top 10 books of all time
My blog buddy Ark and I have a deal that he’s wanting to forget. I write a post about my top 10 books, and he writes a post around the subject of ‘taking sex seriously’. I’ve upheld my end of the bargain (not strictly a bargain, but I’m using the persuasive tools at my disposal) and now await his fine work on sex, which will undoubtedly reveal his embarrassingly Victorian attitudes towards women.
Here are my top 10 books. I have a mind like a sieve and have forgotten what most of them are about, but have given my lingering impression and reason for love. I think it’s important to classify them by age, because I’ve discovered that ‘amazing’ books don’t actually last forever.
5 to 10 years old
1. Enid Blyton – The Folk from the Faraway Tree. This is the book I most remember loving from my early childhood. A bunch of kids found a tree with magic people living all the way up it and insane lands at the top that changed every day. Trees and magic lands – life doesn’t get more exciting than this!
10 to 15 years old
2. Elyne Michell – The Silver Brumby. I was obsessed with this series about wild white horses in Australia. Don’t remember anything about them except a feeling of delight.
15 to 20 years old
3. David Eddings – Pawn of Prophecy. This was the start of delving deeply into fantasy epics, which was either a symptom or the cause of a desire to escape reality and go somewhere much more interesting. I obsessively read these books many times and felt lost and depressed when they ended and my real life surrounded me once more. Usual fantasy romp with young guy destined for great things on a journey with a wizard, finding true love with a princess and defeating evil.
20 to 25 years old
4. Louis de Bernières – The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman. I cited this as my favourite book for years, but when I came across it several years ago and started reading it, I was kind of disappointed. It’s from a series set in a fictional Latin American country with jaguars roaming the streets.
25 to 30 years old
5. Tom Robbins – Skinny Legs and All. This was my favourite author for quite a few years. A few of his books were utter genius and some were rubbish but worth reading for the few inspirationally hilarious and amazing lines when they turned up. Surreal and sarcastic with deep intuition are the lasting impressions. I can’t remember anything about this book, but I know I loved it!
30 to 35 years old
6. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry. Another book I can’t remember, this one set in India. I was deeply touched by the book and felt it changed me somehow.
7. AL Kennedy – Paradise. I randomly picked this up in a charity shop for next to nothing and was blown away by it. I think it’s one of the most absorbing books I’ve ever read. It’s about an alcoholic. It’s depressing and impressively awful to feel like you’re there.
8. David Mitchell – Cloud Atlas. This is my current favourite book of all time. I thankfully read it soon after it was published, knew nothing about it, and didn’t have it spoiled for me by the notion of a Tom Hanks film. The way the epic story moves, the different voices, the imagination, the whole thing is awe-inspiring perfection.
35 to 40 years old
9. Charlotte Bronte – Jayne Eyre. I was never much into fuddy duddy classics with pretty dresses and girls getting married, and this was what I had always assumed Jayne Eyre would be. I should have known to expect more from a Bronte.
10. George Orwell – Down and Out in Paris and London. Definitely my favourite author ever, I missed Orwell till late on in life because he was a school set text I’d managed to avoid, and tainted as dull reading in my head. I was really surprised how great 1984 was when I read it in my late 20s but it wasn’t until I came across an Orwell box set of odd-looking books that I realised what a total genius he was. Everything he writes is beautifully effortless, impeccably insightful and wonderfully fascinating. Love, love, love.
Why do i have this feeling you’ve posted this before?
Now, to the matter at hand… i’m appalled. Where on earth is Alice?
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You think I’ve posted something like this before, seriously? Definitely not. Or am I missing an obvious pre-coffee joke? Is that Alice in Wonderland? I’m not sure I’ve read it, but I never really liked the story at all.
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My mind says i’ve seen it before, but my mind works in peculiar ways.
Yes, Alice, you heathen…. How can you say you don’t like it if you’ve never read it!? It’s pure genius.
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I associate it with kind of nightmare images and unpleasant things. I may have read it, I can’t usually remember what I’ve read …
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You are an incomplete human being without Alice on your shoulder. Rectify this divergence immediately. Do know, though, that the first edition began with Alice eating a mushroom then becoming sleepy. Later editions changed it to Alice eating a cookie…. Puritan slackers.
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And anyway, the matter in hand is, let’s start harassing Ark to uphold his end of the bargain. 🙂
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You want soft porn form Ark? You do know he’s British, right? 😉
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Yikes! Do you think it could be that bad? He made such awful comments on my ‘taking sex seriously’ post that I challenged him to write his take on it all. He agreed. So he HAS to do it. That’s blogging law, right?
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Well, if he does i’m going to be wearing a raincoat when i read it…. and perhaps have a liter of heavy duty bleach on the ready…
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Haha!!!
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I missed Cloud Atlas despite the obvious incentive for me to see it, and will take your recommendation. My “What? Why ever not?” is Jane Austen: a letter of Mr Collins, claiming to feel the socially expected emotions while showing in his words that his feelings are entirely different, is a wonderful satire. I have no Favourite Book of All Time; I have recently read “The Left Hand of Darkness” which brought me back to Ursula LeGuin, always worth reading. My wholehearted recommendation is telly: The Killing, the Danish version, all three series. There is some rich comedy as well as a wonderful complex central character, whose portrayal is heartrending at the end. There is a little too much creeping about in dark places where the baddy might be, and that is my only minor criticism.
And- I look forward to the Ark-porn.
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Thanks Clare, I love book recommendations and I definitely have to remember about ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ because that’s come up a lot, but never sticks in my mind. I remember reading the Earthsea series as a teenager, but I think I didn’t understand it much. I really want to see The Killing, everyone says it’s excellent. We’re back in the UK soon, so maybe I’ll find a rerun. And, yes, the Ark post will be most entertaining, I have no doubt (unless he cops out and writes one line of nonsense).
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Hi, Violetwisp. You have just made my day! I have always considered Orwell to be my favourite-uncle-that-I-never-met. What an honest, decent man he was! Have you read his account of the Spanish civil war? Homage to Catalonia? Down and out in Paris and London is also a personal favourite, as is 1984 … especially ‘Newspeak’ and ‘Doublethink’.
Thank you so much for posting this!
PS: there’s bonus points for mentioning Cloud Atlas and A fine balance. Or if there isn’t, there should be. 🙂
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Thanks for your comment! I’m delighted we have so many great books in common, serious. I’ve never met anyone else who’s read A Fine Balance, which makes me think it must be seriously underrated in the world generally. That’s the perfect description of Orwell. If someone told me he was a deity incarnate, I would be inclined to think there might some truth in it. Either that or he was a thoroughly decent bloke with a gift for writing and a time machine. You know, I can’t remember if I got to Homage for Catalonia – I’m getting confused with Laurie Lee As I walked out one midsummer morning, so I expect not. I’ll definitely dig that box set out and check. What other books would you recommend? Or would you consider a top 10 novels post?
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That is not a bad idea! I’ll keep that in mind. 🙂
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Never read any of them. Sorry 😦
Though I’m sure there’s is a copy of Jane Eyre somewhere among my books.
Ready 1984 and Animal Farm at school.
Have those as well, but have never felt inclined to read them again.
Tried Eddings once..a long time ago. Can’t remember what it was but I am guessing it didn’t make much impression. This type of fantasy I prefer Donaldson or Raymond Faust. ( read one of his books. The Wizard.
Shrugs..not much help I’m afraid..
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Raymond Feist (not Faust?) was my second favourite fantasy author at that age, and I enjoyed Donaldson too. More recently I did like the Northern Lights trilogy too. Have you read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell? That almost made it on to my list.
Putting classics on school reading lists ruins them for everyone. I’m so glad I didn’t get 1984 or Animal Farm at school, they would have been totally wasted on me. Read the Paris and London one I suggested, it’s amazing and totally fascinating – and won’t remind you of the ones you read in school. Or the Catalonia one that Lively suggests.
Oh, and read Cloud Atlas. I guarantee you will have your socks blown off! Honestly, I’m confident it would be your all time favourite too.
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I shall do the checking out thing the next time I am out and about..
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No way! I loved Eddings and Feist, too. And the Earthsea trilogy as a younger reader. Fun memories!
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I was thinking of trying to read them again to see if they’re even bearable. I was totally addicted, even when they moved on to endless repetitions of the same stories in different lands. I used to try and bleach the front section of my (ginger!) hair to try and be like Polgara .. how’s that for embarrassing??
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I love it. Just that one section! That’s a great story. Polgara was one of my favorites.
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What species of spider is that, Violet, do you know? Nice shot.
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No idea. It was tiny and very weird. I couldn’t get my camera to crispy focus on it but the shape in this shot is pleasing.
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While we’re having a ‘nice’ chat and I before I let loose on the post you really should delete, when you were tidying up your widgets, you lost your ‘recent posts’. Drag it back in, right at the top, and make sure it displays at least 10, because you’re a bit of a prolific poster and it’s easy to lose track.
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Will check the recent post Widget just now.
I was planning on deleting at least one of those posts , but they seem to have attracted quite a bit of interest and lots of likes. Don’t go saying I am shallow, all right? 😉
Okay ….away you go you naughty thing…rip it to shreds.
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I like Orwell’s animal farm especially towards the end when the animals look at the pigs and man and see no difference. We did it as a set book in high school using a Swahili translation and the lines are just beautiful.
1984 was a good read.
I probably can’t remember the titles of the books I read when I was between 5- 10.
Currently the book that stands on top of my list is Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
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Thanks, I love to hear what other people regard at top books. I struggled to read that a long time ago, it might even have been the first book I gave up on. I think it was 15 years ago though, so maybe it’s time to give it another shot.
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Good idea, Violet. You must write a post on “Top Ten” films as well.
Some of my favorite books: Journey to the End of the Night (Celine); Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky); The Idiot (Dostoevsky); Hunger (Hamsun); The Trial (Kafka); The Castle (Kafka); Steppenwolf (Hesse). Some people find these books repellent, but I know what I like.
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Yikes. I don’t know all of these but a quick google tells me they’re pretty much the type of book I start and give up on. They’re all pretty grim, aren’t they?
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You can try Sydney Sheldon too to know the humans’ unconscious passions of greed lust and insane cravings of power with gripping unfolding of events.
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Thanks for the recommendation, I haven’t read Sydney Sheldon before but I did love I Dream of Jeannie when I was younger.
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Wow, the only one I’ve read out of these is Jane Eyre… thanks for the great list!
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Cool! I hope you find something new you enjoy. I can’t recommend Cloud Atlas enough (especially if you haven’t seen the film, which undoubtedly would ruin it).
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