Being active in the winter doesn’t necessarily mean figuring out how to stay warm outdoors while getting some physical exercise. After all, exercising the mind will also go a long ways to prevent kicking the bucket.

One winter activity would be trying to complete the Sheep River Library’s “Bucket List — 100 books you should read before you die” program.

“It’s a wide variety of books — ranging from ‘The Bible’ to ‘The Life of Pi,’” said Sheep River Library’s head librarian Jan Burney.

She said the books on the list aren’t necessarily the ones you would see on the best-seller lists either.

Burney readily admitted she likes to read what she calls “brain candy” — the John Grisham, Danielle Steele books and others that are easy on the mind.

“Those are all fun to read, but these are books that have all stood the test of time,” she said of the bucket list novels.

Some of the works include Russian classics by Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, books by English novelist Jane Austen and from Canadians such as Margaret Atwood. Also included are the more mainstream books like the Harry Potter series and Bridget Jones’ Diary.

Participants can pick up the list at the Sheep River Library in Turner Valley where the staff will check off the number of books one has already read. Further books are checked off the list as the participant makes their way through the list. A running total is kept on the library’s Powerpoint system.

Burney has read 61 of the books, but she has an advantage having studied literature in university, where some of the books were required reading.

Fellow librarian Gita Grahame is not far behind at 55 (in comparison, Wheel Sports Editor Bruce Campbell has read 18).

Grahame, who grew up in Lithuania, has read some of the classics, such as Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” in their native Russian.

However, you don’t need to know Russian to topple this bucket list. All you need is a love of reading. Many of the 100 books are available directly at the Sheep River Library or the Okotoks Public Library.

All of them are available through its extensive Marigold system, a book-sharing program including libraries in Okotoks, High River, Longview

and Millarville.

While some winter activities are about preventing the broadening of the stomach or hips, this list is about broadening the mind.

“The winner will receive the unmitigated joy of having broadened the mind by meeting some of the most fascinating characters ever written by some of the most talented and disciplined minds that have graced our planet,” Burney said.

For more information about The Bucket List call the library at 403-933-3278 or email abdsrclibrary@marigold.ab.ca.

Jan Burney

“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen

“A Town Like Alice” by Nevil Shute

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Gita Grahame

“Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy

“Watership Down” by Richard Adams

“Far From the Madding Crowd” by Thomas Hardy

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