If there is a book you wish you had written...

[Provencalroseparadox]

...what is it and why?

Mine is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I think it is imaginative and beautiful. I love the language, the characters and the way the story builds to its climax. It has stayed with me long after I first read it and only improved with subsequent readings.

There are others but that is the main one.

[TodaysAGoodDay]

To Kill a Mockingbird. Wonderful book!

[Provencalroseparadox]

Agree it is wonderful. Night Circus is not my fave book of all time (East of Eden) but for some reason it left me wishing I could write like that.

[OriginofSymmetry]

I love 'I Capture The Castle' - it justs depicts that lovely moony teenage romantic phase so well. Also I wish I'd written all the Moomin books - deceptively called childrens books but full of wisdom and beautiful depictions of nature.

[milkwasabadchoice]

My struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard. Damn I wish I had written that book.

[somedizzywhore1804]

The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffneger (sp?) I just love it- clever concept, well executed, clever idea.

[Provencalroseparadox]

Is The Time Traveller's Wife worth a read?

I heard mixed about My Struggle. Maybe I should reevaluate.

Not sure I've ever read the Moomins.

I also loved the writing in Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels. While I enjoy a great story as much as the next person I think it's what the language evokes for me that makes me want to have written it some books.

[Sallystyle]

The Stand.

[Provencalroseparadox]

Why U2?

[Steben]

Second time travellers wife - one of only two books that had me in tears at the end (first - Birdsong)

[curiousuze]

I only got through about a chapter of the Night Circus before giving up on it.

Hmmm I feel I should say something tebbly high brow as befits my position as an English graduate, but I actually just wish I'd written all the Jilly Cooper books with Rupert Campbell Black in them.

[Cheboludo]

For the royalties & the loyal fans - either the Harry Potter series or the His Dark materials trilogy.

If it's just about the use of language then I think that Angela Carter is rarely equalled. Every line sings.

[JohnFarleysRuskin]

For the money, Fifty shades.

For writing something I would like to have said, Melissa Bank's or Laurie Moore stuff.

For greatness, hmm, Wuthering Heights?

[SwedishEdith]

One Day. Not because I think it's good - I think it's crap - but because it's the kind of book you think you could have written if you could have been arsed. And I'd now be loaded

[PartialFancy]

Bleak House. I wanted to be Charles Dickens when I grew up.

Don't break it to me that's not how it works.

[ThinkIveBeenHacked]

Harry Potters for the wage packet

The Lovely Bones. What a submersive and wonderful tale.

[NuggetofPurestGreen]

Everything by Richard Yates. He is brilliant. Also Alan Sillitoe.

[Cheboludo]

Oh, I love Lorrie Moore. I have multiple copies of the short stories but haven't read A Gate at the Stairs - is it good?

[Cheboludo]

ThinkIveBeenHacked Have you read Lucky by Alice Sebold? It's a memoir detailing her rape and the ensuing search for her attacker and the trial. It's incredibly affecting and upsetting and, after reading it, I really felt writing The Lovely Bones must've been cathartic for her.

[AmyTanFan]

Cheboludo, yes A Gate at the Stairs is brilliant but dark!

Not a novel but two short stories by Lorrie Moore I wish I'd written. You're Ugly, Too from her Like Life collection and Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People from Birds of America.

[Provencalroseparadox]

Gosh curioussuze I just love TNC. It was a universal thumbs up from my book group which rarely happens. It is slower at the beginning but once Celia and Marco appear it's wonderful.

Can't beat Jilly though

[Provencalroseparadox]

There are some things on here I haven't read. Lorrie Moore I've never even heard of.

Wondered about reading the Alice Senold as have read Lucky Bones

[JohnFarleysRuskin]

Lorrie Moore's short stories are great. She's a wonderful writer. However, I wish I'd never read 'A gate at the stairs'. I found it way too traumatic - I had to put it down but I still get flashbacks to the incident, so vivid was her writing.
(wuss)

I so agree about that assessment of One day. Lucky bastard!

[Provencalroseparadox]

I'm not normally a fan if short stories but I may look them up.

I enjoyed One Day but it was really chick/pulp lit. An easy holiday read

[Apatite1]

Beloved by Toni Morrsion. Outstanding.

[Apatite1]

*Morrison.