Mirian Njoh shares 5 books that had a lasting impact — from Goodnight Moon to 'gateway' romance

While fashion influencer Mirian Njoh is excited to champion the first romance book on Canada Reads, she wasn't always a reader of the genre. 

In fact, some of her earliest reads were hardcore horror stories — and from there she branched out to all types of fiction and nonfiction — solidifying her stance as a true lover of language and the written word in all its forms. 

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Njoh is championing Meet Me at the Lake on Canada Reads 2024, which will air on March 4-7. 

In honour of the upcoming debates, she took CBC Books along on her literary journey from childhood to the present. 

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd

Goodnight Moon is such a classic that Njoh still has her own tattered copy from childhood. In this beloved bedtime story, a little bunny tucked away in bed says goodnight to all the things in the room. 

"I love children's books," Njoh said. "I think that they're the best way to introduce children to reading and literature and make it fun."

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"It inspires you to think and dream and be silly and it's whimsical. And all of those things are things that if you start fostering it in a child, hopefully they'll continue to keep them forward in their life."

Everything's Eventual by Stephen King

Njoh read this collection of dark tales during her "horror phase" in elementary school.

"[King is] always my favourite horror author — just the way he creates suspense and evokes emotion and creates these worlds that just suck you in and will just keep you there," she said.

She also appreciated that Everything Eventual is an anthology of many stories. "It let me again go into different worlds and stay there and explore them fully. But as soon as you exit one world you can enter another."

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

The Fountainhead captivated a high school-aged Njoh — so much so that she named her first fashion blog after the female protagonist.  

Rand's hefty and complex novel challenged Njoh with its story of a stubborn young architect who struggles against conventional standards and gets swept up in an explosive love affair, while still offering ample room for her to connect to the characters. 

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"It was at a time, which I think a lot of people can relate to, where I was just questioning a lot of things and just wanting to know how the world worked," she said. 

"It's a book of anti-heroes. And I think that especially at that age when you are more rebellious, you prefer an anti-hero to a hero."

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers sets out to examine what contributes to high-level success, drawing from both anecdotal and statistical evidence.

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"I've always been curious about people and human nature and how societies and culture function on a macro scale," Njoh said. "And a lot of [Gladwell's] work explores those topics. And so reading that, it's something that I could just see myself continuing to revisit over and over."

Lessons in Corruption by Giana Darling

Lessons in Corruption, Njoh's "gateway read" into romance, follows the story of a teacher who gets involved with her much younger student, who happens to be the heir to a criminal motorcycle gang. It was recommended to her by a friend.

"I had no previous experience or knowledge of the genre and she said start here," Njoh said. "I think after that I consumed about five more of Giana's titles back-to-back to back."

"It just introduced me and opened me up to the genre and so for me it holds such a special place in my heart because it was my first one."

Mirian Njoh's comments have been edited for length and clarity.