‘More than four decades later, in her last moments, Ye Wenjie would recall the influence Silent Spring had on her life. …’ – Cixin Liu, The Three-Body Problem
When I was a kid I remember delving into ancient history books mainly, then more modern stories. I remember reading ‘The Hiding Place’ by Corrie Ten Boom, ‘The Call of the Wild’ by Jack London, a collection of Celtic stories, and E.B. White’s ‘Charlotte’s Web’. Stories shape us in ways we barely even notice and can profoundly change our outlook on life. But have you ever thought about making a list of them? Those books who made you… you? What does your personal canon look like? What forms of media have shaped who you are and how you think? Can you remember them? Below, I’ll write out a few of my own. In the future, I’ll dedicate a page of this site to it and I hope you do the same. Keep a list. Update it. Hold it close. This is my challenge to you this summer.
What does your personal canon look like? What forms of media have shaped who you are and how you think? Can you remember them?
Canon |
- ‘The Call of the Wild’ Jack London
- ‘The Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty’ William Bligh
- ‘The Travels by Marco Polo’
- ‘Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician’ Michihiko Hachiya M.D.
- ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ Anne Frank
- ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ Jules Verne
- ‘The Hobbit’ J.R.R. Tolkein