Even so I don't think I can drop down to only 5 top books. Obviously my likes have changed over time. There are so many books that I have not re-read in so long. I'm over 120 books read so far this year. I'm 32 (and a half) and I've been reading assiduously since I was 12 or 13. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence SterneĪ Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys ![]() I even have to admit that Enid Blyton and Captain W. For example, I was greatly moved as a teenager by the three 'Cathedral' novels of Elizabeth Goudge, particularly The Dean's Watch. ![]() While I've been wowed by 'great' literary classics as much as the next man, it isn't always the giants who've meant most to me at different times over the years. ![]() Many works of fiction have thrilled me at various stages of my life, but if I were to wait ten minutes and try again, another five books would readily come to mind. Like almost everyone here, to choose five only is impossible. What a task! But an intriguing exercise nonetheless. Now, the hardest of them all - to choose only five post-medieval poets to read. Here too it was very hard to leave out some other much admired writers such as Macaulay, but I can only choose five titles (albeit close to about 30 individual volumes as each one of these works contains three to seven volumes). It was difficult to choose between Gay's Bourgeois Experience and his equally magnificent The Enlightenment: An Interpretation but as the former is a longer work, and this means more to read of one of my favourite historians, I'd go with this choice. History of French Passions by Theodore Zeldin The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud by Peter Gay The Mediterranean in the Age of Philip II or Civilization and Capitalism by Fernand Braudel If I could be allowed, as well, to list five Classical authors/collections I'd like to read as often before I die (though I'll need more than 2-3 weeks for this), I'd go with:Īll the Greek Tragedies and Comedies (but if forced to choose, then Sophocles be it)ĮTA: Since I am on a go, why not list my five favourite large-scale History works as well?ĭecline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbonįrance and England in North America by Francis Parkman It grieves me that there is no Flaubert, Stendhal, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov or Virginia Woolf in here - to say nothing about a host of more recent novelists - but it has to be five, and I would be happy dying knowing that I can read these five beloved works again. The Eye of the Storm or The Vivisector by Patrick White Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence SterneĬollected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges (Of course not a novel, but in a way all of Borges forms one large text). This leaves out all poetry, drama and non-fiction, as well as most literature before about the 18th century. So I opted to choose only the five novels (my favourite genre in any case) I would want to reread if I know I am to die in two to three weeks. In order to prevent going completely insane and never falling asleep, I decided to cheat and impose some of my own rules. When I couldn't sleep last night, I played around with this question in my head. 41 Wonderful collection, Caroline! I would choose most of this too.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |