Top 5 Books

I'm an English Literature and have a voracious appetite for reading, so choosing my top 5 was definitely a challenge. 

1) “Island of the Blue Dolphins” by Scott O’Dell

This was my favourite novel as a child, one of the few that I re-read (other than the Chronicles of Narnia-I cheated by mentioning that) over and over. I was inspired by the young girl who was abandoned on her island and learned to survive. There were so few books that featured girls who did not have to follow gender norms, not to mention girls who had pet wolves. Many of my fantasy/imagination games were inspired by Karana’s adventures. She was a more interesting role model for me than the books with girls who were defined by their crushes on boys.

2) “The Collector” by John Fowles

I like to say that this book is a cross between “Lolita” and “Catcher in the Rye.” I hated “Catcher,” but this book is a very frightening description of a man who kidnaps a woman so she will fall in love with him. I like it so much because I often found myself thinking like him. It is scary to think like someone who is probably insane, but that shows the strength of Fowles’ writing.

3) “Not Wanted on the Voyage” by Timothy Findley

This book was assigned in my Contemporary Canadian Literature class in third year. It has the grittiness in the characters and descriptions that I appreciate, and it has a very interesting retelling of Noah’s ark. The novel is also part of a fantasy sub-genre I have not read before, usually I read fantasy more along the lines of Tolkien and George R. R. Martin. I had expected to dislike it because it might challenge my beliefs in the Bible, but I was able to read it with humour and appreciate the critique it gives of many things including patriarchy.

4) “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

Atwood has been one of my favourite authors for a long time, and this was the first novel of hers I read. I am a fan of dystopian books so this fit the bill. Images in the novel still haunt me: every time I do not have hand lotion, I think of the protagonist softening her hands with butter from her meals and I have to shudder.

5) “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury

I am disappointed that I had not read this book until February 2014 for the English Society Book Club. Other English classes in high school were assigned it, but I was not. I would describe my reading as “voracious” because I like to keep going and going until the story is all used up, and I found it frustrating to have to go to class the day I read this novel. It has the same “gritty” feeling that I love in other novels. My copy is the 60th Anniversary Edition, so there was a lot of interesting information about the story’s process from several short stories into the novella. I enjoy learning about the writing process and would like to write my own books someday, like any good English Literature student does.