What Dana Reads
Updated: May 25, 2021
After that super-heavy blog post last week, I thought I'd keep it light this week. A reader, Yana, has kindly asked me to recommend some good books.
This list is not exhaustive and I'll kick myself when I realize I left out a few favourites (this is mostly off the top of my head) but this should keep you going for awhile. Just a note: I'm middle-aged so most of my favourites are not current. I am woefully ignorant of which writers are making a name for themselves these days. I often find myself just rereading the books I know I love.
My two favourite books of all time:
de Saint-Exupéry, Antoine The Little Prince
Lee, Harper To Kill A Mockingbird
The book that sparked my life-long love of reading
Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders (she was 17 when she wrote this)
My favourite genre is classic literature because no one writes like this anymore, prose and poetry together, and I lament that:
Austen, Jane all of them but especially Emma
Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily Wuthering Heights (the greatest love story ever told)
Defoe, Daniel Moll Flanders
Dostoevsky, Fyodor The Brothers Karamazov
Eliot, George The Mill on the Floss
Gaskell, Elizabeth North and South
Hardy, Thomas Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Lawrence, D.H. Sons and Lovers
Canadian
I'll just get this out of the way - I know I'm supposed to put that sacred cow of Canadian literature, Margaret Atwood, on this list but, alas, no. I don't like most of what she writes (ditto for Michael Ondaatje whose writing just hurts my brain); however, I will give a shout out to two of her books:
Atwood, Margaret Alias Grace, A Handmaid's Tale
Callaghan, Morley They Shall Inherit the Earth
Cameron, Claire The Last Neanderthal
Davies, Robertson The Deptford Trilogy
Findley, Timothy The Wars and Headhunter
Gowdy, Barbara We So Seldom Look On Love
Laurence, Margaret The Stone Angel (this book made me want to be a writer)
MacDonald, Ann-Marie Fall on Your Knees
Mitchell, W.O. Who Has Seen the Wind?
Moore, Brian The Luck of Ginger Coffey
Munro, Alice Lives of Girls and Women
Richler, Mordecai The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Horror
James, Henry The Turn of the Screw
King, Stephen all of his early work; I can't pick a favourite
Poe, Edgar Allan The Tell-Tale Heart (short story)
Shelley, Mary Frankenstein
Rice, Anne Interview with the Vampire
Stoker, Bram Dracula
Straub, Peter Ghost Story and Shadowland
Wilson, F. Paul The Keep
Humour
Adams, Douglas The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (a trilogy in four parts)
Robbins, Tom all of them, period
Thompson, Hunter S Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Miscellaneous
Capote, Truman In Cold Blood
Kerouac, Jan Baby Driver
Tyler, Anne Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
Mysteries & Police Procedurals
Connelly, Michael Harry Bosch series
Mina, Denise Paddy Meehan series
Mosely, Walter Easy Rawlins series
Robinson, Peter Inspector Banks series
Walters, Minette all of them but particularly The Sculptress
Newly Discovered
Adamson, Gil The Outlander (stunningly literate)
Conlin, Christy Ann Watermark
Crummey, Michael The Wreckage
McKay, Ami The Birth House
Mian, Sarah The Saints Go Marching In
Toews, Miriam A Complicated Kindness
Vermette, Katherena The Break
Whishaw, Iona Lane Winslow series
Science Fiction (not to be confused with Science Fantasy which I totally cannot get into),
Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451
Huxley, Aldous Brave New World
Wells, H.G. The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds
Wyndham, John The Day of the Triffids
Women of Colour
Allende, Isabel The House of the Spirits
Angelou, Maya I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Hong Kingston, Maxine The Woman Warrior
Kogawa, Joy Obasan
McMillan, Terri Waiting to Exhale
Morrison, Toni Beloved
Tan, Amy The Kitchen God's Wife
Walker, Alice The Color Purple
This was so much fun, I just might follow this one up with my favourite poets, memoirs, plays, non-fiction and sundry.
If you like this post, let me know! Agree or disagree? What is your favourite book, genre, author? You can leave a comment below.
Thank you to Yana for suggesting this topic. I had fun travelling down memory lane!
