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Original poster

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

28 replies

Provencalroseparadox · 17/06/2014 20:06

...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.

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Original poster
Provencalroseparadox · 21/06/2014 17:06

Adored beloved and reading Dr Seuss aloud is a real treat.

There's a lovely book called Love that Dog which is all in poem form but tells a story about a boy and his dog. It's a very clever thing and another one I wish I'd written.

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7Days · 21/06/2014 13:58

Any of them

TrustMeImLying · 21/06/2014 12:04

Any Dr Suess books. Even as an adult I love reading them to my DNeice (who adores them too). What it must be like to have an imagination like that.

Apatite1 · 21/06/2014 11:52

*Morrison.

Apatite1 · 21/06/2014 11:52

Beloved by Toni Morrsion. Outstanding.

Original poster
Provencalroseparadox · 19/06/2014 10:25

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

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JohnFarleysRuskin · 19/06/2014 09:59

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!

Original poster
Provencalroseparadox · 19/06/2014 09:55

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

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Original poster
Provencalroseparadox · 19/06/2014 09:52

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 Grin

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AmyTanFan · 18/06/2014 23:52

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.

Cheboludo · 18/06/2014 22:40

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.

Cheboludo · 18/06/2014 22:32

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?

NuggetofPurestGreen · 18/06/2014 22:31

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

ThinkIveBeenHacked · 18/06/2014 22:31

Harry Potters for the wage packet

The Lovely Bones. What a submersive and wonderful tale.

PartialFancy · 18/06/2014 22:29

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

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

SwedishEdith · 18/06/2014 22:29

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

JohnFarleysRuskin · 18/06/2014 22:26

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?

Cheboludo · 18/06/2014 22:24

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.

curiousuze · 18/06/2014 20:11

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

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.

Steben · 18/06/2014 20:07

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

Original poster
Provencalroseparadox · 18/06/2014 20:06

Why U2?

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Sallystyle · 18/06/2014 18:37

The Stand.

Original poster
Provencalroseparadox · 18/06/2014 11:11

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.

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somedizzywhore1804 · 18/06/2014 07:47

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

milkwasabadchoice · 18/06/2014 07:43

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

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