Books which return to you, long after the event

[anonymosity]

At the moment its the Guernsey Potato Peel Pie Society, the island, the protagonist - flitting back into my head nearly 2 yrs after reading the book.

Anyone else have this with a recent / not so recent reading? That its made a deeper imprint than other books?

[DuchessofMalfi]

Strangely it's another book about Guernsey that returns often to my thoughts - The Book of Ebenezer le Page by G B Edwards. I read it a long time ago, and it's due a re-read soon.

A more recent read that I still think about is The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.

[anonymosity]

Ah, I've not heard of the Ebenezer one previously. Thank you for sharing Duchess, I shall investigate.

[gailforce1]

Yes, thank you Duchess I am now going to reserve the G B Edwards book from the library.

[MiddleAgeMiddleEngland]

Sometimes I remember just a phrase or a scene, and can't remember which book it's from. Then, years later I re-read the book and think "Oh, that's where it was!".

Does anybody else have this happen to them?

[anonymosity]

I do have just a phrase or a scene thing - but I usually remember where its from. Its like a literary deja-vu.

[TheFoosa]

American Psycho, unfortunately

[Zamboni]

I love that book OP.

I have lots that stay with me, I read books I love over and over. There's an image in Douglas Kennedy's The Woman In The Fifth that haunts me though!

[FarelyKnuts]

I often think it is that a book comes along at just the right time in your life to kind of "resonate" with you and where you are at.
I remember reading Paulina Simmonds "Tully" and it really staying with me, long after reading it and still to this day and yet it not having at all the same impact on others I enthusiastically recommended it to.

[FarelyKnuts]

Also along those lines was Bryce Courtnays book about his son with haemophelia (name escapes me right now).

[littlebitofthislittlebitofthat]

Charlie st Cloud

[cheapskatemum]

Zamboni, I loved Douglas Kennedy's "The Woman in the Fifth". What is the image that haunts you?

[ThreeBeeOneGee]

Not a book, but a short story by Ray Bradbury about a child who lives on a planet where it rains all day every day. The first sunny spell of her lifetime is forecast, but some bullies lock her in a cupboard so she misses it.

[kiwigirl42]

I'm just this minute about to open The Book of Ebenezer le Page and read it!

I keep thinking about 'The Grapes of Wrath' - one of the best books I've ever read.
'I heard the Owl call my Name' stayed with me a long time as a teenager.

[ThreeBeeOneGee]

The story is called 'All Summer in a Day' and the text is here if anyone wants to read it.

www.wssb.org/content/classrooms/tate/content/freshman/all%20summer%20in%20a%20day/story.htm

I first read it when I was a similar age to the girl in the story, but it has stayed with me since.

[AnonymousBird]

You'll laugh at me, because I've only just finished it, and I realise that completely contradicts the thread title, but I think The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing will be with me for a long time - it was so unusual, very intense and quite disturbing in its portrayal of the complete breakdown of a marriage and life in Southern Africa around 60-70 years ago.

I actually shuddered in parts, re-read whole sections with expression. A gritty and ultimately tragic story. Not uplifting in any sense, but utterly absorbing.

[anonymosity]

Thanks for posting the story ThreeBeeOneGee, I really want to read that one.

[Zamboni]

cheapskate it's the image of the neighbour dead on the filthy toilet with the brush in his mouth.

I adore Douglas Kennedy. Have read all of his books. A Special Relationship is a fantastic book. Not for pregnant women or parents of babies though.

[Sunnywithshowers]

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman.

The last line is haunting.

[highlandcoo]

kiwigirl I've just read The Grapes of Wrath for my book club and thought it was superb.

I'd read it as a teenager and could hardly remember a thing about it , except for the very powerful last scene which had stayed with me for over thirty years.

It is an absolute classic which everyone should read IMO.

[cheapskatemum]

Thanks, Zamboni. I have read 2 of his books, if I remember rightly, the other one had a plot twist where an adult with autism remembered every word of a conversation. I enjoyed both very much and they were so different! Will definitely read A Special Relationship on your recommendation.

[anonymosity]

I read Grapes of Wrath when I was about 12, for school and I think its part of the curriculum locally for the 16 yr olds now. Definitely an American classic. I remember really enjoying Of Mice & Men around the same age but not being so enamoured of Cannary Row.

[DolomitesDonkey]

She's come undone and Swan Song.

I've had multiple well-thumbed copies of both. They'll always be with me.

[juneau]

Oh I loved The Grapes of Wrath! I read it as a teenager, because I thought I should read something a bit 'improving' and it completely blew me away - not a chore to read at all (at that age I thought anything considered a 'classic' would require a bit of effort).

There are lots of books that I still think about - Into the Darkest Corner, The Other Hand, Before I Say Goodbye, Happy Like Murderers (I wish this one didn't haunt me ), The Hacienda, Auschwitz, and many more.

[SucksFake]

FarelyKnuts, the Bryce Courtenay book is called April Fool's Day. AFAIR his son was born on April 1st. I read his book The Power of One when I was about 15. I loved it so much I wrote to him. And he wrote back, twice. I'm sure I still have the letters somewhere.

One book that stays with me is East of Eden, have read it about 3 times. Due a reread soon.

Also The Woodlanders, found it a very unhappy tale.