If there is one thing I love talking about, it’s books. Well, to be honest, I love talking about a lot of things, but the topic of books is Up There, Steve. I was thrilled, and not surprised, to see so many Book-Related Questions in my recent Ask Me Anything; I received so many questions about books and reading that I decided to divide them into two posts. Today, I’m going to talk about My Favourites, because I had many questions related to them. Elisabeth (HI ELISABETH) asked about my top three books of all time, Suzanne (HI SUZANNE) asked about my favourites in general, and Engie and San (HI ENGIE HI SAN) asked about my number one favourite book.
I had a very hard time whittling down the list, so I decided to tell you about my favourite authors, because with only a few exceptions I absolutely love everything they all have written, along with my actual favourite books of theirs. It feels a tiny bit like choosing a favourite child, to be honest, because I love these five authors so very much. As you will see, I have read and re-read all of these books many times, as evidenced by the well-worn covers. I could probably curate my bookshelf to replace these tattered copies with beautiful fresh editions, but these are so loved, I would never.
- Margaret Atwood. Okay, if I had to pick ONE book, only one, to call my favourite it would be The Blind Assassin. How I love that sweeping epic that spans decades, and that features a fairly unreliable narrator, an affair between a wealthy socialite and a socialist agitator/ pulp fiction novelist in the Depression era, and the themes of jealousy, sisterhood, and trauma. The side story told through the pulp fiction writing is incredible, the juxtaposition of the glittering, but secretly stifling marriage and the seedy backdrop of the affair is jaw-dropping, and don’t even get me started on the description of the clothes. You know I love a good clothing description. The idea that marriage has been traditionally an important economic decision for women is something that has always interested me, and this book really delves into it. Honorarable Mentions: Cat’s Eye for its stark honesty about the frenemy nature of young girls, and the aftermath of emotional bullying, and Moral Disorder for its autobiographical elements. How I love a book that shows an author’s life through storytelling, particularly Atwood’s, which is quite fascinating to me. I’m going to also mention Alias Grace, the book about a real-life woman who was jailed as a Murderess (I love the addition of the -ess) after immigrating to Canada from Ireland and working as a servant, and The Edible Woman for its nuanced story about a woman who gets engaged and instead of feeling consumed with love, just feels consumed. If you enjoy symbolism and English class, that one is for you. All the symbolism, all the time.
- Alice Munro. I was introduced to Munro in university with Lives of Girls and Women, and it remains my favourite of all her collections. To be honest, I am hard-pressed to think of any of her stories that I don’t like; I think the short story is such a powerful literary vehicle, and very few writers do them well. Munro is unparalleled in this department. Unlike her other collections, the stories in Lives of Girls and Women all follow the same main character as she comes of age in rural Ontario, post-World War II. Honorable Mentions: Too Much Happiness for all of its stories but especially the title one about Sophia Kovalevsky, a Russian mathematician in the nineteenth century; Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage for one of the best stories ever written about a one-night stand; Open Secrets, because The Albanian Virgin is one of the most fascinating stories about Stockholm Syndrome I have ever read. I want to list off every collection Munro has ever written, because they are all so great. One note about a specific story: “Before The Change” in The Love of a Good Woman is about a mid-century rural backroom abortion doctor, which seems disturbingly relevant today.
- Jane Austen. Circling back to the theme of marriage as an economic decision, Austen’s books are rife with this. My favourite of her books is the very dark Sense and Sensibility, because it really illustrates what happened to women of a certain class when they did not have a husband or father to provide for them. Spoiler alert: they lose their home and everything in it, and have to live within very restrictive means. Throw that in with an absolute scoundrel of a man who toys with a young girl in a very inappropriate way, a secret engagement, and near-death from heartbreak, and you have yourself a really excellent, if somewhat depressing, book. Plus, it has one of my favourite Austen lines ever: “If the impertinent remarks of Mrs. Jennings are to be the proof of impropriety in conduct, we are all offending every moment of all our lives.” ALL OFFENDING EVERY MOMENT OF ALL OUR LIVES! I love it. Honorable Mentions: Pride and Prejudice, same theme, when it comes to marriage and economics, but very different outcomes, complete with scandal and a mother who is generally considered to be shrill and tiresome, but who just wants her daughters not to be homeless, is that too much to ask, while her husband sits idly by without a care in the world. I have said it before, and I’ll say it again: everyone wants to be Elizabeth, but I am far too practical for that. I would have been Charlotte Lucas, no question. Also, I would be remiss if I did not mention Emma, the tale of the misguided matchmaker, who I kind of identify with in a number of ways. Very little does vex me! Austen’s writing is so witty and delightful, and I’ve read all her books many times over, never tiring of them.
- David Sedaris. The only man to make my list of favourites! As we all know, I don’t care for male writers in general; Sedaris is very much the exception. I have to note, though, that I only like Sedaris’ personal essays, as I find his fiction to be quite mean-spirited and over-the-top. That said, his personal essay writing is goal-worthy, for me. If only I could write like that! When I am in my reading chair, laughing until I cry, my husband asks if I’m reading David Sedaris. Of all his collections – and I just got Happy Go Lucky for Christmas, and have yet to read it, so stay tuned for changes – I love Calypso the best. It contains Stepping Out, which is about his relationship to his Fitbit and I AM HERE FOR IT. The whole book makes me laugh until my stomach hurts. Honorable Mentions: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, because he makes such ordinary things so extraordinarily funny, and Carnival of Snackery, his diaries from 2003-2020. Although Holidays on Ice isn’t my favourite – too many fiction stories – I cry-laugh reading the Santaland Diaries and Dinah, the Christmas Whore. Sedaris isn’t for everyone but he sure is for me.
- E.M. Delafield. There is one book I can read over and over, never tiring of it, and that book is Diary of a Provincial Lady. It is such a comfort read for me; I often feel that I could have been the unnamed diarist, had I lived in post-World War I Britain. Her life strangely parallels my own, and Delafield’s ability to make very ordinary situations exquisitely extraordinary is incredible. I have read this book so many times that it is literally falling apart; I could just buy another copy, but I’m also emotionally attached to this one as I bought it at a used bookstore, back in 1999, when I lived with my now-husband-then-boyfriend in a tiny apartment on the 30th floor of downtown Calgary. Feelings! I have them.
Next week I shall tackle all other book-related questions – and some will get a little feisty and divisive, maybe – but for now I will wish you all a wonderful Friday. I have some treats in store for me tonight, including wine and popcorn, favourites to go with thoughts of my favourite books. Have a wonderful weekend, friends. xo
Have a wonderful weekend, Nicole! Love, love, love your tattered copies of your favorites. I’ll admit I cast a roving eye over students’ copies of class readings to gauge if they look like they have been read. Ha. Adding Delafield to my TBR immediately. Atwood, Munro, and Austen are already favorites. I did not know there was a TV series based on Munro’s work though–I shall look that up too. And wow–that is quite a shelf of Sedaris!!
I bought Lives of Girls and Women back in…1994, so I have no idea if that CBC series is in existence, nor have I seen it. Although, almost everything is available on YouTube so who knows! I think the worse a book looks, the more it’s loved, in many cases. At least in mine, when it comes to paperbacks especially.
I absolutely love the tattered, well-loved copies of your books! Also, do you shelve them in alphabetical order?! That is so awesome!
Hi Katie! No, they aren’t in alphabetical order, but I do group them by author and “type” of book, if that makes sense. My favourites are near the middle of my shelves for easy access!
I love every word of this. For one thing, I love that Atwood makes the list. I adore her too, but really only her dystopian fiction like Handmaid and the MaddAddam trilogy. So funny that our tastes overlap on this point yet simultaneously diverge so sharply! I do own Blind Assassin and want to give it another try.
I have also read most of Jane Austen’s work but this makes me want to reread Emma and Sensibility because I didn’t get a lot out of either when I read them in college.
And I desperately want to read more Munro. I need to make this happen.
Loved this post and seeing your deeply loved copies of these books!
See, we could share a bookshelf and never fight because other than The Handmaid’s Tale, which I like, I do not enjoy Atwood’s dystopian fiction. At all. I was so excited for The Testaments and, well, kind of meh.
I went to look for The Blind Assassin — check — and my Austen novels and… I DO NOT OWN ANY JANE AUSTEN NOVELS. I took a class that was entirely about Jane Austen in college, so I know that at one point I owned everything (including Northhanger Abbey), but they are GONE. What happened to them? Did I take them to my parents’ house, where they were inevitably donated? Did my husband and I cull them at some point on one of our many moves? WHERE are they? And now I clearly have to buy (some of) them again, because what is a house without Austen!?!
Also: Hi, Birchie!!!
I’m a big fan of Atwood. The ones I’ve read over and over are Cat’s Eye and Alias Grace because I used to teach them (and Alias Grace was one of my dissertation texts) but there isn’t any Atwood I don’t like. Love Alice Munro, too. I haven’t read much David Sedaris but I’ve listened to a lot of his pieces when they appear on podcasts. I like hearing them in his own voice.
Oh oh oh, Steph, I am so glad you like those and now I want to talk to you all about Cat’s Eye especially. I LOVE THAT BOOK and very few people I know also love it. I recently heard Sedaris on a podcast and I really liked hearing his voice as well.
I haven’t read any of these books, except a couple of Jane Austen ones (which I really disliked – she is not a fit for me, but classics rarely are). I have only read one Atwood book – The Handmaid’s Tale and I did not like that! I read it twice – once in college and again for book club several years ago. But I should check out her other work. I only read a couple of Sedaris books and found them to be so mean! I was like – how do people like this content? But I haven’t read any of his memoirs so I will have to check those out! I think we have similar tastes in books but this goes to show that 2 similar readers can have very different opinions about authors/books!
So off the top of my head, my favorite authors are Khaled Housseini (And the Mountains Echoed is my favorite of his), Ann Patchett, Britt Bennett, Yaa Gyasi, Lisa Genova, and John Green. I also really loved Celeste Ng, but as you know from this morning’s post, I did not love her latest book. But it has been on many best-of lists so I could be a total outlier in not connecting with it. It is very very beautifull written and the final 1/3 is stunning. But it might have been a miss because it’s post-apocalyptic and that is generally not a fit for me… I hope you love it, though!!
I’m always here for book content! It’s a huge obsession of mine. So much so that we had a book-themed wedding!!! It was the most amazing theme to pull off. I lined the invites with pages from a dictionary, used old books as centerpieces, lined candles with pages from a book, the seating cards looked like card catalog cards (remember card catalogs!!!!), our save the dates looked like the old school cards in books that were stamped when you checked out a book, and so on! Here is a post w/ some of the details. https://lisasyarns.blogspot.com/2017/07/our-wedding-details.html
A book themed wedding! How fun! I do think we have similar reading styles but obviously, not always overlapping. I love Yaa Gyasi, I loved These Precious Days, and Lisa Genova…well, I read Still Alice and I feel like it was a beautiful and terrifying book! But then I read more of her work and it didn’t do it for me at all. So there you go! Oh, and Khaled Housseini! I have read The Kite Runner (and will never read it again although it was gorgeous, because OMG SAD) and A Thousand Splendid Suns (loved it, but similar reaction). I will read Ng’s book and report back as soon as I can!
This is a great post. I intended to read David Sedaris’ Calypso and I feel like I either checked out his book and didn’t get to it, or I bought a used copy and it then stuck it in my closet and need to unearth it. I am not familiar with Munro or Atwood. When I have time to read between the books for book club, I will seek out these authors. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Ernie! When you have time – that may be never! You’re such a busy woman!!
Oh, yay! I love reading about other people’s favorites. I have not read Alice Munro or much Margaret Atwood, but shall immediately put their names down on my TBR list.
I went to a book signing for David Sedaris in the 2000s and he was so delightful and lovely in person that I immediately became a fan. But then we read Holidays on Ice for book club in Nov/Dec 2020 and it seemed so mean-spirited and nasty and I’ve been a little scared to dip my toe back in because maybe the pandemic has turned me humorless? Maybe I should revisit.
Well, I will say Holidays on Ice…there is a lot of fiction in there and yeah, it’s not great for me. But also, that time was bleak and sometimes I find that if I read a book at the wrong time, it leaves a really bad taste for me. I have heard Sedaris is really wonderful to meet in person! Carnival of Snackery, when he gets to 2020, he writes about how sad it is for him to not go on book tour because meeting readers is his favourite thing about being a writer.
I’m a new follower and got sooo many book recommendations by going through your blog.
Hi Colleen! Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy!
I love hearing about the all time favorites!
I really don’t have time to read any more than I do right now which is 15-30 minutes before bed on most nights BUT I’ve borrowed a reading resolution from our friend Suzanne aka Life of a Doctor’s Wife (HI SUZANNE) that I want to try to reach beyond thrillers and I’m keeping an ear to the ground for titles that might be a good fit. You’ve sold me on The Blind Assassin. I can’t say exactly when I’ll get to it, but I’ll aim for sometime in the next few months.
I’m trying to open my mind to MORE thrillers, thanks to Suzanne! I don’t tend to read them at all, but I trust her to guide me!
Other than some Austen books, I have read NOTHING on your list. I know – the shame of being a woman living in Canada and never having read anything by Margaret Atwood. I need to change that this year…!
I’ll be referring back to this post regularly throughout the year for ideas, perhaps starting with The Blind Assassin (perhaps on my Christmas Kobo?)…
*gasp*
I kid! I kid! I love that everyone has such different tastes and genre preferences!
Thank you so much for all the wonderful book recommendations! I ordered Eat to Love just now. I love Jane Austen so much, and just read a really fun take on her characters called The Murder of Mr.Wickham by Claudia Gray. I enjoyed it so much!
MURDER OF MR WICKHAM, I AM SOLD ON THIS! Eat to Love is so lovely to read, if you are into that kind of thing (which I totally am).
Margaret Atwood spoke at my university when I was in undergrad, and that night changed.my.life. She is incredible. She does every genre of literature, often reaching the sublime, sometimes falling a bit short (for me), but fearlessly experimenting. She’s got her finger on the pulse of so many aspects of modern life! She’s…. she’s one of those intellectually curious, astoundingly intelligent, insightful people who humbles the rest of us.
Now I’m an English professor and sometimes teach some of her works, reverently. Many years ago, I actually created a version of the Blood and Roses game from Oryx and Crake for my classes to play.
So, Atwood’s a favorite of mine, for sure. My others are: Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, and (*scrunching down a bit*) Michael Crichton. I reread Jurassic Park every year, no joke; I love the way he writes science for non-scientists. For playwrights, Marlowe and Shakespeare, but also Eugene O’Neill, Edward Albee, and Tennessee Williams. I love reading plays! For the writer I want to go out for cocktails with: Dorothy Parker. That would be a really fun night.
I totally appreciate Munro, Austen, and Sedaris, but none are personal favorites. I honestly hadn’t even heard of E.M. Delafield! I googled her, and omg– WHERE is the biopic of this fabulous, fascinating person?! Someone must write and produce it! I always say the same thing about Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I’ll check out the book you recommended!
I loved reading this post!!
Wow, that is so fabulous, Alex! I agree, Atwood is such a talent. I do not love her dystopian books, but I love that she can weave in and out of genres in such an incredible way.
No shame about Michael Crichton! While I don’t love his books, I do love lighter reads as well. For example, one summer I tore through everything Jenny Han wrote!
Tennessee Williams made me smile; when I was in grade 11 I played Amanda Wingfield in the school production of The Glass Menagerie!
As for Delafield – I KNOW!!! Isn’t she incredible. And I have only read The Yellow Wallpaper but I am definitely going to look into more of CPG!
Whoa Amanda Wingfield is a great, challenging (I imagine) role! I am around a lot of talented theatre people (live in NYC) but would never be able to act myself. I actually have had nightmares about having to go on stage and act/know lines for the plays I love to read. 🙂
And for CPG: just read her Wikipedia entry, and you will see how interesting her life was! There are many reasons we’re still writing and talking about her and, yeah, the brilliance of “The Yellow Wallpaper.” I just taught it a few months ago and have graded a lot of close readings of it. I was asking my classes what actress should play her in the imaginary biopic, and they named people I don’t know– I think I’m getting too old! I’m thinking Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, Rebecca Hall, …..
Anyway, thanks for replying; have a nice weekend!
I love Atwood as well, but I haven’t read The Blind Assassin. I even have a copy but it’s holding up a cactus sculpture on my mantel right now so maybe I need to check one out… haha. I’m a huge fan of Sedaris, and Calypso is also my favorite. Have you seen a book called “David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium”? I bought it as a present for myself at the beginning of the pandemic and I totally love it. It’s photos of his ACTUAL diaries which contain all sorts of ephemera and art.
I have NOT, but thank you so much for telling me about this, Sarah! Did you read Happy Go Lucky yet?
Yes! I think I still like Calypso the best, but Happy Go Lucky is right up there. I listened to it on audiobook, David Sedaris reading, and definitely laughed out loud in public.
I just started it and was crying laughing in the first chapter – about the guy continuously calling him “Mike.”
I feel the same way about the Diary of a Provincial Lady, and I’m happy to hear of someone else who loves it the way I do. Reading it led me on to a happily meandering path through many delightful inter-war novels and memoirs, and to Persephone Books and Dean Street Press issues. I don’t always escape with nostalgic, domestic reads, but when I do, I often start with the Diary…
Elizabeth, I am so happy you feel that way too! She is a GEM.
I feel the exact same way about my falling-apart copies! I remember searching a used book store for one that I had lent out and not gotten back, and I said to the proprietor that there were new editions that were pretty but too….slick. And he said “yes, of course, you’re the reason we HAVE used bookstores”.
I did a major English project on The Edible Woman and Lady Oracle, and I loved Cat’s Eye and The Handmaid’s Tale. I liked Oryx and Crake and the Year of the Flood but hated the last book in the Maddaddam trilogy, so I guess I come down somewhere between you and Suzanne? As for Alice Munro, I sometimes love her and sometimes feel like I’m too dumb to appreciate her fully.
I love that we feel the same way! I bought my copy of Pride and Prejudice at the U of C used bookstore, and sometimes I look at the sticker that’s still on the inside with nostalgia.
I’m familiar with all your authors except E.M. Delafield. I’ve never heard of this person nor the book you mention. I read fewer books than I once did now that I write a blog and check-in to read/comment on bloggy friends. I majored in English Lit in undergrad and to this day I don’t know how I read as much as I did back then. Now I tend to read slowly and savor books, not consume them in mass like I had to do back then.
Ah yes, there is a definite difference to how we had to read books in university, versus reading for pleasure! I remember taking an English class in the spring semester, so it was very concentrated, and all I did was read frantically!
I also love David Sedaris and I’m fact haveattended two readings—his sister lives in my town, so he often schedules readings here. I have an autographed Calypso. And we vacation in the same part of North Carolina. (I live in Winston-Salem, NC.) I have a photo of the Sanitary Fish Market 🙂
WOW WOW WOW!!! I am in awe!!! Second-hand starstruck!
Thanks so much for this post, Nicole. I know you read a lot and have some great taste. I want to give David Sedaris another try, because so many people love him. I only red Calypso and was kinda “meh” about it – maybe my expectations were too high? Or I read it at the wrong time (you know how sometimes the timing of reading a book can make it or break it for you?).
I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes rereading a book will show me that I had read it at the wrong time in my life!
I LOVE Jane Austen!!! And I just recently re-read Sense and Sensibility. I’ve read some Margaret Atwood, but not The Blind Assassin- but now I want to. I love David Sedaris but haven’t read anything of his recently. Actually, now I want to read everything you mentioned here- you make them all sound so good!
Thanks Jenny!
Wow. I loved reading about your favorites. I’ve not read ONE OF THEM.
Guess how many I just added to my TBR list. 😉
Spoiler alert: Many.
I hope you enjoy them!!
What a fun trip down memory lane – I love all these pictures of well-loved books from your bookshelves. <3 I have only read Handmaid's Tale and then the follow-up (blanking on the name) from Atwood, but I have wanted to try something else from her. I think I'll add The Blind Assassin to my TBR list! I tried reading David Sedaris once – one of his memoirs, I think – and I thought it was fine, but it didn't leave me wanting more. But that was YEARS ago, so maybe I'd be more into his stuff now.
Looking forward to your spicy opinions!
The one I’m reading now, Happy-Go-Lucky, is pretty dark! It deals with his relationship with his father and I would maybe not recommend this one to you.