My Lefthanded, Backwards, Upsidedown Life & Assorted Short Stories

My Lefthanded, Backwards, Upsidedown Life & Assorted Short Stories contains a memoir describing author John Gardiner’s growing up and coming of age years in the small Ontario town of Hanover during the 1950’s, 1960’s and early 1970’s - a time of significant social change in North American society - especially among young people. The book is written as a series of mostly humorous vignettes delivered in a stream-of-consciousness style that follows Gardiner from the day he is born on a stormy winter day in the early 1950’s, through to when he marries in the mid-1970’s. From the time he joins the Hanover Musical Society at age 4 on clarinet, to the point in his life where he marries in the mid 1970’s, his life is sort of ordinary, but also sort of not ordinary. Playing in rock bands, starting a school newspaper, dabbling in the hippie drug subculture, shooting pool, roller skating and falling in love…all part of his young life - and events that most people of that era can identify with. Gardiner calls his short stories emotional thoughtscapes because of the vivid emotional images they are intended to create in the reader’s mind. A young boy gets his first bike…a homeless man gets cursed by an old crone….a young guy gets involved with drugs to expand his mind but with tragic results…a conversation with a rabbit ends a teen’s hunting career…stories about ordinary people struggling with the stuff of life - Gardiner’s stories will make you both laugh and cry, sometimes within the same story.