Do you remember the first book that turned you on to reading? What was the second one? While in your teens what did you love to read? Think about your first real adult book. Do you have a comfort book or author that you return to over and over again?
Working in a library and being surrounded by many new and undiscovered authors is a treat for me. But a greater treat comes from finding old friends. Some of these include C. S. Lewis and Elizabeth Goudge, both authors from my childhood.
At seven, I started in a new and, for me, much larger school. This experience changed from very intimidating to comforting as soon as my teacher started reading to the class. He read Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and I was hooked. The rest of the Narnia series followed. Unable to get enough stories meant finding and using the library. This was the beginning of a lifelong love affair with books, especially fantasy novels.
Another favourite, The Little White Horse by Goudge, published in 1946, was made into a movie, The Secret of Moonacre, in 2008. This story starts with Maria, an orphan, and her governess Miss Heliotrope, in a carriage heading into an unknown future with Maria's cousin. The story includes secrets, feuds, lost love, colourful characters, magical animals and a mystery to be solved. Both of these books had an element of magic that I still look for when reading for comfort.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman is a book that has it all: magic, mystery, menace and true love. Buttercup and Westley find each other, lose each other and then, after many adventures, find each other once more, only to be separated to go through more fantastic adventures on their path to true love. This is pure escapist fantasy and appeals to kids of all ages.
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen is set in Bascom, a small town in North Carolina, and tells the story of sisters Claire and Sydney Waverley, who use their family inheritance to make the most of their natural gifts and carve out a home for themselves. These inheritances include not only the family home, which has an apple tree bearing fruit with magical properties, but also an ability to affect the lives of people through their own unique talents. Claire, as a caterer, can affect people's feelings with her food and Sydney has the knack of creating just the right hairstyle for each of her clients.
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman is also about sisters. Gillian and Sally Owens use magic to bring order into their lives. Having been brought up by eccentric aunts in the scariest house in town, Gillian tries for normalcy by striving for an ordinary life, getting married and having two children. Sister Gillian runs away. Years later, Gillian is back and in need of help from her sister. Learning to work together and allowing magic back into their lives brings together three generations of Owens women as a family.
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry had me intrigued from the first page but I was still surprised at the end of this novel about the death of an aunt. The narrator declares in her opening paragraph that she lies all the time and that she is a crazy woman - this, she says is true. Throughout this book, it becomes necessary to remember these two statements as you try to sort out the mystery of three generations of Whitney women. Great aunt Eva, mother May and Towner all have secrets. The unraveling of these secrets keeps you intrigued right up to the unexpected conclusion.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published every Wednesday. Bronwyn Punch works at Terry Fox Library in Port Coquitlam.
