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Laurie Glenn Norris has a deliciously involuntary reaction when she reads Jane Eyre.

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Michael David Smith

David Smith photo

"It's my favourite book," Norris says. "You've got the brooding man, the mad woman in the attic, the orphan. I get goosebumps - some of the things Jane says to Heath. I like good conversations; I like novels that gives us the sense of the time."

The manager of communication and outreach at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery for nearly 10 years, Norris has been involved with museum and art galleries for 25 years. Her professional life - which has included stints as curator and researcher - has been all about getting "the sense of the time."

That's her day job. By night she's an aspiring writer.

Her first book is coming out in the fall of 2009. To be published by Nimbus, its working title is Cumberland County in Fact and Folklore and it will include cultural and historical tidbits from the Nova Scotia county where she was born and raised.

And, "Like all aspiring writers, there is a novel that I'm working on," she says. "I'd really regret it if it was never finished."

- Telegraph-Journal

Laurie Glenn Norris's top book picks

1. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë

This is the ultimate Gothic romance novel. I read it as a pre-teen and again as an adult, and the exchanges between Jane and Mr. Rochester never fail to give me chills. It's also a thoughtful study of 19th-century British class structure, gender roles and attitudes towards mental illness.

2. Persuasion - Jane Austen

Again with the romance. This book contains one of the most thrilling love letters ever written. Captain Wentworth sure knew how to wield a pen. Too bad it's only fiction. Jane Austen can't be beat when it comes to repressed desire and longing.

3. Latitudes of Melt - Joan Clark

I would hurry home after work to get back to this one. It's a wonderful tale of events unfolding in a Newfoundland outport after a tiny survivor of the Titanic is discovered on an ice floe. The last chapter, which takes us back to that fateful night in April, 1917, is unbelievably well written. Clark's characters are so well crafted, I was drawn into their emotions, their happiness, their pain. Oh, to be able to write like that.

4. Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy - Sarah Ban Breathnach

This is the only title on my list which is not a novel; it's the best self-help book on the market. Thoughtfully inspired by the domestic practices of the past and by a love of good books, it's jam-packed with advice for balanced living. It was given to me years ago by my best friend. I read it - one page a day - every second year.

5. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

The verbal sparring and witticisms of the characters are without equal. Austen understands the good and the bad behaviour of which humans are so capable and creates memorable and, for the most part, lovable characters.

6. Random Passage - Bernice Morgan

This novel traces the settlement and history of outport Newfoundland and St. John's. Its well-drawn, non-idealized characters are a study in human endurance and sacrifice.

7. The Blue Castle - Lucy Maud Montgomery

I love this book even more than I do the Anne series. It's a story of mistaken identity and risking it all for a chance at happiness. Montgomery, enlarging upon a quote by George Sand, tells us that "it's never too late to be what you might have been."

8. The Wind Seller - Rachael Preston

What I like most about this book is that it is set in rural Nova Scotia, the kind of place where I grew up. Preston writes of mud flats, fish weirs and the Minas Basin. It is also an examination of the endurance and complexity of female relationships. And there's a pirate ship. What more could one ask for?

9. The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams

This children's book is likely a favourite of many. It's a reassuring tale of how we are all capable of loving and being loved, even when "our fur is all rubbed off."

10. Bettina Bear's Bus - Marion Coombes

I owned this book as a child and lost it somewhere along the way. I'd love to have another copy - but it needs to be by the same publisher, and the last time I checked on EBay it cost $75.