Your declared favourites

[Robinne Weiss]

What I love is that we are all lovers of books and keen critics of writing ... and we don't agree on whether a book is 'good' or 'bad'. It's the beauty of art, isn't it? The subset of books that resonates with each person is different, and not necessarily predictable.

 

[E G Logan]

I've just re-read -- in one mammoth binge -- The Black Arrow. (It would now be considered a YA romance.) Stevenson's non-Treasure Island + Jekyll & Hyde novels are much under-rated. He's great at characterisation and inter-personal relations, with a wry take on the family.

To get it I had to buy the whole collected edition on Kindle, but it was almost free. A real bargain. Next stop Walter Scott.

 

[Jiannina Camillo]

And the amazing, moving, gut-wrenching "A little life" by Hanya Yanagihara!

 

[Rich.]

What I love is that we are all lovers of books and keen critics of writing ... and we don't agree on whether a book is 'good' or 'bad'. It's the beauty of art, isn't it? The subset of books that resonates with each person is different, and not necessarily predictable.

It's wonderful, isn't it! I couldn't agree more.

 

[Jiannina Camillo]

Sometimes in 1966 (I think it was), I read a book, "Valley of the Dolls" and I was so upset by it- I just didn't like it, that I wrote an article for the caollege magazine called "Why I don't read books anymore." Someone once said, I can't remember who, they were writing the kind of book they wanted to read, because what was/is on the current market does not satisfy them. I tend to feel a bit like that.

So, although I don't remember what I put on the list of my favourite books when I signed-up for Litopia, I do know what wasn't there- namely anything within the last 30-40 years or so, nothing not based on reality unless it was "Animal Farm" or "Lord of the Flies" because the first deals with politics and the second with the darker side of human nature.

I probably mentioned Agatha Christie's books because I go overboard for good detective stories: "The Nun's Story," and the "Thorn Birds," because those deal in the kind of subject matter that draws me in and consequently some of it probably rubs off in my writing.

I must have mentioned my long-standing favourites, from the early 20th Century; ALL of E.M. Forster's, most of D.H. Lawrence's, some of Virginia Woolf's and the shorter ones of James Joyce's.

No doubt ALL of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte's and Charles Dickens' books were listed and I could not have omitted Shakespeare's tragedies and history plays.

So, what have all of these books got in common? They all deal with the psychology of the human mind and relationships... and they are all believable.

There are so many good contemporary books out there, Eva. I suggest you read "The uncommon reader" by Alan Bennett. It's short, brilliant, amusing ... a huge delight.

 

[Eva Ulian]

I'm afraid I've no access to English Books here in Italy and I don't want to pester my relations all the time to get books for me to bring out. But I'll make a note of it for when, if ever I return to those cliffs of Dover again.

 

[Carol Rose]

Okay, I think I finally have time to respond to this question! LOL!

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, because it had a profound effect on me when I first read it at ten years old. It still does. It's so cleverly written - from the POV of a six year old girl, yet the adults in the book and the reader know exactly what is going on. It's also a thought provoking slice of not-so-great American history. I think it's important that we not forget these things, lest we repeat the mistakes.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, simply because I adore the story. Another slice of American history, plus intrigue, deception, two truly horrible main characters (Daisy and Tom), and a narrator whom you just want to reach out to hug and slap upside the head at the same time.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. This is another one I first read at a young age and it had a profound effect on me. I fell in love with the characters from the first few pages. If a writer can do that for me, she/he has me hooked for the entire book.

Everything by Jane Austen, because she's Jane and no one else writes like her. The satire, the detail, the fabulous characters. Of her six published novels, Mansfield Park is my favorite.

1984 by George Orwell. Scary because it's still so relevant. Also depressing as hell, but I can't stop reading.

Stephen King. Yeah. Everything he writes. There are some stinkers, but I read them all anyway at least once. My favorites are The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Eyes of the Dragon, Needful Things, Bag of Bones, Hearts In Atlantis, and The Stand.

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Brockmann, because these books are so well-written. I don't read much YA dystopia, but this is one series I'm glad I did. I adore them.

A Rose In Winter by Kathleen Woodiwiss. Classic bodice-ripper romance at its best. It's a heart-melting story about redemption and trust. I have a VERY worn paperback copy and really should replace it one day.

Sweet, Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers. She was one of the first queens of the bodice-ripper, and this book is the first romance I ever read. I was a tender 19 years old and I was hooked for life on the genre.

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen. Forget the movie, although I can't completely dislike anything with Meryl Streep in it. The book is phenomenal. What a voice this author has!

Echoes by Maeve Binchy. For that matter, EVERYTHING she wrote. Echoes was the first book of hers I discovered and I was so hooked I found and bought them all.

The Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon, again simply because I love the story and the characters.

Ceremony of the Innocent by Taylor Caldwell. Another story that pulled me right in. I couldn't stop reading.

There are others, but those are the ones that spring to mind immediately when someone asks this question.

 

[Susan]

I don’t even know where to begin. I have about a million favourite books.

Number one is probably Wuthering Heights. I love the wild moorland setting and mercurial characters. I love that it’s not what everyone thinks it is before they’ve read it: it’s not a love story. It’s a revenge story, a story of obsession, of self-love and self-hatred.

It’s also the only novel that never changes, for me, with each rereading; I never get anything new from it - and weirdly, I love it for exactly that reason. It’s as eternal and unchanging as the rocks on the moor. If I could only ever read one book for the rest of my life, I’d happily keep going back to page one as soon as I’ve reached that glorious final paragraph.

The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie is perhaps my next favourite book. The Maggie Smith film was one of my parent’s favourites. I used to watch it as a kid and sigh over Miss Brodie, wishing she was my teacher, wishing I was one of the Brodie Set. Reading it (and watching it) as an adult, well, ahem, how misguided I was! Jean is one of the most powerfully flawed, blind, arrogant and bloody wonderful characters ever, straight out of Greek tragedy. She has no comprehension of her deep failings and believes herself to be a martyr, a hero to her girls. The book is also so quotable.

 

[Steven McC]

Wuthering Heights for me as well. There's a brilliant piece of Marxist literary analysis by Terry Eagleton that explains so much of its "unexplainable" features and gives the novel extra resonance - e.g. Heathcliff is Catherine's true love but she must leave him because society does not care for or even accommodate true love. She must, instead, choose Linton who represents wealth, liberal humanism and a "good" match. There's a quote in the analysis, something along the lines of "true love is incompatible with the structures of society", that really stayed with me.

I think the book is a work of genius as Emily expressed these things in such a stark and daring way (at a time when novels were so tentative and conservative). A genuinely original voice.

Honourable mention for The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, the novel that speaks most to my own experience of life, and Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, which has a unique voice and again completely subverts a style of literature (in this case the "heroism" of war literature).

 

[RK Wallis]

@Carol Rose, I was a die-hard Sidney Sheldon fan in the '80s! And how could I forget Little Women, those March sisters were so well rounded.

@RK Capps, same again – those all-time favourites, what do they do to you? Why are they important?

Apologies @rich, I missed your question and I don't know how! For writers like Novik and Arden, it's the ingenuity of ideas, beautiful language on the page and their ability to create characters with such honesty and depth.

I think everyone has already hit the nail on the head with Anne. With Austen, I can't pick a fav, I love them all, but the wit and irony are second to none. A Game of Thrones is gritty and you're right there as Martin rips your heart out as he kills off characters you've grown to love and then he goes on to build up your love with other characters (before killing them, lol!), but he also stirs your blood, like readers are puppets, with people like Joffery.

The humour of TPB. To this day, I'll never forget, 'inconceivable!'

And Tolstoy, what characterisation, what pathos!