If there as one book you'd want others to read what is it ?

[sandybay]

Has there been one book of fiction in your life that you would want others to read to appreciate as much as you ?

There's a programme on Radio 4 with Sue MacGregor.
Every week she has two guests on and they each choose a book for the others to read. Of course being forced to read another's choice sometimes works and other times doesn't. But it is fascinating to hear the discussions.

What would your book be ? Still thinking about mine as have quite a few.

[Rosa]

One of my favourites is The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. A compellingly written retelling of the Arthurian legends.

[Clunkshift]

One that I would choose would be "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Like Orwell's Animal Farm, it is a short book but so profound. I remember reaching the last page and realising that all that I had read was just one day and the folowing day would be the same, and the next ad infintum; I was quite shocked by the reality of the Gulags

[sandybay]

Ashamed to say Clunk I avoided reading "One day on the life.." when young because I wanted to believe the soviet system had something to offer. Was a bit of a Lenin/Trotsky fan.
I've read Primo Levi's books about the holocaust and found what was so moving in them was that he refused to allow himself to fall to the depraved behaviour of his oppressors. To do so, he felt, would be to lose his humanity.

Rosa love all Arthurian books. Will order both from library tomorrow. We have great libraries here in Wales. The Welsh seem to value learning and arts in a way that England has lost.

My own choice would be Gabriel Garica Marquez's 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'.
I cannot begin to explain it other than to say it is remarkable. Poetic writing, extraordinary characters and a tale told using magical realism. Ghosts talk, animals have powers. Yet it is an adult book about the lives of people forced to abandon their homes in one of the many 'dirty wars' by the dicatators and armies against the common people in South America.

When I read it and remember it I feel straight there, the heat, the characters live.
What is so odd is that he wrote it smoking endless cigarettes and listening non stop to the Beatles, closeted up with little money. There's inspiration for Oola.

Oddest of all though is that I've never finished the book. I am afraid to.
I feel if I finish it I will lose it.

[Sarahc]

This is such a hard question to answer. Loved the Avalon books, I also have an unfinished copy of One hundred years of solitude! Tolkien is still my favourite but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you don't like the genre. Have been thoroughly moved by Sebastian Faulks Birdsong, which surprised me as I didn't think I liked war stories. On a similar subject am currently enrthralled by The Book Thief. Jung Chans Wild Swans also left an immovable impression. I am sure there are many others that I would recommend, i would probably recommend different books for different people.

[sandybay]

Birdsong was brilliant wasn't it. Started like Madame Bovary and ended in hell.
Like you not a great war book fan but the depiction of the underground tunnels was compelling.

I realised it was a bit of a daft question I'd posed. Too many books, too many people, so little time !

[Shelli]

My own choice would be Gabriel Garica Marquez's 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'.
I cannot begin to explain it other than to say it is remarkable. Poetic writing, extraordinary characters and a tale told using magical realism. Ghosts talk, animals have powers. Yet it is an adult book about the lives of people forced to abandon their homes in one of the many 'dirty wars' by the dicatators and armies against the common people in South America.

When I read it and remember it I feel straight there, the heat, the characters live.
What is so odd is that he wrote it smoking endless cigarettes and listening non stop to the Beatles, closeted up with little money. There's inspiration for Oola.

Oddest of all though is that I've never finished the book. I am afraid to.
I feel if I finish it I will lose it.

Oh My God - Sandy - I could have written that post - 100 % agree - both on the book and the feelings about it and I too have never been able to finish it.

"love in the time of Cholera" is my other favourite - am a big Magic Realism fan - this is the style in which I would love to write fiction - also a big Isabella Allende fan and would recommend everyone in the world to read "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel as an introduction to Magic Realism

Shelli XX

[sandybay]

Really glad you're a fan Shelli, can pick up your enthusiasm and energy from your post.

Thanks for the Laura Esquivel tip. Loved Isabel Allende's 'House of the Spirits' and have read other Marquez's [not sure where the apostrophe goes there]. Love in the time of Cholera also a favourite. Have not seen the film as don't want disapointment.

Also recommend Louis De Bernieres trilogy 'The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts' etc.
As you know Hundred Years of Solitude you will spot the homage to Marquez. But he pulls it off.

Happy reading. It's good to meet some people who really love books.
Lovely to have you on board.

[TIGGYWINKLE]

One that really springs to mind is Wild Swans by Jung Chang. I found it tedious at the beginning, but realized how ignorant I was about the regime in China, and found it so interesting, sad, informative and really enjoyed it. It tells the real life saga of the women in a chinese family over three generations stating in 1909 up to the present day. I must think of a few more, and post them.

[buecherwurm]

Hi Tiggywinkle, if you like Wild Swans you might also like Bound Feet and Western Dress by Pang-Mei Natasha Chang or The Binding Chair by Kathryn Harrison or Red Azalea by Anchee Min

[souter girl]

It is often just the last book I have read e.g. The Book Thief, and then I read another and rave about that!

[jazzactivist]

I like Latin American novels eg Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isobel Allende too. One that I can recommend is a fictionalised real story called In The Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. It is the story of three middle-class sisters living in a rural area of the Dominican Republic in the 1930s who became actively involved in the protest movement against the dictator Trujillo. It is a really gripping story and it seems incredible that they were able to do what they did given their circumstances. You can go and visit their house in the DR, which is now a museum, and one of the most stunning things about it is how modern it seems, even now, with a big, pink fridge! I am also really fond of novels by the Cuban writer Christina Garcia. However, my all time favourite is Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved", which is both a shocking and inspiring tale of a woman's slavery and freedom. I would recommend it to anyone.

The book that in have just finshed reading is Home by Julie Myerson. She traces the social history of her own house which is just an ordinary terrace in Clapham, and interweaves what she finds out about all of the past owners and tenants with fictionalised dialogue which brings their characters to life. I really enjoyed it, even though I didn't expect to.

[closetotheriver]

If nobody speaks of remarkable things by Jon Mcgregor

- the story of one day in an ordinary street in a northern city

'If you listen, you can hear it.
The city, it sings.
If you stand quietly, at the foot of the garden, in the middle of a street, on the roof of a house.
It's clearest at night, when the sound cuts more sharply across the surface of things, when the song reaches out to a place inside you.
It's a wordless song, for the most, but it's a song all the same, and nobody hearing it could doubt that it sings.
And the song sings the loudest when you pick out each note'

I bought it as the third book in a three for the price of two offer and was totally blown away. I usually pass paperback books onto the charity shop when I finished but this is one that I've kept on my bookshelf.

[Oola]

I remember getting halfway through Red Azalea buecherwurm, it was an eye opener. I can't remember why I didn't get around to finishing it, and I've looked around for the book but sadly can't find it anywhere.

[buecherwurm]

I remember stopping about half way through the book as well, Oola, but I can't remember why. Maybe because I didn't like how it is written? Or was I just not in the right frame of mind? Well, I don't know. When I picked it up again I finished it and I must say, I'm glad I did.

[Gentian]

I would like to recommend two books if I may.
"The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" both by Khaled Hosseine, although they are novels they are based on real conditions and l was amazed at the intolerence to different sects, classes and women.

[TIGGYWINKLE]

Oops Buecherworm, forgot to thank you for the list of books. I have read several in that vein, and they are certainly an eye opener. Have also read several about Japan. On to lighter things for my holidays. TIGGYWINKLE

[Shelli]

Oops Buecherworm, forgot to thank you for the list of books. I have read several in that vein, and they are certainly an eye opener. Have also read several about Japan. On to lighter things for my holidays. TIGGYWINKLE

Just read "The Uncommon Reader" by Alan Bennett on my hols - witty/funny - HM the queen gets the reading bug - small enough book to not be a nuisance in handbag - which is useful on hols

Shelli X

[Rustic Pumpkin]

Oh, how I hate having to say just one thing! I get so much out of reading that I think I would have to recommend Just Do It, pick up a book and start reading!

I guess if you are going to twist my arm I would have to say The Lord of The Rings trilogy (which is actually six books and an Appendices, to be pedantic). I guess I am a huge fan of the ancient, sagas and so on, and this is, to my mind, albeit written in the 20th century, how a British saga, had such a thing existed, would read.

[Clunkshift]

RP,

While I really enjoyed hobbits and rings (to be quite vague) I honestly regret that I went on to plough through the Silmarilion (probably miss-spelt). It has put me off reading any fantasy books since, except for Pratchett discworld novels.
I agree with you that the Lord of the Rings is a good read, only a real genre fan should attempt the Silmarilion.

[Rustic Pumpkin]

RP,

While I really enjoyed hobbits and rings (to be quite vague) I honestly regret that I went on to plough through the Silmarilion (probably miss-spelt). It has put me off reading any fantasy books since, except for Pratchett discworld novels.
I agree with you that the Lord of the Rings is a good read, only a real genre fan should attempt the Silmarilion.

I have attempted the Silmarillion on more than one occassion and never progressed beyoned around 50 pages! It is way beyond me, and I have studied Icelandic Sagas which are not dissimilar. I think in order to get the most out of LOTR and Silmarillion you have to treat them as something other than fantasy for, to me, they border on the saga level. If you have read any Norse mythologies, sagas or the Edda, or the Mabinogi you will understand where I am coming from on this.

I am thankful that I read the Hobbit first, for after I read LOTR (30 years ago for the first time) I found I could not return comfortably to the more simple style of the Hobbit.

One day, I have promised myself, I will tackle it again, but with a notepad by my side to sort out the different elves etc!

[Treehugger]

I would have to recommend 'Forever Amber'. It's billed as the original bodice ripper!

[franbee]

Hmm, I have both volumes here, passed on from my Mum!

[Gentian]

I remember reading mum's copy of Forever Amber in secret!

[souter girl]

Depending on your age, Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman by Ellizabeth Buchan is quite upllifting!

[Crocus]

I'm reading quite an interesting book at the moment, kind of readable non-fiction. It's a book by Alex Dingwell-Main, namely "The Luberon Garden". The inscription on the front says:

""The Luberon Garden" is an entertaining, evocatively written, horticultural treasure trail.
As he weaves anecdotes of the rural Provencal communities, as aspirational new-comers, of truffle-hunting and chysanthemum festivals into the story of his attempts to encourage a heart-breakingly neglected wilderness back to life, Alex Dingwall-Main has created a modern classic in gadening literature".

I really enjoy this book, the way it's written, is thoughts, everything. I think especially gardeners will enjoy it as well. This book surely causes some giggles too, simply because of Alex's way of describing everything around him, all the happenings, the move to France etc. etc. What I love the most is that the book is facts, written in story manner, which makes it a quite enjoyable book.

[eleanor2]

i am reading about 3 books at the moment all very good.easy to please.i do like wilbur smith books for adventure

[dragonfly]

That sounds really interesting crocus, and Forever Amber sounds like it could spice up my life, which is what I need at present!

[Crocus]

I think you may enjoy "The Luberon Garden" Eleanor as it's about gardening and France thrown into one. I really enjoy it. xx