Satima has been blogging about her all time favourite books, so I thought I'd join in for fun.
My favourite sf book would have to be Jules Verne's Journey To the Centre of the Earth because this is the first sf book I read at around the age of ten. I loved it then because, wow, what an adventure! I wanted to take up caving just to feel what it would be like and fifteen years later I did, getting myself into water-filled sink holes down at Mt Gambier as well as dry caves that had me squeezing through underground tunnels for hours. And yes I did find a deep cave with a giant lake in it, but no dinosaurs. One of the things I really like about Journey to the Centre of the Earth is that, at the time of writing, some of the science was wrong. Neptunism was already discredited. Even so, the story has endured because it's a good story.
Another favourite would have to be Jeanette Winterson's The Passion. Yep it's about passion and a woman from Venice with webbed feet who cross dresses and works in a casino and falls in love and cooks for Napoleon. Beautiful imagery and a touch of history and fantasy. It's a book I read every couple of years because it's such wonderful writing.
And as for the classics, well, I just can't make up my mind over those: Shakespeare, Dickens, Hardy. Too hard to choose. So maybe, Twelfth Night, Great Expectations and Tess of the D'Urbervilles or maybe Far from the Madding Crowd.
Can't choose. Sorry.
What I'll be reading in the last third of 2024 (hopefully)
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The best laid plans of mice and men, etc etc...
Each year, I ambitiously set myself a reading challenge, and each year, I
deviate from it. In fact, this...
1 month ago
4 comments:
My veryveryfavouritest book is probably Ursula K. Leguin's The Left Hand of Darkness. I don't think I've read any of the classics since I left uni, which is probably my loss:-)Will think about it and blog some more!
Yes. LHoD is a fantastic book. A must read. Very high on my list of faves, not only for the way it explores gender but also for the way the people of Winter used technology only as much as they really needed it. Such a cold world, yet they didn't routinely heat their homes. They had the capability, but could survive without it so didn't resort to the wanton luxury of it.
I am still trying to think of my faves - they change over time. I loved Lighthousekeeping by Jeannette Winterson, I found it very moving. Never read Journey to the Centre of the Earth - what have I been doing?
Oh Yes, Lighthousekeeping. I loved that book. My faves change over time as well. Ask me next week and I might say something different. Books are like that, I think.
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