All entries for Friday 16 September 2005

Don't Leave Home Without…

Books not to leave home without. Fantastic books. Books that Everyone should read. Books that I love and will take places with me, just so I have them at hand to dip into.

Dracula By Bram Stoker

A book that my English teacher in 6th form persuaded me to read when I should have been reading Evelyn Waugh. Part letters, part diary, part newspaper articles, part phonograph transcript… I think if Stoker had been around today, Dracula would come with a CDRom.

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Coming of age, feminist, murder story, about a girl's relationship with her mother, and all the women/parent figures in her life. A book that was originally given to me by the mother of an ex boyfriend of mine, oddly enough.

101 Poems that might save your life and Poems to help you understand men and women ed. Daisy Goodwin

Emergency poetry aid.

The Scarlet Pimpernell by Baroness Orczy

The most beautiful love story ever written. A real swashbuckling adventure told mainly from a woman's perspective. Fantastic. Beautiful. Gorgeous.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee

I actually went to see this play when I was in New York. And what a sick and twisted little piece this is. But it's also really funny. Hugely black comedy about two couples' marriages which have become their own little living hell. Mmmm.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Who knew the end of the world could be soooo funny?

To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

This book is just so well written – there is not a word wasted anywhere, and as well as tackling serious issues in a totaly non-preachy way.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

Hamlet, but with jokes. Funny jokes. And two characters who can't quite decide who they are, what they're doing and why they're anywhere at all.
Warning: may cause existential angst.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Fate, Religion, Vietnam, America in the 60s-70s. Unputdownable. Joe – read it.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Because you have to have something pretentious looking on your shelf, and lying down it makes a good book-end. Also, it's Shakespeare.

: 16 Sep 2005 12:13 |  Tags: Misc Rants And Reviews |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem