[ebooktalk] Re: BOOKS OF MY LIFE
- From: "Trish Talbot" <trish@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 21:03:15 +0100
Having read Ian's five favourite books, thought I'd have a go at choosing my
own list. I have to say it was almost as bad as trying to choose my "Desert
Island discs" (I've never yet managed to decide what my favourite 8 tracks
would be). Like Ian's list, mine might be very different in six months, but
these are my thoughts today, and although they are numbered, the numbering
doesn't indicate preference:
1. George Eliot, "Middlemarch". We read this book for A level, and I have
read it since, as well as watching TV versions and hearing it on radio. Each
time, it says something new to me. I think Eliot was well ahead of her time,
her views are very feminist for the Victorian era. All the characters are
superbly drawn, and I particularly enjoy the contrasting characters of Dorothea
and Rosamund - both strong women, but with very different ideas about life.
2. Richard Addams, "Watership Down". Often misjudged as a children's book,
just because its characters are rabbits, it is, in fact, a book about a team of
creatures, all very different in character, but using their skills and talents
to achieve their aim. It has its sadness as well as its happier moments, and
the story keeps moving. This was the first book I ever (to use Ian's word)
chain read, which has to make it a special book for me.
3. Andrea Levy, "Small Island". I read this a couple of years ago, and
couldn't put it down! There is so much misunderstanding from people who think
they understand, so many conflicting views, but the author manages to convey
the fact that not every white British person is hostile to the new West Indian
imigrants. I'm glad I read it as an audio book, though, it definitely gained
something from being read by readers who could make sense of the Jamaican
dialect.
4. Margaret Attwood, "The Handmaid's Tale". A disturbing, but
thought-provoking book, which, once I read it, stayed with me.
5. J K Rowling, "Harry Potter And The Gobblet Of Fire." (There had to be
one.) I loved the whole series, with reservations about the last one, but this
one was, to my mind, the best. It has everything - characters who are, by this
stage, well developped, humour, suspense, and a brilliant story. I suppose the
series being set in a boarding school appeals to me as well, knowing how it
feels when you're away from home and have to think for yourself and/or include
our friends.
I struggled to limit the choice to five, as I narrowed it down to six and
couldn't decide which to leave out. Cheating, I will sneak in the fact that I
wanted to include:
Winifred Holtby, "South Riding", the stroy of life in a Yorkshire town prior to
the creation of the Welfare state. I love this book, and I think it can tell
us a lot about where Britain seems to be heading.
Anyone else up for "Desert Island Books"?
Trish.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ian Macrae
To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 10:50 PM
Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: BVOOKS OF MY LIFE
I'm sure some of you will think this very predictable and disappointing, and,
of course, if I was asked to draw up the same list in six months time, I'd come
up with something a little different. But here we go and I'll fill in some of
the background and detail for my choices.
1. The Lord Of The rings: J R R Tolkien - like many of my generation I
discovered Tolkien in my teens during the 60s. There are other books I read
back then such as For Whom The Bell Tolls, Catcher In The Rye and Catch 22
which simply no longer work for me. But I re-read LOTR at least once a year.
I appreciate all that's wrong with it - the master servant relationship, the
slightly old fashioned values, the literal denegration of black, but it remains
a story which never fails to chime with me.
2. F Scott Fitzgerald: the Great Gatsby: the first book I ever chain read.
that's to say, like a cigarette, as soon as I'd finished it, I started again.
The sense of suffocation and frustration coupled with the mystery (or not)
surrounding Gatsby himself combine to make this possibly the most perfect novel
ever written.
3. A self compiled anthology of 20th century poetry: this would include the
Georgians, WW1 poets, eliot, the protest poetry of the 30s, poems from WW2,
philip Larkin, on through the beats and Liverpool scenes and up to ~John
cooper-clark and beyond.
4. John le Care: tinker Taylor Soldier Spy: Having gone through
institutions all my life, I find his evocation of the inner workings of the
intelligence service utterly convincing, although it may well be total hooey.
Smiley is a central character without compare and le Care's style is perfectly
suited to the subject and genre.
5. Alan Clark: Diaries 1983-91: No-one takes you quite inside politics like
Clark. I hate him as a politician and despise him in many respects of his
life, but no-one takes you inside politics, and particularly Tory politics like
he does.
On 26 Jun 2013, at 22:17, Shell wrote:
You can't expect us to wait for that one Ian. Please tell us straight away!
Shell.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Ian Macrae" <ian.macrae1@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 9:15 PM
To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [ebooktalk] BVOOKS OF MY LIFE
> Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to RNIB talking book studios in Camden north
London to record my Books Of My Life feature for the October issue of Read On.
Five favourites from all these years of reading. Would people like to know
what they are or would you rather wait till the mag comes out?
>
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