Since graduating from my Master's I have had a lot of free time which has resulted in an extensive and never ceasing to grow reading list. Why now? Well you see, I don't read when I'm in school because i get wrung out from reading for classes and research so at the end of the day I just want to watch TV and go to sleep. So when I do get free time away from school like the summer or now I actually enjoy reading. I have been trying to read all the major literary classics, so there is a lot to pick from and the recommendations I have been getting from friends and family have also helped. I thought I would share with you the three books I have enjoyed reading the most so far this year:
1. Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery
I read this book, like many children in Canada, in elementary school and was curious as to why it remained so dear to my heart as an adult when I hadn't read it since. Usually re-visiting childhood favourite books, movies and TV shows can be quite disappointing but upon re-reading Anne of Green Gables I felt the book just as lovely as it was in my memory. Anne is truly one of the most endearing characters I have read and you want to read the rest of the series to see how she gets on with the rest of her life. I was happy at the announcement of a new Anne of Green Gables Netflix-CBC TV series scheduled for release next year, so I guess my re-reading it couldn't have come at a better time!
2. A Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
I love the dystopian genre and after reading 1984 I set my sights on A Handmaid's Tale as a sure bet since I have been wanting to read it for quite sometime and it came highly recommended by my sisters. From the first page to the last, Atwood's grasp on the reader does not waiver and she delivers an intense, nerve-wracking, sad and hopeful narrative which had quickly become one of my all-time favourite novels.
3. The Old man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
I have been wanting to read this novel since high school. Its a short novel but it packs and unpacks a lot in its mere 120-ish pages. Hemingway has simply and brilliantly captured the experience of a man stranded at sea with nothing but his own thoughts and the fish he encounters in his struggle to get back to shore. Its beautiful and moving and his writing style also makes you, as a reader, feel as though you too have been drifting at sea helplessly fighting your inner and outer demons.
What are your favourite reads of the year so far?
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