My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

What we're reading

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:
Report
InNeedOfSleep · 08/11/2008 09:56

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

Report
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)

Report
daffodill6 · 09/11/2008 22:34

Travels with my Aunt - Graeme Green

The Womens Room - Marilyn French

Report
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.

Report
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).

Report
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

Report
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....

Report
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!!!

Report
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!

Report
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)

Report
fishie · 19/11/2008 22:03

saki.

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

Report
fishie · 19/11/2008 22:06

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

Report
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.

Report
FairLadyRantALot · 19/11/2008 22:34

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

Report
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!

Report
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.

Report
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

Report
tittybangbang · 01/01/2009 18:48

Classic:
Persuasion - Jane Austen

Modern:
Lolita - Nabokov

Report
blackrock · 04/01/2009 18:25

The tenderness of Wolves Stef Penney

The Go between L.P Hartley

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.