Starting with stating the obvious, it is incredibly hard to choose a favourite something. Can I name my favourite food? No. I can say what I will retch at, namely praline, but there are too many things I would love to eat before they sink me in a muddy hole. Can I name my favourite song? Again, I have to confess I can’t. My idea of torture, though, I can give you: a lifelong sentence of, say, Children of Bodom interspersed with Cascada would do the trick.
So when I tried to make a list of my favourite books, I knew it would be Mission Impossible:IV. The list kept growing longer and longer, and I felt compelled to add almost every good book I have ever read. But as I hate those ’Top Ten Books You Should Read’ lists, because they make you feel guilty for not having read anything by Ian McEwan, and they keep pushing the same revered old dusty shit at you, I am not even going to make any suggestions. No “you should read this because…”. No “society will label you a dumb fuck if you don’t read…”. Just a list, not exhaustive in the least, of a couple of books I love.
Umberto Eco – ‘The Name of the Rose’: absolutely awesome in the original sense of the word.
Douglas Coupland – ‘Life After God’: bloody damn great.
James Jones – ‘From Here To Eternity’: I fell in love with Robert E. Lee Prewitt, the main character.
Takashi Matsuoka – ‘Cloud of Sparrows’: beautifully written doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Nelson DeMille – ‘Gold Coast’: nothing like a good thriller once in a while.
Adelheid van Beuningen – ‘Terentia’: I love history.
Gabriel García Márquez – ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’: still, I have an irrational hate for the main character.
Robert Louis Stevenson – ‘The Master of Ballantrae’: Stevenson is one of my favourite authors.
Bernard McLaverty – ‘The Anatomy School’: utterly compelling.
C.J. Sansom – ‘Sovereign’: a detective AND history in the same book? I am bound to love it.
J.R. Tolkien – ‘The Hobbit’: I read this in one go, couldn’t put it down.
Brett Easton Ellis – ‘Glamorama’: very interestingly written, I like the way he shifts perspectives.
Jane Austen – ‘Pride & Prejudice’: must-read classic?
Zadie Smith – ‘White Teeth’: I have read it countless times.
Albert Camus – ‘L’Étranger’: vraiment fascinant.
J. D. Salinger – ‘The Catcher in the Rye’: what can I say? I read it every year, now shoot me.
And one book that I have just started on and is definitely going to end up on this list: ‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce. His writing style, use of language and play with words are enough to keep me from my work.
