The 100 Favourite Books of Halifax Public Libraries' staff

I'm one of those people who can't resist a list of favourite books. I mean, what's not to love about a list compiled by people who spend their time around books, love to read, and take pleasure in the simple joy that is curling up with a beloved book. If that appeals to you then I invite you to check out the The 100 Favourite Books of Halifax Public Libraries Staff. This list was first compiled in 2008 as a response to the often asked question "so what is your favourite book"? The booklet was so popular that in 2011 staff decided to update the list. Everyone who works for the HPL was asked to submit their best-loved title. The results are compiled and available in booklet form at your branch of the Halifax Public Libraries or online on our readers page of the Halifax Public Libraries website. As for me, here are a few of my favourites on the list:

Bridget Jones's Diary : a novel
by Helen Fielding

Meet Bridget Jones--a 30-something Singleton who is certain she would have all the answers if she could: a. lose 7 pounds; b. stop smoking; c. develop Inner Poise. Diary is a devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out daily chronicle of Bridget's permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement.

The Giver
by Lois Lowry

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

Room
by Emma Donoghue

Narrator Jack and his mother, who was kidnapped seven years earlier when she was a 19-year-old college student, celebrate his fifth birthday. They live in a tiny, 11-foot-square soundproofed cell in a converted shed in the kidnapper's yard. The sociopath, whom Jack has dubbed Old Nick, visits at night, grudgingly doling out food and supplies. But Ma, as Jack calls her, proves to be resilient and resourceful--and attempts a nail-biting escape.

To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee

Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.

The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck

Set during the Great Depression, it traces the migration of an Oklahoma Dust Bowl family to California and their subsequent hardships as migrant farm workers.

So dear readers, what's your favourite book?

Louise