Michelle Morgan loves books set in the past — here are 6 books that move her
The actor will champion Etta and Otto and Russell and James on Canada Reads 2025
Actor Michelle Morgan's appetite for books started with her love for theatre and the plays she read during school.
She's especially captivated by stories that connect her to a historical moment and get into the details of what it was like to live in that time, while still showcasing the universal human themes that run through every age.
That's why she chose to champion Etta and Otto and Russell and James on Canada Reads 2025, a novel that explores a physical and emotional journey that spans fifty years and across diverse Canadian landscapes.
Canada Reads will take place from March 17-20. In the meantime, Morgan caught up with CBC Books to share the stories that get her immersed in a new time and place.
The Odyssey by Homer
In grade 11, Morgan's English class read The Odyssey, an epic poem charting Odysseus' decade-long journey back home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.
"We spent the entire year reading The Odyssey, which is how long it takes for 15-year-olds to absorb The Odyssey," said Morgan. "We'd listen to The Beatles on vinyl and then we would just read and study The Odyssey."
Homer really opened up my mind to history and to storytelling.- Michelle Morgan
She was so marked by this book that she minored in ancient Greek theatre in university. "Homer really opened up my mind to history and to storytelling," she said, something that serves her to this day as an actor.
The Favourite Game by Leonard Cohen
"I don't remember how it landed in my lap, but I just remember being under a spell and kind of in a cloud and feeling almost depressed, but there was a bittersweetness to it," said Morgan.
The Favourite Game is the semi-autobiographical debut novel by legendary Montreal musician and writer Leonard Cohen. It tells the story of Lawrence Breavman, the only son of a Jewish family in Montreal. As he grows up, he grapples with becoming an artist and has many romantic encounters — all while trying to figure out what love really is and where he fits in the world.
That was the first time I'd really read an author where I felt like I was reading their diary.- Michelle Morgan
"I felt elevated and more mature. And the way he wrote about sex and relationships and sadness was so revealing of his inner life. That was the first time I'd really read an author where I felt like I was reading their diary."
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
"I came late to Charles Dickens because I didn't read it in high school, but when I read Great Expectations it was so much fun," said Morgan.
Great Expectations is a coming-of-age story about an orphan named Pip who moves past his humble origins to live the life of a gentleman.
Morgan especially loves the opening of the novel, which she calls "some of the greatest writing in the English language," in which Pip is standing in front of his parents' grave trying to figure out what they're like based on the font of their gravestones.
"It's just so fun and so surprising and so real. You really feel like you're in England, in whatever year that was."
The Friends of Meager Fortune by David Adams Richards
A lover of historical fiction that offers insight into the intricacies of life in another time, Morgan couldn't get enough of the novels of David Adams Richards, specifically, The Friends of Meager Fortune.
The Friends of Meager Fortune is set in a logging community in New Brunswick's Miramichi valley on the brink of change brought by new technology. It follows the story of Owen Jameson, who returns home from the war as a hero, takes over the family logging business and falls into a steamy affair.
"David Adams Richard is almost mythologizing the history of Miramichi and of Nova Scotia because the characters are larger-than-life," said Morgan.
The characters are larger-than-life.- Michelle Morgan
"He seems to put these characters who are small lives on a big scale where it's elevated and there's so much drama to it, but it's also it's just really moving and there's so much specificity to what life is like."
Galore by Michael Crummey
In a similar vein to Richard's portrait of historical Nova Scotia, Morgan also loved Michael Crummey's attention to detail when it came to depicting old-time Newfoundland in Galore.
Over the course of many generations, Galore dives into the fictional town of Paradise Deep through the lives of the families who founded it. Complete with drama, disputes and alliances, Galore sheds light on the hardships of rural living and the complexities of human nature that it draws out.
"There's just so many families and history and a real depth of understanding into the challenge of what life was like then," said Morgan.
She was also captivated by the book's depiction of the "push and pull" between Catholics and Protestants in the area.
"It was interesting the way that the Protestants and Catholics would sometimes mix, but then sometimes the lines were drawn really strongly. Sometimes they could go to each other's churches and sometimes someone would put their foot down and forbid it. I didn't really understand the depth of that separation."
We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby
Morgan also loves nonfiction and was enthralled by Samantha Irby's We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, a funny and raunchy collection of essays which tackles the banalities of life, love and watching television. Whether it's explaining how her difficult childhood has led to a problem in making "adult" budgets or why she should be the new Bachelorette, Irby's fearlessness makes for compelling reading — and her intimate style of writing stuck with Morgan.
"Irby's writing is so funny," she said. "She just writes about her life in a crude, hilarious, self-deprecating way."
Michelle Morgan's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
