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