The Books I Love

Lija Kresowaty over at The Writer’s Pet recently invited me to guest post on her blog. One of the things she asked for was a shot of my bookshelf. Then I caught up on Cynthia’s Catching Days blog. She’s been writing about what’s on her bookshelf, so I decided to follow suit.

One of my all-time favourite books is Lake of the Prairies, a memoir by Warren Cariou. Cariou details growing up in Meadow Lake, which is just an hour or so north of where I’m living now. Some of his stories were hilarious – his description of halter-breaking a 4-H calf comes to mind. Other parts were poignant, and had me crying (although that’s not hard to do). Everyone I’ve lent this book to has loved it, so I highly recommend it.

Another favourite is The Temptations of Big Bear, by Rudy Wiebe. Wiebe’s novel sat on my to-read list until last winter, but when I finally got around to reading it, I could hardly put it down. It’s a novel based on the Northwest Rebellion, with large parts of it also set in my neck of the woods. It’s told from multiple points of view, but Big Bear is the chief character. I loved how Wiebe created an image of pre-railway Saskatchewan. It also touched me in a way I can’t quite describe, other than to say I felt like I was mourning for a land I could never visit. Or that I was looking over Big Bear’s shoulder and seeing destructive change crashing towards him. It also reinforced my belief that the land is more than a container for resources that we can extract.

Those are only two of many books that I love. What about you?