if you could only read two books again....

[brizzledrizzle]

Which two would they be? One fiction and one non-fiction.

I would have said A Town like Alice as that was my favourite book but I've recently read that again after a long gap.

For non-fiction, that's hard - I think it'd have to be a book by John Lister-Kaye, perhaps Nature Child.

Ooh I’d go for parade’s end but all the volumes so it’s cheating a little bit. Bloody love parades end and it’s very long and dense so would keep me busy.
For non fiction maybe I’d have Wild Swans by Jung Chang as it’s one of my fave auto/biographies and also long!

Sorry to be depressing, but, for the world we’re living in today everyone should read one of the following for their ‘fiction’ choice:
1984 - George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

But now for something lighter......non-fiction. Exhilarating, terrifying, shocking and sad: Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer

The Oxford book of love poetry. You can keep dipping in and getting something new every time. Would that be fiction? For non fiction A history of the world by Andrew Marr.

Judas I absolutely hated Never Let Me Go.

Non-fiction is a not-so-little pearl of a book - 'The Darkness is Light Enough' by Chris Ferris - the journal of a woman who walks through the countryside at night, and the badgers she meets. I could (and do) re-read it many times.

Fiction is 'The Once and Future King' by T.H. White. Lots of wisdom in there.

Year of the cornflake is my pick. Not sure if it's fiction or not cos it's meant to be real but it's so funny I think bits must be made up. Completely recommend x

Fiction - Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

Non fiction - the Big Book (AA)

Fiction: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Non-fiction: a socking great atlas. I absolutely love maps and can look at them forever.

vix I didn’t say you should enjoy any of them

The Poisonwood Bible
Wild Swans

Fiction - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.
Non-fiction - Wartime, Britain 1939-1945 by Juliet Gardiner

Fiction : Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel
Non fiction: Almost Like a Whale - the origin of species updated by Steve Jones

Although close second Dark Star Safari - I also loved it.

I’d forgotten the Once and Future King! I just ordered a copy!
For me my fiction book would be Les Miserables...so much in this story! If you haven’t read it I would definitely recommend it.
For non-fiction I would choose Toast. So funny and vivid! Nigel Slater can do no wrong!

Fiction - The Northern Lights by Pullman or if I’m being cheeky, the whole trilogy

Non-fiction - space below my feet by Gwen Moffat. First female British Mountain Guide and a brilliantly written book.

I remember advising nun asking my primary school class what our favourite book was and I said ‘a town like alice’
My teacher told my mum and she was mortified- I think it was considered racy in rural Ireland

Fiction - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Non-fiction - Lonely Planet's Beautiful World (don't really read non-fiction, but love a coffee table book)