Lost Classics

Which was the first book you fell in love with? The one that got you hooked, forever, on the world of words? Or maybe not the first, but one that seeped imperceptibly into your way of thinking and crystallized your view of life? Answering questions like these, the contributors to this book have created an extraordinary collection of evocative and intriguing short essays, describing their literary addictions and how they came about. The idea had its origins in Toronto, at first in the form of contributions to the literary journal Brick, which invited personal stories of books loved and lost. That led to this volume, with its 74 essays, from writers as well known as Margaret Atwood or Michael Ondaatje along with those virtually unknown outside Canada. Some choose books from well-established authors - Arnold Bennett, Rudyard Kipling, William Golding, Mikhail Bulgakov - while others pick the obscure and unavailable; there are books from around the world, volumes lost in emigration or divorce, titles glimpsed in childhood but not read till years later; and typically, as one contributor puts it, they have left their readers with an inner understanding of the meaning of 'priceless'. Not so much lost classics as lost loves, memories lost - and, thankfully, regained. A delicious collection of hymns to the written word. (Kirkus UK)