This will be my last column for the North Delta Reporter. After 27 years with Fraser Valley Regional Library, I am retiring. When I tell people I am retiring, usually, their first question is, “What are you going to do?” To which I answer, “Whatever I want, whenever I want!”
I am looking forward to having more time to read. Contrary to popular belief, librarians do not spend their days at work reading books. I am fortunate to have had parents who were readers. I have fond memories of my mother reading classics to me before I could read myself.
I learned about different times and places in books such as Heidi by Johanna Spyri, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. I was saddened and horrified that an author could let a character die when Beth drew her last breath in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
My father took me to the public library regularly and I remember “graduating” from picture books to novels. Formulaic series such as Nancy Drew were not for me; I preferred stand-alone novels. There were a few that made an impact on me and I have reread them a few time since then. In Grade 5, I read Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, and historical fiction has been my favorite genre ever since. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, is one of my all-time favourites.
I keep a reading diary to help me remember the books and authors I have read. On those rare occasions when I have nothing to read, I refer to it and check to see if any of the authors whose books I enjoyed have written anything new. There are a few writers whose new books I never miss; Chris Bohjalian is one such author.
While many of his novels are historical, I love that he does not always stick to just one genre. The first book I read by Bohjalian was Midwives, published in 1997 but set in 1981. Sibyl Danforth, an experienced midwife, makes a life-altering decision when she performs an emergency caesarean section on a woman she fears has died of a stroke. I was impressed at how well that the author captured the emotions of the female characters, including the midwife’s daughter, who narrates the story.
Bohjalian’s Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is a dystopian novel about a homeless teenager living in an igloo of garbage bags following the meltdown of a nuclear power plant. I am now anxiously awaiting his recent book, The Flight Attendant. According to the summary, a binge-drinking flight attendant wakes up in a Dubai hotel room beside a dead man. Sounds like another page-turner.
Lilian Jackson Braun, author of The Cat Who… series, once said, “a library card is the start of a lifelong adventure.” A library card is also the best deal in town, given that it provides free access to thousands of books and other resources. The adventure that began in childhood for me will continue in retirement.
Frances Thomson is (until March 9) the community librarian at the George Mackie Library. From all of us here at the North Delta Reporter, thank you Frances for all your hard work and many, many excellent book recommendations. Good luck and Godspeed!
For more information about books and events at the library, visit fvrl.bc.ca.