Monday, March 26, 2007

List of top ten books

This is a request from Kailana and seems like fun, so here goes (in no particular order) :


1. Lord of the Rings (all 3 books, cheeky I know) - JRR Tolkein

Well it is a classic, and there is so much depth to it - you can never really get to grips with the scope of the world he has created.

2. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Social realism - this guy was so far ahead of his time. I read this book and then I see what he has written about around me every day.

3. Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder

An absolutely incredible book - sets your brain thinking and is a brilliant introduction to philosophy.

4. Inferno - Dante (in the original Italian)

Not everyone's cup of earl Grey, but definitely mine. A great read and absolutely fascinating story - there is so much to it. The best translation I have found is by Mandelbaum and it is available here online with the original Italian!

5. L'herbe rouge - Boris Vian (in French)

One of the weirdest books I have ever read. Every paragraph challenges you and makes you stop and think about what he has written. Totally surreal, but engrossing.

6. Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco

A great story told by an incredible writer. There is so much detail about the library and the buildings that you get engrossed in it, and the main story seems secondary.

7. The life of Pi - Yann Martel

What a great book with a great twist - keeps you fooled until the very end. Very clever story teller.

8. River Boy - Tim Bowler

A very under rated modern writer. This is the tale of an impending death in the family and how a teenager deals with it - exceptionally well written.

9. InkHeart - Cornelia Funke

A book about books. The book within the book style is very clever and the characters are very vividly portrayed, I can't wait to see how they do the movie.

10. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

A scary future is portrayed in this book - no books or printed material are allowed in this society!! Wonderfully written and hopefully not going to come true.

6 comments:

Kailana said...

Thanks for joining in! You have a great list. I am jealous you can read some of those books in their original languages!

lifelongreader said...

You're welcome, thanks for visiting. I haven't read in those languages for a while, but those are two of my fave books - I still have copies of them after 20+ years and travel with them, at some point when I have time I will read them again.

Stephanie said...

Hey there Life Long Reader!! Nice blog!! I love your list! I'm just getting ready to start Brave New World. Life of Pi is one of those books that I pick up and always pass on. It just doesn't look like something I would like. BUT everyone says it's wonderful. Guess I should give it a try!!

Kelly said...

River Boy sounds great!! I'm adding it to my t-b-r pile.

lifelongreader said...

Thanks for the comments, Stephanie. Life of Pi is certainly worth sticking with - it can be confusing at times, a seem a bit weird, but it all comes together in the end.

lifelongreader said...

I hope you like it, Kelly - he is a great author and some of his other books are great too. Especially Midget, which is about a disabled boy.

He does not veer away from difficult topics, and handles them very tactfully.