Today’s Top 10

Greetings, Salutations and All That Jazz,

What are your Top 10 favourite books?

I’ve been considering what my Top 10 might be. This is harder than I imagined. For starters, what’s my definition of “favourite”? If it’s books that I can’t put down, then a significant proportion of my Top Ten would be Tom Clancy, Patricia Cornwell, or hell – even the Stephanie Meyers books (Team Edward, FYI). But being easy to turn the page isn’t enough justification for “favourite” status in my book. So, I think a working definition of “Top 10 Favourite books” needs to incorporate not necessarily books that I enjoy, but ones I respect – writing styles that inspired me or themes that really do tug at the ol’ heartstrings. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is an example of this – I couldn’t stand the characters and just wanted to get to The End, but once finished, I loved it as a complete piece (we’ll discuss that book soon Mr StephenKing, I have so many thinks brewing in my thinker, I’m bursting to get it all out!).

So anyway, today – because who knows what reading delights tomorrow will bring, my top 10 are:

1. The Talisman, Stephen King & Peter Straub
2. Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
3. Sense & Sensibility, Jane Austen
4. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
5. It, Stephen King
6. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R Tolkien
7. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
8. The Stand, Stephen King
9. Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, The Gawain Poet
10. The Adventures Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – I particularly like “The Speckled Band”

Hmm, anyone notice a particular theme?

That was harder than I anticipated. I really wanted to throw in some Australian authors such as Helen Hodgman, Helen Garner, Tim Winton, Kate Grenville, etc, but perhaps they’ll make the cut tomorrow 🙂

So.. what are yours?

Your Reader,