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 &quote;emotional thoughtscapes&quote; 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.