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Original poster

Help me choose which one to read first.

28 replies

ipredicttrouble · 15/01/2011 15:16

Being the geek that I am I wrote a list at the start of the year of books that I want to read. To that end, I've just ordered 4 of them from amazon which should be delivered this week.

So I want some opinions about which to start with. I want to choose the one that will grip me right from the start.

The choices are:

Birdsong
Flowers in the attic
Remains of the day
Cold Comfort Farm

I look forward to hearing your choices and reasons.

OP posts:
BlackSwan · 15/01/2011 15:33

Flowers In the Attic!! Great cult classic.

Remains of the day d...r...a...g...s

Original poster
ipredicttrouble · 15/01/2011 15:35

Thanks blackswan

Is Remians of the Day worth it in the end?

OP posts:
BlackSwan · 15/01/2011 15:36

Nooo... Perhaps I need to revisit though, has been many years.

TheFoosa · 15/01/2011 15:37

Shock Remains of The Day is brilliant

arentfanny · 15/01/2011 15:37

Flowers in the Attic, that is a blast from the past.

Loved Cold Comfort Farm.

Have't read Birdsong, read Charlotte Gray and vowed never to read another book of his.

Remains of the Day, great film.

queenofboak · 15/01/2011 15:37

Flowers in the Attic! Classic.

There are about 6 in the series, each one get worse weirder, still love them though!

BlackSwan · 15/01/2011 15:38

Yeah, I can still conjure up the sense of that Attic and I haven't read it in 20 odd years.

Jajas · 15/01/2011 15:39

This reply has been deleted

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Jajas · 15/01/2011 15:39

This reply has been deleted

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Original poster
ipredicttrouble · 15/01/2011 15:41

jajas I like to think that i have eclectic taste Smile

OP posts:
Jajas · 15/01/2011 15:45

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BelligerentGhoul · 15/01/2011 15:48

Cold Comfort Farm is fun and will only take an hour or so.

I hated The Remains Of The Day....really, really hated it.

Flowers In The Attic - blimey, I think I was about 12 when I read that and the rest of the series and I loved them then!

Not read Birdsong.

Jajas · 15/01/2011 18:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BelligerentGhoul · 15/01/2011 19:03

I've read Engleby (okay) and tried reading another one of his which I gave up, so I'd vowed not to try any more! :)

bloomingnora · 15/01/2011 19:19

Read Birdsong (fantastic - I answered the door when I was reading this with tears pouring down my face and my friend thought I'd had really bad news. He didn't understand that I could be crying at a book at all. Not a reader!) and Flowers in the Attic but read Cold Comfort Farm in between to cheer you up. Agree that Remains of the Day isn't the most entertaining book in the world - if you want to read something by him then try Never Let Me Go. It didn't drag as much as The English Patient, though!

Original poster
ipredicttrouble · 15/01/2011 19:48

Blooming I've read Never Let Me Go and enjoyed it, that's what made me order Remains of The Day.

I'll give them all a go, though am thinking I should start with Flowers in the Attic.

Can't wait for them to arrive now. Just finished Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and quite frankly I need a good read after that. Smile

OP posts:
lalalonglegs · 15/01/2011 20:10

Flowers in the Attic: depends how keen you are on romanticising incest Hmm. I read it when I was 12 and can't think it would really have lasted too well...

Birdsong I read years ago but was fabulous and I loved Remains of the Day, just a perfect portrayal of a different era.

I'm one of the few people who can take or leave CCF.

Lonnie · 15/01/2011 20:23

Oh Flowers in the attic but I do agree with the poster that said it gets weirder. I devoured the first one but each one after I got a little further Confused about.

Cold comfort is a good read

ive never read birdsong

I was ok about remains of the day didnt do a great deal for me

Haribojoe · 15/01/2011 20:34

I loved Remains of the Day.

If you want to be gripped from the start then go for Flowers of the Attic.

sparklyjewlz · 15/01/2011 20:34

Flowers in the Attic? Really?
Birdsong is great once you get beyond the rather slow first chapter.

mamadiva · 15/01/2011 20:37

I have only read Flowers in the attic and I think it is a great book so Id say go for that one :o

Punkatheart · 17/01/2011 23:36

Birdsong

Faulks writes better about war than he does about love. The ending is incredible, astonishing, moving.

Flowers in the attic

I read all of these books from her - including ones she wrote when she was dead (oh yes, the family still made money) but a very long time ago. Badly written, tacky, corny but guilty pleasure. Not intellectually challenging.

Remains of the day

Beautiful, eloquent, resonant.

Cold Comfort Farm

Great book. Lots of people quote it as their fav.

Original poster
ipredicttrouble · 18/01/2011 17:47

Thanks again for the posts.

Still waiting patiently for my books to arrive, in the meantime I'm reading a crap Joanna Trollope that someone bought me for Christmas!

If any of you come back to this thread could you perhaps suggest a book (a modern classic perhaps?) that I should add to my 2011 reading list. I've only got about 3 months worth of books on the list so far.

OP posts:
Original poster
ipredicttrouble · 18/01/2011 17:48

Sorry, that sounded a bit bossy! But I would be interested to have some good suggestions. Smile

OP posts:
Punkatheart · 19/01/2011 15:10

The Road

Helen Dunmore's The Siege

Never Let Me Go

Life of Pi