Saturday 5 March 2011

My favourite books of all time. What are your favourites?

Since my blog is just one week old and I’ve been reading for over 30 years, I’ve compiled a list of my all time favourite books. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few but they’ll probably come up in future blogs. I hope you’ll find something interesting here:

Books that made me smile when I was single
Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes
Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes
The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank
About A Boy by Nick Hornby
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

Adapted for film
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Little Children by Tom Perrotta
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Barney’s Version by Mordecai Richler
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer            

Heartbreaking
About Alice by Calvin Trillin (and a true story)
Left Neglected by Lisa Genova

Memoirs and biography
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs
Lucky: A Memoir by Alice Sebold
Eric Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton

Bittersweet love story
Shopgirl by Steve Martin

Funny and sad and anyone with kids will love
Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott

Fiction set in exotic locations
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marcia Marquez
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Daughter of Fortune by Isabelle Allende and Margaret Sayers Peden
The House of Spirits by Isabelle Allende
Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho
The Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquival

Historical Fiction
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Girl With a Pearl Earring Tracy Chevalier

For those who love old bookstores and reading by candle light
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Zaffon
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson

Great literary fiction
Any Human Heart by William Boyd
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
The History of Love by Nicole Strauss
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures by Dr. Vincent Lam
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Away by Amy Bloom
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
Room by Emma Donoghue
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Cool book I read when I was living in Seoul (it is about the author’s time in Korea)
Finding Mr. Kim by Jennifer Barclay

So scary you’ll sleep with the lights on
Bed of Nails by Michael Slade
The Sculptor by Gregory Funaro
Secret Smile by Nicci French
The Red Room by Nicci French
See Jane Run by Joy Fielding
Don’t Cry by Beverly Barton

True Crime
Ann Rule rocks. I read all of her books this past summer. I’ll eventually write a post on my top picks.

Mystery
I’ve read so many. I’ll just name a few of my favourite writers in this category.
Lisa Jackson
Lisa Gardner
James Patterson (my father is also a big fan)


4 comments:

  1. I love memoires & biographies!
    The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls & Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs are two of my FAVES!!!
    Another good one to add to that list is Scar Tissue by Anthony Keidis (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers). Such an interesting read. I loved it.

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  2. That's so funny! Someone just mentioned Scar Tissue last night! Thanks for sharing! I will add it to the list.
    The Eric Clapton one was amazing....

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  3. Les it's me again I forgot 2 amazing books I read a long time ago that are a must read at some point in life.

    a) Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
    b) The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino

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  4. Hi Linda,
    That's great! Thanks for sharing!!!

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