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Books·My Life in Books

Diana Athill: 7 books I have loved

In honour of her new book, A Florence Diary, Diana Athill shares the books that have shaped her life.
Jane van Koeverden · CBC ·
Diana Athill is a legendary British editor and memoirist. (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Legendary British editor and memoirist Diana Athill turns 100 years old on Dec. 21, 2017. She published her latest book, A Florence Diary, in 2016 at the age of 99. 

Below, we asked Athill to delve into her distinguished literary past and reveal some of her favourite reads.

Hildebrand the Horse by John Thorburn

Hildebrand was written by British author John Thorburn and was published over 80 years ago. (Amazon)

​The first book Athill remembers reading? That honour, she says, goes to, "Hildebrand the Horse. Who by? God knows. I was mad about horses."

As it turns out, Hildebrand is an illustrated book by British author John Thorburn, featuring a talking horse and published in 1930.

Middlemarch by George Eliot

This portrait of Mary Ann Evans, who wrote under the pseudonym George Eliot, is believed to be from around 1868. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Middlemarch by George Eliot is a book Athill has read several times over her lifetime. It describes the impact of modern changes on a small, provincial town, including a new railroad.

George Eliot is the pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, who published Middlemarch (her fourth novel) around 1871-1872. Before she died at the age of 61 in 1880, she was considered the greatest living writer of English fiction.

Alice Munro

Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 2013. Renown for her mastery of the short story form, Munro's stories focused on the inner struggles of everyday people in stories often set in small town Ontario.
Canadian writer Alice Munro, pictured above at the Man Booker International Award in 2009, is revered around the world for her masterful short stories. (Peter Muhly/Getty Images)

Ask Athill about her favourite short story collection, and she'll answer simply, "Any of Alice Munro's." The Canadian master of the short story has written 14 collections, for which she's collected 22 literary prizes. This includes the Nobel Prize, the Man Booker International Prize, three Governor General's Literary Awards and two Scotiabank Giller Prizes.

Munro's stories are intricately drawn portraits of life in rural Ontario, inspired by her upbringing in Wingham, Ont.

The Oxford Book of English Verse

Christopher Ricks is a British literary critic and scholar who currently teaches at Boston University. (http://arneisquartet.com/christopher-ricks-lecture/)

Athill counts The Oxford Book of English Verse as her favourite collection of poetry. The most recent edition, published in 1999, is edited by British literary critic Christopher Ricks. It includes verse from across the ages, from medieval song lyrics to works by William Shakespeare to beloved nursery rhymes and poetry by William Wordsworth and Ted Hughes.

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

American novelist Herman Melville (1819 - 1891), circa 1850. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Often hailed as the greatest nautical adventure in literary history, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is among the most recognizable titles in English literature. But for a long time, the classic novel sat untouched on Athill's bookshelf. When she finally got around to reading it, she found it was worth the wait.

Shakespeare

A Sotheby's employee handles a copy of William Shakespeare, The First Folio 1623 on July 7, 2006 in London, England. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

When we first published this feature in 2016, Athill told us she was endeavouring to re-read all of the Bard's plays. Shakespeare staged over 40 comedies, tragedies and histories and is a continuing source of fascination and inspiration to writers and artists around the globe.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Count Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828 - 1910) the Russian writer, aesthetic philosopher, moralist and mystic inspecting the estate after a bathe in the lake. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

When we asked Athill what book she'd take to a desert island, she pragmatically responded with a masterpiece that would surely last a long time. War and Peace is Russian icon Leo Tolstoy's complex epic of the Napoleonic Wars. Published in 1869, it is considered a cornerstone of world literature.