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

[seeker]

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

[blackrock]

The tenderness of Wolves Stef Penney

The Go between L.P Hartley

[tittybangbang]

Classic:
Persuasion - Jane Austen

Modern:
Lolita - Nabokov

[thecatbrighton]

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]

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]

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

[FairLadyRantALot]

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

[plus3]

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

[fishie]

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

[fishie]

saki.

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

[FairLadyRantALot]

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

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

[plus3]

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

[plus3]

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]

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]

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]

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

[delphinedownunder]

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]

Travels with my Aunt - Graeme Green

The Womens Room - Marilyn French

[cheapskatemum]

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]

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

[InNeedOfSleep]

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]

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]

non-classic: Jonathan Livingston Seagull

classic: 1984

[duckyfuzz]

madame bovary

the golden notebook

[SweetPea99]

Any Human Heart - I second that. Brilliant.