed with books. What with a new Margaret Atwood, the Giller short list, and shelves of new and compelling non-fiction, I will have serious eye-strain come the end of January!
Mind you, I still haven’t gotten through the stack of hardcovers I got as gifts last year. It’s not like books go bad, so I will be able to read and re-read them over the decades, but I hate feeling like I’m missing something special.
Many years ago, I got a copy of A.S. Byatt’s Possession for Christmas. Reading that vast, glorious book changed the course of my academic career.
Although it wasn’t a gift, I was similarly entranced by Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon when I read it as an impressionable teen. To this day, I listen for women’s voices, or lack of them, when considering our culture’s canon.
Another of my favourites is Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin. That novel took me back to my days at Luther College in Regina, and made me believe that fairy-tale characters walk the corridors of all private schools. I try to read it every September.
What similarly life-changing book awaits me on my “to-read” shelf? Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys and Maria Snyder’s newest series could be contenders, along with the most recent P.D. James.
I had better get reading.
I’d love to hear about the books that changed your lives. Restless Writers, chime in!
Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful holiday and a productive new year.
Maria
Andrea
bjas
Sharon
Maria
Restless Writers 