One of my favourite things about reading is that it takes you away to a place you have never been. You are presented with such imagery that allows for you to enter the world that the author has created. On the flip side it is equally satisfying to be reading about a place that you have already been. To let the author take you back to a place of your travels, where you know what you are about to see but can now appreciate it in a whole new beauty as it is described to you. You let the words flow over you as you see the place from your memory as clear as day!

Everyone has their favourite book! It is the one book you pick up in times of need, the one book that will allow you to escape from the problems you are having. You become totally engrossed in the world and story that brings you a type of inner peace that only a book can bring you. It is usually your go to book for recommending to others and you love the story so much that you read it at least once a year. There is just something about this book that you connect with on a deeper level and it speaks to your soul in a way that no other book can.
 

We are about to close the books on 2019, and a year of centennial celebrations at Lethbridge Public Library. As part of our celebrations I decided, as one of the library’s adult services librarians, to commit to reading 100 books—one for each year the library has been in operation. I’ll admit the task seemed daunting at first. In setting my task I decided to give myself a rule: everything I read had to have a minimum of 100 pages (which also tied nicely into the hundred theme of the challenge). I’m happy to report that I have completed my challenge and with a couple of weeks to spare!

One of the things that I love most about books is their ability to evoke emotion. It’s amazing how simple words on a page can make us feel an entire range of emotion: fear, anger, sadness, happiness—the list goes on and on. As I continue to read one hundred books to celebrate Lethbridge Public Library’s one hundredth anniversary, I have encountered books that have triggered a number of these emotions. This week I have chosen to share some of the most emotion provoking books I have read so far this year.

While some people may read a book and never return to it, that has never been a problem for me. My latest choices in our “100 Books for 100 Years” challenge were definitely choices of nostalgia, and I returned to authors and books whom I have enjoyed before – in one case, a book I have read a half dozen times. Eventually, however, the need for something new arose, and I turned to some brand new novels from the Library’s Top Reads collection.

Here is a list of three favourite authors, accompanied by two novels that are destined to be read again: