Favourite Winter Stories from Fireside Al

Don Crosby is a journalist in Durham, Ontario.

There is nothing like a good, well-told story to take the edge off a
cold winter’s night. And there are few who can tell a story as well as
Alan Maitland, who has single-handedly revived the art of storytelling
on radio. For many years CBC Radio listeners have warmed to the sound of
“Fireside Al” telling stories as co-host of the network’s flagship
current affairs program “As It Happens,” from 1974 to 1993.

Favourite Winter Stories is a highly personalized anthology of
Maitland’s favorite winter tales. He has chosen 26 classics by such
well-known authors as Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, E.B. White, O.
Henry, Edgar Allan Poe, Guy de Maupassant, Nellie McClung, Stephen
Leacock, Margaret Laurence, Alice Munro, Thomas King, and Audrey Thomas.

Reading the stories brings back the sound of Maitland’s mellifluous
voice, his contagious love of language, and his way with a good yarn.
However, the book will appeal to any lover of a good short story and
will encourage the re-reading of these great classics.