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Original poster

5 ONLY books that MUST be read.

294 replies

Hullygully · 20/11/2013 12:07

Any era, any genre.

No crap.

Go.

OP posts:
Original poster
Hullygully · 20/11/2013 12:40
OP posts:
Maryz · 20/11/2013 12:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Hullygully · 20/11/2013 12:39

I'm honing, Kveta, still honing.

OP posts:
Original poster
Hullygully · 20/11/2013 12:38

ok

Everyone gets ONE second chance only.

So hone with care

OP posts:
Kveta · 20/11/2013 12:38

what are your choices Hully?

Original poster
Hullygully · 20/11/2013 12:37

No cheating Shrieking, no posting a further five under the old changed-my-mind guise.

This is hardcore.

OP posts:
AHardDaysWrite · 20/11/2013 12:35

Forgot about All Quiet on the Western Front. Dammit. And Black Beauty. And A Tale of Two Cities. Don't like this game...

ShriekingGnawer · 20/11/2013 12:34

I've changed my mind about all of my choices. This is too hard

Original poster
Hullygully · 20/11/2013 12:32

Yy, anything between just two covers is fair game.

OP posts:
AHardDaysWrite · 20/11/2013 12:31

Kveta I've got a SH anthology so therefore they are one book so there Hully

Original poster
Hullygully · 20/11/2013 12:31

5 choices sorts out the wheat and the sheep, innit.

OP posts:
Kveta · 20/11/2013 12:27

5 choices.

FFS.

Kveta · 20/11/2013 12:27

AHard I was going to put Holmes in too, but we are only allowed 6 choices

Kveta · 20/11/2013 12:26

Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson - because it is still the funniest book I have ever read, and the only one that still makes me snort with laughter on re-reading it.

The complete Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - because it is just bloody marvellous.

The Crow Road by Ian Banks because it is clever and funny and sad and I loved Prentice when I was a teenager.

All Quiet on the Western Front - war is bleak and shit and pointless on either side.

Black Beauty - because Ginger , just because Ginger :(

(I accept that these may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they would be my Desert Island books)

AHardDaysWrite · 20/11/2013 12:26

Hamlet. Cos I'm with Harold Bloom on this one - first human in literature etc.

Gulliver's Travels. Arguably the first novel, so important for that reason.

Sherlock Holmes stories. Because everyone should know Holmes.

Mockingbird. 'Nuff said.

The Handmaid's Tale. My favourite dystopian fiction.

Original poster
Hullygully · 20/11/2013 12:21

I know I'm changing the rules, but now I would like a small justification appendaged to each choice

OP posts:
ShriekingGnawer · 20/11/2013 12:20

My Dear, I wanted to tell you

To Kill a Mockingbird

Wild Swans

The Snow Child

Restoration

Original poster
Hullygully · 20/11/2013 12:15

Why must they be read? I really liked Swamplandia, and the Bailey White ones, but I'm not sure they MUST be read.

OP posts:
LESuffolk · 20/11/2013 12:12

To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

Sleeping At The Starlite Motel or Mama Makes Up Her Mind by Bailey White

Swamplandia by Karen Russell

American Ghost by Janice Owens

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith