My Ten favourite books (Not as easy as you might think!)

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Choosing ten favourite books is almost impossible. I love books and must have read thousands. A while ago I started to realise that some of my favourite books I had not read for forty years. So I went back and reread them. Sadly a number of them did not stand up to the scrutiny.

This list will change daily but it is fun to do (They are not in any particular order):

a. On the Road – Jack Kerouac

It is a book of its time but I love reading it. The flow of the words as they tumble along in that stream of consciousness. I am aware of the sexist irresponsibility of the beast but it is so full of life. It was the first book that dared to say there was an alternative to the machine of the establishment. I love its vitality and daring.

b. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest – Ken Kesey

The film was good but, as is often the case, the book is so much better. In the book Murphy is a side character. The action takes place in Chief Broom’s head. It is a book about freedom.

c. The Magus – John Fowles

I adored this book. It played with your head so that you did not know what to believe. It was so well written that it drew you in. The trouble is that you cannot reread it once you know what happens and I was a bit disappointed with the ending.

d. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie

This was an Indian Sci-Fi book for me. It was so funny, textured and fast moving. I’ve just realised that I want to reread it again.

e. The Tin Drum – Gunter Grass

I often have two books on the go and I read this one at the same time as the Rushdie. They both had a similar feel for me. I loved the humour, Sci-Fi element and pace. I also loved the message in it.

f. Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami

All Murakami’s books have a surreal quality to them. They feel other-wordly. I lose myself in them. It was a toss up between this one and most of the others. IQ84 is probably just as good.

g. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

The story of the dust bowl refugees so strongly put you could feel the injustice and persecution. I used to prefer East of Eden as a story but having reread that I’m back to this one as his best.

h. Whit – Iain Banks

I loved all Iain Bank’s books and especially his culture series. The Wasp Factory was exceptional but Whit blew me away.

I. 1984 – George Orwell

I used to prefer Keep the Asphidistra Flying but I’ve come back to this one. It is still chilling. Our society is controlling. Big Brother really does live.

j. Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D. H. Lawrence

Women in Love, The Rainbow and Son’s and Lovers all do it for me but I think Lady Chatterly’s was the one that captured his philosophy.

k. The Tropic of Capricorn – Henry Miller

He started modern writing for me. The bohemian dream in New York and Paris. This book encapsulated it.

l. Journey Beyond Tomorrow – Robert Sheckley

Sci-Fi is one of my passions. I don’t like Fantasy but something that makes you think. Sc-Fi, when it’s good, is about the possible.

m. For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

A story of love and betrayal in the hopeless morass of the Spanish civil war. The fight against fascism undermined by intrigue. A great book.

n. 2001 A Space Odyssey – Arthur C Clarke

I could put a whole lot of Sci-Fi in here but Arthur really painted a picture here and the film, for once, captured it.

o. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess

How the imagination runs riot. A great book.

p. A Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

A horrifying story of how religious fanaticism can destroy people. I think I preferred Oryx and Crake as a story but this really told a chilling story.

q. The Book of Dave – Will Self

Will Self surpassed himself on this one. I loved the apocalyptic story.

r. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro

The way he captured the time and feel of society in Britain back in the 1930s was spectacular. The aristocracy looking to appease Hitler – brilliant.

Well that must be ten by now (and I’ve just got in my stride). I’ll have a think. There’s some I know I’ve missed out of my top ten that definitely should be there!

Another slice of favourite books

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All the greatest stories, minds and ideas are contained in books. They can transport you to anywhere in the universe. I love them.

31. Norman Mailer – The Executioner’s Song

The story of Gary Gilmore. He was a cold-blooded murderer who was executed for his crime amid much controversy. Mailer takes us through the story in huge detail. An amazing book.

32. Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird

This is a classic. She takes you right back into the southern States with its class and racism and tells the story through the eyes of the children.

33. Woody Guthrie – Bound for Glory

The autobiographical tale of Woody’s early life – and what a tale. Woody was my man of the century!

34. Patti Smith – Just kids

Patti’s autobiographical story of her early days in New York with Robert Maplethorpe, living in the Chelsea Hotel. She brings it to life.

35. Hilary Mantel – Wolf Hall

Hilary’s incredibly detailed story of the life of Thomas Cromwell under a mad theocracy and power of the King and Cardinal. Where life was cheap. It was chilling. This is what fundamentalism is like.

Another batch of my favourite books

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I’m quite enjoying sorting out these favourite reads. Reading is the life-blood of civilisation. It feeds the mind. It enriches the spirit. It helps you understand.

These books are not in any great order.

26. Richard Brautigan – In Watermelon Sugar

I could have chosen just about any of Richard’s books. He creates a light, ethereal, dream-like world with his writing. I settled on this one because I have recently reread it. It transported me with its delicate and surreal touch. It has the quality of a dream, a fairy story. He is a great writer. It was tragic that he should have reached a mental state in which he killed himself.

27. Robert Sheckley – Journey Beyond Tomorrow

This was a book that I read when I was nineteen. Both Pete and I rated it very highly. I used to read a lot of Sci-fi and I liked stories that were about human society.

28. Owen Jones – The Establishment and how they get away with it

I read this, and his other book Chavs, very recently and it had a profound affect on me. He is an excellent writer and has researched the books extremely thoroughly. I find it extremely worrying that a group of faceless people, of rich and powerful, can pull strings in the background, manipulate markets, control voting and democracry, in order to maintain their position. I believe that is what happens. A chilling read.

29. John Wyndham – The Midwich Cuckoos

An alien invasion with a twist. The implanted children with super-powers insinuated into an English town of the 1950s. A story of telepathy and control by a group of children. John Wyndham is an excellent writer with a great imagination.

30. Aldous Huxley – Island

I was quite disappointed when I reread Brave New World recently. But I have very fond memories of this utopian tale.

Reading – yet five more brilliant books

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While I’m in the mood I thought I might as well do five more. I could keep doing this for some time. But I think I’ll stop for a bit after this set.

Robert Heinlein – Stranger in a Strange Land

Robert was criticised in some quarters for his right-wing bias and his portrayal of women. While I can see where that is coming from I do not altogether agree with it and certainly not in this book. He did espouse a free loving ethos with open relationships and strong women taking the lead which upset some. He also espoused a mystical sharing of spirits based around the sharing of water which fitted in with the sixties ethos nicely. But for me he was a great story teller. This is so readable.

Margaret Atwood – Oryx and Crake

Her dystopian book, the first in a trilogy, of a society that has broken down post genetic engineering. She is such a good writer that she draws you into the story and leads you through the characters so that you feel it. Not a nice world to live in when things go wrong and the scientists and politicians mess up.

Henry Miller – Tropic of Capricorn

Henry’s semi-autobiographical story of living a bohemian life in pre-war Paris. He was a precursor to the Beats and helped develop that stream of consciousness, outsider in society and sexual liberation. Some immense writing.

Lynne Reid-Banks – The L-Shaped Room

A book that really captured the social mores of the fifties with its snobbish hypocrisy. The tale of the fate of a young girl who becomes pregnant. In the days before good available contraception this was a common occurrence and led to back-street abortionists and despair. The girls were thrown into social exclusion and often disowned, ostracised and treated disgustingly. There was a racial element thrown into the mix and it captured the mood of the times superbly. Great social realism with good characterisation and a good story.

Gunter Grass – The Tin Drum

A multi-layered tale of Germany in the thirties that has great surreal touches and grabs you from the beginning. A book to get lost in.

 

OK. I’ve got that out of my system for a little while. I’ll do something else.

Remember – we are what we read!

 

Writing – More of my favourite books.

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As my mind was ticking over I kept coming up with other masterpieces that I found impossible to put down, books of substance that enthralled me.

Jack Kerouac – On the Road

I first read this when I was seventeen and it blew me away. Everything else I’d read was written from within the context of a member of ‘society’. This was written from the viewpoint of an outsider who did not buy into the tenets on which society was established. They wanted more. It was full of a great stream of consciousness of excitement in which travel, sex, drugs and jazz were interwoven with Zen in a search for real meaning. It turned me on.

Ernest Hemingway – For Whom the Bell Tolls

Hemingway’s novel for the Spanish Civil War captured all the idealism, betrayal and cruelty of that war. It showed how the factions turned against each other, slaughtered each other and placed their ideology above any long-term good. They allowed the fascists to win through their in-fighting. The characters were so strong.

D. H. Lawrence – Women in Love

Lawrence had a vision of perfect relationships that pervaded his writing. He wanted a spiritual perfection and believed it could be found within people. The book revolves around the relationships of two couples and explores them in depth. It was absorbing and was successfully made into a great film.

Ian McEwan – Atonement

I did not enjoy the film because the book had so much more depth. It was so beautifully written and plotted and revealing at the end. The film failed to capture that for me.

Salman Rushdie – The Satanic Verses

Salman has written two exceptional books. I chose this one because it was so light, amusing and full of surreal vision. I can see why religious Muslims might take objection but they have to keep this in proportion – it is a book – a novel – a work of art. I do not accept this sacred right of Mohamed not to be criticised or sent up. There is no blasphemy. If they don’t like it don’t read it. This was well written and a great rollicking tale well told. I loved it.

I’m finding it quite fun doing this. There are so many more books that I love. I’ll maybe do some more.