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Original poster

What are YOUR bookshelf must haves........? I need educating........................

110 replies

VeniVidiVickiQV · 31/01/2006 20:39

Exactly what it says in the title.....

Im not an ardent book reader, but want to start reading the 'classics'(and DD who will be 3 soon loves her books already).

I have read:
Alison in Wonderland,
Wuthering Heights,
The Hobbit,
Jane Eyre,
Of Mice and Men,
Romeo & Juliette,
A Midsummer Nights Dream

Most of these at school - read Midsummer Nights Dream in years 8, 9 and 10 at school - they didnt seem to think it mattered...

What do think i should add to my list? For adults and children.

OP posts:
Pfer · 01/02/2006 09:02

Catch 22
Closing Time
The Catcher in the Rye
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Hobbit
Lord of The Rings trilogy

and for amusement The Gobbler - Adrian Edmondson.

cathyspam · 01/02/2006 08:53

the joy luck club by amy tan

Hausfrau · 01/02/2006 08:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hannahsaunt · 01/02/2006 01:40

Hmmmm. Struggling to think as all my childrens books (ie ones saved from my childhood) are in storage at the moment. Off the top of my head (apols for repeats)

*Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Graham)
*Tom Sawyer (had this on story tape read by Bing Crosby and was just amazing; v upset that tapes no longer work)
*Narnia books
*Mrs Pepperpot books
*Flat Stanley
*All Enid Blyton (pc or not!!)
*Anne of Green Gables series
*Littlenose books were good from my 7yo memory but can't really comment as an adult

  • Sherlock Holmes books (A Conan Doyle)

Reading Dahl with ds1 at the moment (5) which he is really enjoying. HTH

JanH · 01/02/2006 01:25

To Kill a Mockingbird
Jane Eyre
anything by Noel Streatfeild
ditto Anne Tyler
ditto Mary Wesley
ditto Margaret Atwood
lots of Kingsley Amis
Dodie Smith
F Scott Fitzgerald
Danny the Champion of the World and others by R Dahl
E Nesbit - 5 children & it, phoenix & carpet etc
Bill Bryson (not exactly classic but huge fun and educational)
Elizabeth Bowen
Deborah Moggach

(loads of other stuff but can't think just now )

colditz · 01/02/2006 01:11

The original Winnie Ther Pooh books. For you, not your kids. They are lovely, with such gentle yet clever humour, they make me chuckle even now.

Anything by Mark Twain, esp. Tom Sawyer - again for you, not the kids.

1984 by George Orwell, yes I was made to read it but it is still very very good.

chipmonkey · 31/01/2006 23:33

Thanks alexsmum! never noticed before but it sort of sounds like a made-up p*ss-take name.

alexsmum · 31/01/2006 23:16

fried green tomatoes was fannie flagg

chipmonkey · 31/01/2006 23:13

The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe ( can't remember author.
all the What Katy Did books
all the My naughty Little Sister books
Light on Snow by anita Shreve
Marian Keyes book for "MacDonald's for the mind"

Original poster
VeniVidiVickiQV · 31/01/2006 23:03

Thanks everyone - got a lovely long list here. Any more recommendations welcome.....

OP posts:
alexsmum · 31/01/2006 22:48

i really enjoyed tipping the velvet and fingersmith by sarah waters too.

roosmum · 31/01/2006 22:46

persuasion - jane austen
bleak house - dickens
mill on the floss - george eliot (prefer daniel deronda personally tho)
jude the obscure - hardy (beware, brilliant but harrowing)
ethan frome - edith wharton
to the lighthouse - virginia woolf
howard's end - em forster
women in love - dh lawrence
1984 - orwell
brave new world - huxley
wide sargasso sea - jean rhys (you MUST read this if you've read 'jane eyre'. also LOVE 'good morning, midnight')
oranges are not the only fruit - winterson
remains of the day - ishiguro ('the unconsoled' better, but difficult)

ummm, brain blank!

alexsmum · 31/01/2006 22:44

just a bit of a tart!
at least it was honest!

mazzystar · 31/01/2006 22:40

yes, that's her
i like the jungle husband
someone said she's a bit like larkin on oestrogen
pmsl alexmum ( were you a very confident 18 year old?)

Original poster
VeniVidiVickiQV · 31/01/2006 22:38

lol Alexsmum!

OP posts:
alexsmum · 31/01/2006 22:37

and was it stevie smith who did 'not waving but drowning'?

alexsmum · 31/01/2006 22:36

one of my first tutorials at uni, the task was to find a poem that described you. i somewhat foolishly chose
' i like to get off with people
i like to lie in their arms'
by stevie smith!

Original poster
VeniVidiVickiQV · 31/01/2006 22:35

who is Stevie Smith?

OP posts:
Hazellnut · 31/01/2006 22:34

I've always liked first world war poetry too after doing it at school.....

Hazellnut · 31/01/2006 22:33

alexsmum- agree wendy cope is great - we had a v. traditional church wedding but had a wendy cope poem in the middle ...

I would suggest a mixed anthology of poems to see who you like (the poetry on the tube books are quite good - we have a couple and give you a taste of lots of different poets).

mazzystar · 31/01/2006 22:32

Iron Man by Ted Hughes is great tho'

Stevie Smith anyone?

alexsmum · 31/01/2006 22:30

i find ted hughes really hard going.
i have a collection of poetry called reflecting families and some of the poems, especially the birth and early parenthood ones just make me choke..

alexsmum · 31/01/2006 22:27

my must haves are;
the battle for christabel by margaret forster(glad someone mentioned it)
catcher in the rye
the handmaids tale
the shellseekers by rosamunde pilcher
jane eyre
about a boy and high fidelity by nick hornby.

poetry? collected poems of tony harrison are fab!
wendy cope is fun
carol ann duffy good too.

mummytosteven · 31/01/2006 22:22

i'm not much of a poetry person, but I like "Birthday Letters" by Ted Hughes.

More Classics for you:-
The Outsider by Albert Camus
The Mysterious Story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Sophies World by Jostein Gardner

Original poster
VeniVidiVickiQV · 31/01/2006 22:20

Repeats are fine Hazellnut - im planning to go with the majority

OP posts: