Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "favourite-books"

What are your top five favourite books? They can be any genre, non-fiction or otherwise etc.

So often my favourite books do depend on my mood. If I want humorous fiction, I will read that. If I want crime, I will turn to that genre.

But I think for me the five that stand out overall are:-

1. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. This book is one of the few novels to ever change my mind about a historical character, in this case Richard III.

2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein. The sheer scale of Tolkein's imagination is amazing and you won't get a better good-v-evil battle in fiction, I think. Loved the film version too.

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. This was my first introduction to the use of irony in fiction and Elizabeth Bennett has long been one of my favourite heroines.

4. Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett. It was hard to pick just one Discworld novel but I plumped for this one as, for me, it is where Sam Vimes really takes off as a character.

5. The Best of P.G. Wodehouse Am I cheating here by going for a best of collection? Maybe! But I'm not sorry. This wonderful book shows off PGW's fabulous array of characters.

So what would your choices be? Do you think they would change, say, annually, or be permanent selections?

I don't have just one favourite book. Do any of us, come to that?!

The reasons for my favourite books being so favoured vary enormously and can depend on how I'm feeling at any one time. What links the favourites is one solid fact - I couldn't part with any of them!

So I have favourite books because:-

1. They're classic childhood stories.

2. They were given to me by loved ones, now passed on.

3. They were given to me by friends and family whom I cherish.

4. They first introduced me to irony and humour in fiction. (Wodehouse Austen, Pratchett).

5. Sherlock and Poirot are just brilliant, albeit in different ways.

6. The Lord of the Rings - no need to say more!

7. Discworld - likewise!

8. The books are written by me or are anthologies with my flash fiction and short stories in them.

9. The books are written by friends!

10. Some are photo books of my dogs with apt captons for my first two collies and now Lady too.

So why are your favourites your favourites then?

Have you any stories you love so much you wish they would never end?

I remember when I first finished reading The Lord of the Rings being just stunned by the sheer scope of it and wanting to dive back into that world immediately.

On a very different front, the same applied to The Wind in the Willows!

Of course, it is good the stories end. A lot of the time it IS the ending that makes the book stand out. An incomplete story is NOT a story. A story has to have an ending.

So I guess it is the entertainment and enjoyment we have had from these favourite stories that we really wish would not end,

The good news is they don't have to - you simply pick up your favourite book and re-read it!

The good old paperback has long been my favourite book format. Easier to carry around than a hardback (and certainly less damaging if you drop it on your foot!).

That love was intensified when my own flash fiction collections came out in good old paperback! Okay, I’m biased but it is a good reason to be biased!

The first paperbacks I remember buying were the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton in the days when you could buy books from your local newsagent. Southern TV had been adapting the books and of course the publishers brought out the books in an edition to match the TV series.

I then bought my own paperback of Pride and Prejudice by the wonderful Jane Austen. Later I went on to the paperbacks of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett and the P.G. Wodehouse books (though I haven’t got all of those. Still it gives me something to aim for!).

All a joy to buy and to read and re-read (a sign of a good book is that is it one you can always re-read).

Which paperbacks are your favourites and why? Are there any you regret buying? (Sometimes you can find the answer to that one by looking at the books given to charity shops. Every so often a book is a big hit and then it just drops out of favour and ends up in said charity shops!).

Do you make a habit of re-reading books or is it something you only do occasionally?

I can sympathise with the school of thought that says life is so short, read new books, then read more new books etc.

But I must admit I do re-read. There are certain books I simply have to re-read (or in some cases re-listen to) at different times of the year.

For example, I have to take in Hogfather by Terry Pratchett in the run up to Christmas. In that case I nearly always re-watch the excellent film adaptation.

The nice thing here is, as well as enjoying old favourites again, I nearly always pick up something new from the repeat reading - a bit of wonderful characterisation that I somehow hadn’t quite picked up on before.

A great book can always stand being re-read. You should be able to get more enjoyment from it each time.

Here it is not a case of familiarity breeding contempt, more like familiarity breeding anticipation of more things to enjoy from a well-loved story.

What is there not to like about that?!

I suspect you may well have a favourite book list. I do. But do you ever change what is on it?

I do so every now and then but it is mainly to add things to it! The nice thing about favourites is nobody has the right to specify you can only have so many. Even if they did, I’d ignore them!

What is nice is trying to keep a balance on my list of funny books, crime books, fiction, and non-fiction, and it is always a joy to discover a new favourite. Doesn’t mean you cherish the old favourites any the less either.

What is nice is having favourites to pick in the first place.

Of course if you read ebooks as well, you could have two favourite book lists - one for the Kindle as well as your print versions!