Books I think Are Great

Hello!

So an update on the Vocabulary challenge... it has morphed. I'm still reading, I'm still compiling my lil word of the day poem... but I've given up on vocabulary.com. Mostly because it's actually a really bad website with a lot of errors and I didn't think it was doing much good. A shame, but there you go.

So mostly this challenge is now just reading every day, which isn't too challenging as I love reading! But it's good to force myself to do it. I am now on my third book in one month, which is about as many books as I think I've read in the last year, so there you go. It's amazing what you can do with a little bit of effort.

I thought I'd do a blog post today about some of my favorite books. I would like to number them in some kind of order, but it's too damn hard! So here, in no particular order, are five books that have struck with me and I think everyone should read.

Peter Pan

I love all things Peter Pan. I love the play, the ballet, the Disney cartoon. My favorite film of all time is 'Hook'. And all of that came from a beautiful children's book with a great background to it. (Watch Finding Neverland for that - it's also great like everything else Peter Pan related.) I've read it a few times, and it is just gorgeous. It's like someone took the perfect untainted imagination of a child, bottled it, mixed it with ink and then poured it onto paper. Children's books from this era are so much more eloquent than what we usually get today, and a delight to read!

Beloved

This is actually one I have just read this month! Maybe it's a bit soon to add it to my top five, but I really think it might be one of the best written books I've ever read. It centers around an escaped slave in America and her broken family. It's a heartbreaking, touching and haunting story, but what's really wonderful about it is how Toni Morrison weaves it. She is so clever with how she writes, knowing exactly how to captivate your attention and keep you wanting more. She captures thought brilliantly, and you really feel like you get under the skin of her characters. There's something quite challenging about it, in a good way. It is a pleasure to read because it makes you work a little. And her use of description is utterly utterly beautiful. I was blown away.

The ENTIRE Harry Potter Series

I know this is cheating a bit, it's seven books, but the whole series has had a huge impact on my life. I genuinely feel so lucky to have been a child in the time when this was written. The memories I have of getting the books on a Saturday morning, and the house being completely silent while my sister and I poured ourselves into them, will stay with me forever. For the last one we even queued up at waterstones in fancy dress at midnight. So many people!! I don't know if we'll ever see a fuss like that over a children's book again. It was so great to be a part of.

And these books were so important to us. I have never cared about any character as much as I did about Harry, Ron and Hermione. I was so invested in this story, and still am. I have read them all at least twice and I daresay I shall read them all again. AND watch all of the films repeatedly. And I really believe it's not just nostalgia (though that plays a large part) I think J.K.Rowling came up with a wonderful story that has great lessons in it, and she created a truly magical world. The work that went into all that detail is incredible, and has influenced an entire generation's imagination. She has defined what 'magic' means to so many, and I think she did a bloody good job too. I'm still waiting for my Hogwarts letter.

Northern Lights

Peter Pan... Harry Potter... bit of a theme for fantasy here. And I personally think that His Dark Materials is perfection as far as fantasy goes. I do have a particular fondness for Northern Lights over the others, I'm not even sure why. It's the one I always want to read again! Phillip Pullman establishes in it the most incredible fantasy world, and you feel when you read it that your own imagination is a part of it's creation (which is why I KNEW the film was going to be awful - some things are meant to just be on the page)

When I read it as a child I was engrossed in the beautiful storytelling, and as an adult I appreciated it's ideas and values. It also has one of the most kick ass heroines in all of literature, and I was genuinely sad when I finished the series that I would be leaving Lyra behind. She is all I wanted to be. Truly, I think this is the one book I would recommend to every single person on the planet. It's just.... I can't even... just read it.

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest

THIS BOOK! It's been years now since I read it and as I began to type I realized how much I need to read it again. It's brilliant. It tells the story of the charismatic Randle Patrick McMurphy, who faked insanity so that he could serve his sentence in hospital and not prison. He's a fantastic character who stirs up a bit of a revolution amongst the oppressed patients he now resides with. But the truly excellent part of the book is the narration - you watch the rise and fall of our hero through the eyes of the strong, silent, gentle giant Chief. And through his eyes you fall a little bit in love with every patient, and your heart breaks for all of them. It is an amazing celebration of the beauty of the human mind, and it makes you FEEL THINGS INSIDE!!! And the film is brilliant too - Jack Nicholson at his finest. Oh I love this book I do. Another must read.

So those are some Books I Think Are Great!!! If you haven't read any of the ones I've listed, go and read them!! Hopefully they will effect you like they do me. And I hope to have a load more books to contend with these in the future.

Nine more days.