Monday 26 September 2011

The Ultimate Bookshelf

Some books are a good read, some are a great read and others, no matter how much you love them, are books you will only ever read once - and most likely will pass on to others.  Then there are the books that you cannot part with, the rare books that must remain in your position until the end of time just for that day you feel the need to read them again. Or perhaps you just want to compile an impressive collection of works of literary genius to impress your friends and visitors :)

Mine would be a compilation of classics, the perspective-altering must reads, a couple of more recent books I consider to be perfect literature and ones I would want to pass on to future children because they are great adventures and inspire the use of imagination. In no particular order - here are my Top 10. (Though I'm sure I've forgotten something of vital importance).
  1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  2. The Harry Potter collection by JK Rowling
  3. The Roald Dahl collection
  4. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
  5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  6. Bag of Bones by Stephen King
  7. Sister by Rosamund Lupton
  8. Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott 
  9. The complete works of William Shakespeare
  10. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
So what books would you have on your ultimate bookshelf? And how long would they sit there before you picked them up and read them again?

    5 comments:

    1. I don't do top tens because I can change my mind on a daily basis. A book I loved as a child was The Wide Wide World by Susan Warner and one that moved me profoundly as an adult was The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist by Robert Tressell. I love the classics but there are so many good writers I feel we should just feel blessed and enjoy them!

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    2. A Summer Birdcage by Margaret Drabble
      Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
      Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
      This Charming Man by Marian Keyes
      Ghost by Robert Harris
      Middlemarch by George Eliot
      anything by Dick Francis
      Atonement by Ian McEwan
      What to do When Someone Dies by Nicci French
      Nancy Mitford's biography by Selina Hastings

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    3. All Jane Austen novels
      Harry Potter books by J.K Rowling
      Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
      Atonement by Ian McEwan
      The Island - Victoria Hislop
      Howard's End by E.M Forster
      Bookends by Jane Green
      Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
      by Tracey

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    4. I'm with Babs, I can never pick a top ten of anything. I love your list (cheeky you picking entire collections). There are books that survive every clear-out. These include The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and Wild Swans by Jung Chang. Also, everything I have by Lionel Shriver and Carol Shields, two smashing women authors.

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    5. Brilliant selection of choices ladies! And some great tips for those who don't know what to read next :) xx

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