Tuesday 26 August 2014

Seven Books!

I have borrowed this idea from Rosemary at Reading and Writing. Rosemary received a blog award and instead of doing ‘interesting things about myself’, Rosemary decided to list seven of her most memorable reads which I thought was a great idea. You can read Rosemary's choices here.

It is more difficult than it might appear to choose just seven books, because once you start to think, more come to you and I’m sure as soon as I post this I’ll think of more. I’ve already deleted some and added different ones. There are just so many!



I saw this book on the second hand shelf outside our local bookshop. It was 50 pence and didn't look as if it had ever been opened. It was the best 50 pence I ever spent and now I have bought the book to read again (only £1.99 on Kindle at the moment and it is a very big book). It tells the story of three generations of women in China. Will Self said the book made him feel like a 5 year old and that is exactly how it made me feel.



My son bought this book for me for my birthday a few years ago after I read Ricky Tomlinson’s autobiography in which he said that reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists changed his life. My interest was piqued. I won’t say it changed my life, but it certainly widened my knowledge and is a very enlightening read. It gives a vivid account of life in the early 1900s. It’s another book I wanted to read again and although I’d kept the paperback, I found it on Kindle – free! Even the paperback version is now only £1.99



Several years ago my friend told me I should read this book. I wasn't interested in reading about explorers or ice, but she had never failed me in a book recommendation, so I bought it. I have since read it three times and will again. It is so well written although some parts are very hard to read (dogs, cat) – you will know what I mean if you have read it. Reading this book started a fascination with polar exploration that has had me reading countless books about it.



I read this at school and my goodness it came as a shock after I’d been reading books like, What Katy Did, Little Women, Dr Dolittle and such. It is so long since I read it, I would like to read it again, but I do remember it very well. I also remember my little socks being shocked right off the ends of my feet!



As a child I loved reading books about animals and how I cried when I read Black Beauty. It is free on Kindle and I am going to read it again. I’ll just have to make sure I have plenty of tissues on hand for the tears I know will come.



I fell into this book from the first line and loved the way it was written, spoken by Dolores as she recounts her story to the police when they question her about the death of her long term employer, Vera Donovan. And there are no chapters. I don’t think I’d ever read a book without chapters before. I’ve read just about everything Stephen King has written and a great deal of it is memorable, but for the purpose of this post I wanted to choose just one and Dolores won. Not a horror novel, but a powerful story with two strong, memorable women, Dolores and Vera at its heart.



This is the story of a couple who stay on in India after 1947. Moving and funny, another one I really must read again. And it reminds me that I also want to read the Raj Quartet.


Would anyone else like to follow Rosemary’s lead and tell us seven memorable books?





Will you look at that? I might have known he’d worm his way in somewhere. He loved having his two far away little people here to stay and there were so many tears when they had to say goodbye.




Sorry about the muddly fonts! Not quite sure how it happened, but I can't change it! Sigh. Never mind.




20 comments:

  1. Oh, Black Beauty! Dated now, sadly, but I must have read,it scores of times,mand wept over "poor Ginger". Interesting choices, Teresa.

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    1. I well up even now thinking about Poor Ginger x

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  2. Oh Black Beauty. How I cried! Fabulous choice of books, Teresa. It's always so good to have a book recommended. I've SO many on Kindle and shelves of 'proper' books - which I still love - to read so I don't think I'll be reading them yet but good to know your recommendations are there :-) xx

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    1. I've thought of so many more, Sue. That's the wonderful thing about books isn't it - so many are memorable :-) x

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  3. Whenever I see these lists it reminds me how many good books there are which I haven't read yet.

    I like Stephen Kings writing but I don't like horror. I'll give Dolores a go.

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  4. So pleased you did your own list, Teresa - and you should have taken the blog award too! Love your choices - have only read Black Beauty and Lord of the Flies from your list. I enjoy seeing what other people read and find memorable!

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    1. I have thought of more since, Rosemary. I become so torn between reading these again and reading something new, but I think how lucky we are that there are so many books for us to choose from :-) x

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  5. Hi Teresa, lovely pictures, and I hate goodbyes... One of my favourite books is Wind in the Willows, and Alice in Wonderland. I love all P.G. Wodehouse books, and now I like anything by M.C. Beaton. I must say that Teresa Ashby writes a good story as well:)))

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    1. Thank you, Susan :-) I'm going to read your new Redington serial at the weekend, looking forward to that :-) x

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  6. You have some good reading there Teresa

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  7. Some great choices there, Teresa!

    Mine would have to include: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher, Girl with Green Eyes by Edna O' Brien, The World is full of Married Men by Jackie Collins, Six Bad Boys by Enid Blyton, Heidi by Johanna Spyri, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and 4.50 from Paddington Agatha Christie. x

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    1. Ah Heidi! Your choices are interesting, Lynette. I don't think I'd heard of Six Bad Boys. It's funny but originally I had an Enid Blyton book on my list - and Charles Dickens, If I hadn't posted these books, I'd still be chopping and changing :-) x

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  8. Lovely choices, Teresa. I'm very keen to read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and have intended to do so for ages, so this has prompted me. My husband will be very interested in the Stephen King, as he loves the non-horror ones and I don't think he has read Dolores Claiborne yet. xxx

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    1. I'm sure you will enjoy it, Joanna. It is one of those once read never forgotten kind of books :-) x

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  9. I picked a selection of books I have enjoyed from the shelves, but there are many more; A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini; The Help, Kathryn Stockett; Me Before You, Jojo Moyes; The Time Traveller's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger; Before I go to Sleep, S J Watson; The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough; The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey; anything by Jodi Picoult, Sarah Waters and Kate Atkinson. A book that stays with me is The Book Thief. So many books, so little time!

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    1. Oh The Help Maggie! How could I forget that. It should have been on my list! I've always wanted to read The Thorn Birds too. I wish I could speed read :-) x

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  10. We did Lord of the Flies for O Level. I've never read it again since then, but it's always stayed with me.

    I'd have to mention To Kill a Mockingbird - and gosh, so many others! I regret not keeping a list of all the books I've read over the years - I think you might have said you kept one yourself? But I guess the really great books stick in your mind, and the ones you forget are just... forgettable.

    Happy reading. x

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    1. I think we need a longer list, Joanne! To Kill a Mockingbird - I didn't read that until my daughter did it at school and told me I must read it too and she was right. It should have been on my list!

      Yes, I write down in a notebook which books I read and I mark them out of 10 but I've only been doing it for a few years. I wished I'd started it when I was a teenager. It serves as a reminder of which authors I like and which to avoid x

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