Exploring the books that make me.
I am indebted to David Rain – you can find the article about his reasoning and the original challenge here.
The Challenge
- list 100 books that you love
- only ONE per author
- any form or genre of writing is allowed – so long as you LOVE it
WARNING: this can take hours of happy research.
Here’s mine, purely in alphabetical order:
| Adams, Douglas | The Hitch-hikers’ Guide to the Universe |
| Adams, Richard | Watership Down |
| Aiken, Joan | The Wolves of Willoughby Chase |
| Aldiss, Bryan | Frankenstein Unbound |
| Allende, Isabel | The House of the Spirits |
| Almond, David | My Name is Mina |
| Anon | Sir Gawain and the Green Knight |
| Atkinson, Kate | Behind the scenes at the Museum |
| Barber, Antonia | The Ghosts |
| Bathurst, Bella | The Lighthouse Stevensons |
| Blake, Quentin | Mrs Armitage on Wheels |
| Boston, L. M. | The Children of Green Knowe |
| Briggs, K. M. | Hobberdy Dick |
| Bronte, Charlotte | Jane Eyre |
| Butler-Greenfield, Amy | Chantress |
| Clarke, Susanna | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell |
| Connolly, John | The Book of Lost Things |
| Cooper, Susan | Greenwitch |
| Crane, Nicholas | Two Degrees West |
| Dahl, Roald | Matilda |
| Doherty, Berlie | Daughter of the Sea |
| Dowd, Siobhan | The Ransom of Dond |
| Dunmore, Helen | The Greatcoat |
| Dunsany, Lord | The King of Elfland’s Daughter |
| Fox, Essie | Elijah’s Mermaid |
| Francis, Sarah | Odd Fish and Englishmen |
| Gaiman, Neil | Coraline |
| Gardner, Sally | Tinder |
| Garner, Alan | The Stone Book Quartet |
| Gavin, Jamila | Coram Boy |
| Gibbons, Stella | Cold Comfort Farm |
| Gutterson, David | Snow falling on Cedars |
| Haddon, Mark | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time |
| Haig, Matt | The Radleys |
| Hardinge, Frances | A Face like Glass |
| Hardy, Thomas | Collected Poetry |
| Harris, Joanne | The Lollipop Shoes |
| Heller,Joseph | Catch 22 |
| Hill, Susan | In the Springtime of the Year |
| Hodgson Burnett, Francis | The Secret Garden |
| Hughes, Ted | Remains of Elmet |
| Ihimaera, Witi | The Whale Rider |
| Jansson, Tove | The Summer Book |
| Juster, Norton | The Phantom Tollbooth |
| Kemp, Gene | The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler |
| Kingsley, Charles | The Waterbabies |
| King-Smith, Dick | The Sheep-Pig |
| Kipling, Rudyard | The Just-So Stories |
| Lanagan, Margot | The Brides of Rollrock Island |
| Langrish, Katherine, | West of the Moon |
| LeGuin, Ursula | A Wizard of Earthsea |
| Lewis, C. S. | The Voyage of the Dawn Treader |
| Lively, Penelope | Astercote |
| Macdonald, George | The Princess and Curdie |
| MacFarlane, Robert | The Old Ways |
| Mackay Brown, George | Greenvoe |
| Manley-Hopkins, Gerald | Major Poems |
| Mantel, Hilary | Beyond Black |
| Marquez, Gabriel Garcia | Love in the Time of Cholera |
| Mascull, Rebecca | The Visitors |
| Masefield, John | The Box of Delights |
| Mayne, William | The Blue Book of Hob Stories |
| McCaughrean, Geraldine | The White Darkness |
| McGowan, Anthony | Henry Tumour |
| Meade Faulkner, J. | Moonfleet |
| Mieville, China | Railsea |
| Monk Kidd, Susan | The Secret Life of Bees |
| Morpurgo, Michael | Grania O’Malley |
| Mosse, Kate | The Mistletoe Bride |
| Murphy, Jill | Five Minutes’ Peace |
| Newbery, Linda | Lob |
| Nimmo, Jenny | The Snow Spider |
| Norton, Trevor | Reflections on a Summer Sea |
| Paver, Michelle | Dark Matter |
| Pollock, Tom | The City’s Son |
| Pratchett, Terry | I shall wear Midnight |
| Price, Susan | The Sterkarm Handshake |
| Priestley, Chris | Mister Creecher |
| Proulx, Annie | The Shipping News |
| Prue, Sally | Cold Tom |
| Pullman, Philip | The Northern Lights |
| Ruiz Zafon, Carlos | The Name of the Wind |
| Seuss, Dr | The Lorax |
| Shelley, Mary | Frankenstein |
| Shreve, Anita | Sea Glass |
| Sommer-Bodenburg, Angela | The Little Vampire |
| Sutcliff, Rosemary | Beowulf |
| Swift, Graham | Waterland |
| Thomas, Edward | Collected Poetry |
| Thompson, Kate | The New Policeman |
| Thomson, David | The People of the Sea |
| Tolkien, J.R.R. | The Lord of the Rings |
| Tremain, Rose | Restoration |
| Valente, Catherynne M. | The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland |
| Vickers, Salley | Miss Garnett’s Angel |
| Vipont, Elfrida | The Elephant and the Bad Baby |
| Walsh, Pat | The Crowfield Curse |
| Wells, Philip | Horsewhispering in the Military-Industrial Complex |
| Westall, Robert | The Kingdom by the Sea |
| White, E.B. | Charlotte’s Web |
| Zusak, Markus | The Book Thief |
So unsurprisingly, there are a fair few with more than a hint of fantasy or magical realism. There’s poetry and word-play in many, and definitely a sense of place pervading this selection. The sea and ghosts have a tendency to crop up – and heroines.
I am happy to put in links to The Hive ( which supports independent bookshops) for any title if you are interested – just let me know.
Now – go and do likewise. You might be surprised what you find out.
Lovely list. Thanks for introducing me to The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. Looks right up my street! Will pick up a copy tomorrow. See you at Lumb Bank ;0)
Looking forward to Arvon! There will be more on the 100-book Challenge soon.
Some books I know well on here – I think we share similar tastes! – and also, inevitably, many I don’t….
I just finished reading Mister Creecher by Chris Priestley and though it was brilliant – who would have thought of crossing Frankenstein with the tale of a young Bill Sikes….
I absolutely loved how he made my sympathy waver between the two. Cracking book. Thanks for commenting, Alison.
Thanks for this, what a delight. Quite a few on your list will be on mine, including the excellent Bella Bathurst; having made a start on my list I realise what pleasure there is in well written non fiction!
I have decided to have a crack at a non-fiction list later – I hope there’ll be some more inspirations for you there. As ever, thanks for commenting.
Ooo a non fiction list too…look forward to that!
Pingback: Addenda | K.M.Lockwood
Ooh, fun. Am going to make my list before I read yours, don’t want to be overly influenced!
Smart move – and good luck!
Very interesting list…
Lots of books I like on there and quite few I don’t know and we share eight that I LOVE too.
It’s all so subjective, isn’t it.
Pingback: It’s my birthday and I’ll blog if I want to… | K.M.Lockwood
Thnak you for your interesting list and yes I have started thinking about mine now…I am up to around 50 books but too tired to add more tonight!
Pingback: Ten-Minute Blog Break – 25th February | Words & Pictures