It is almost impossible to say what are the best books one has ever read. It depends on the mood and the moment. Here are some lists. Before I start I should like to say that these lists will always be incomplete. The second two in particular are merely representative.
First a list of a few books that I can say that I have reread, sometimes more than once, and which I have found to be unfailingly wonderful, in one way or another.
"Winter's Tale" Mark Helprin
"Cryptonomicon" Neil Stephenson
"The Trickster" Muriel Gray
Next, books that I found far more enjoyable than the average, again for a variety of reasons. Some I may have read recently, some long ago. Some will be well known to you, others will be entirely unheard of.
"The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" Robert Tressell
"Cold Mountain" Charles Frazier
"Nineteen Eighty-Four" George Orwell
"The Evolution Man" Roy Lewis
"The French Lieutenant's Woman" John Fowles
"Lord of the Rings" J.R.R. Tolkien
"Shogun" James Clavell
"Goodbye to All That" Robert Graves
"Certain Prey" John Sandford
Finally, readable books that are well worth spending time on.
"The Fifth Queen" Ford Madox Ford
"Girl With a Pearl Earring" Tracy Chevalier
"The Maid of Buttermere" Melvyn Bragg
"Empire of the Sun" J.G.Ballard
Not quite finally, because I just came across a factual book, so here's a factual list. Actually I now realise that I read very few straightforwardly factual books.
"The Blind Watchmaker" Richard Dawkins
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"It was like this."
Well, I've noticed that everyone under forty visits the gym, so I thought it might be a good way of fooling people to come and visit ME
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1 comment:
Well, here's my tuppence Jimbo... "Atonement" by Ian McEwan is one of the best books I've ever read, very moving and with an utterly shocking twist that makes it all the more poignant. Shortly to be released at the cinema, so quick, read it before the film industry does its usual job of ruining it (although, with the delicious Keira Knightley as female lead it'd be hard to see how they could). Oh, and Victoria Hislop's "The Island" is a very very close second.
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