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Original poster

OK - I want new things to read. Please can you list two books- one classic, one modern- you think everyone shoulf read.

194 replies

seeker · 22/10/2008 22:45

I'll start. Pride and Prejudice and The Kite Runner, by Khalid Hosseini.

OP posts:
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blackrock · 04/01/2009 18:25

The tenderness of Wolves Stef Penney

The Go between L.P Hartley

tittybangbang · 01/01/2009 18:48

Classic:
Persuasion - Jane Austen

Modern:
Lolita - Nabokov

thecatbrighton · 12/12/2008 21:45

P.s. A Fine Balance is an immense book that just has to be read - come on girls let's move away from all these white male classics and go for something a bit different

thecatbrighton · 12/12/2008 21:44

Has anyone tried any Harriet Evans novels for a contemporary slant - nothing gobsmacking but immensely readable especially her latest The love of her life.

snigger · 21/11/2008 15:37

Just had to jump up and down and wave at SalVolatile as a fellow Don Camillo fan - they are wonderful tales!

FairLadyRantALot · 19/11/2008 22:34

it was on my reading list for my course (OT)...but I would have enjoyed it anyway....

plus3 · 19/11/2008 22:08

ooh I haven't read that one yet. Also delighted to see the diving bell & the butterfly on here.

fishie · 19/11/2008 22:06

plus3 i love kate atkinson's jackson brodie. i have latest one waiting for me at the library.

fishie · 19/11/2008 22:03

saki.

and i am impossibly torn between louise welsh and denise mina.

FairLadyRantALot · 19/11/2008 21:59

Little Woman
(and to my shame- Dear Daddy Long Legs )

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (by Jean-Dominique Bauby)

plus3 · 19/11/2008 21:50

Actually can I just say that I was quite pleased to see Behind the scenes at the museum on several lists!

plus3 · 19/11/2008 21:49

I'm going to go twice because my 1st choices are already done which are:
To Kill A Mocking Bird - essential
The Time Traveller's Wife - beautiful

so next I will recommend:

Far from the madding crowd

and (I'm going to cheat now)

The Latin American trilogy by Louis de Bernieres

Very excited off to the library!!!

SalVolatile · 19/11/2008 21:32

The Little World of Don Camillo, by Giovanni Guareschi to confirm one's faith in the humanity and the humour of Man - a fantastic possession if you can find a copy. Modern - Jon McGregors If Nobody Speaks of remarkable Things (Bloomsbury)for its elegaeic prose and profound yet gently-expressed themes....

Moosmummie · 19/11/2008 20:44

I'd say The Woman in White/ Moonstone Wilkie Collins or any Jane Austen and Cross stitch by Diana Gabaldon for slightly daft historical escapism

christie1 · 11/11/2008 01:14

Great Expectations-Charles Dickens and A Fine Balance by R. Mistry (spelling may be off so feel free to correct me).

delphinedownunder · 10/11/2008 00:04

So many ideas - I have been note taking wildly in anticipation of my next library visit.

I would say ....

Madame Bovary by Flaubert and The travelling Horn Player by Barbara Trapido.

daffodill6 · 09/11/2008 22:34

Travels with my Aunt - Graeme Green

The Womens Room - Marilyn French

cheapskatemum · 09/11/2008 15:46

InNeedofSleep, I was nearing the end of page 7 of this thread tinking, "I can't believe no-one's mentioned E.M.Forster yet..." went to page 8 & there you were! I'll go for:

"Howards End" (Classic)
&
"The Bone People" - Keri Hulme (modern)

InNeedOfSleep · 08/11/2008 09:56

An Equal Music is brill too (as per gigglewitch). Gosh these women have gooood taste!

InNeedOfSleep · 08/11/2008 09:54

Room with a view (I can't be the first to recommend this?)
and for winter Tenderness of Wolves, Steff Penney (couple of years old.) Happy Reading....What did you choose?

nkf · 07/11/2008 19:42

MI just has to be my book swap partner.

Classic - The Woman in White
Modern - Bonfire of the Vanitites

Or

Classic - Jane Eyre
Modern - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

lowlife · 07/11/2008 17:13

non-classic: Jonathan Livingston Seagull

classic: 1984

duckyfuzz · 07/11/2008 16:58

madame bovary

the golden notebook

dittany · 07/11/2008 16:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SweetPea99 · 07/11/2008 16:42

Any Human Heart - I second that. Brilliant.