There were going to be rules to this – no comics/ graphic novels, no poetry collections, plays are fine, no non-fiction, nothing that hadn’t been published. Some of those I kept, some I didn’t. It turned into a “will I feel like a liar for leaving this off the list?” test. It's best not to lie when it comes to books.
I listed them in alphabetical order, because I would still be resorting if I were trying to do this in order of love.
Same caveat applies – favorite does not equal best. These are not the fifty books I think are the best in the history of literature, although there would be some crossover. Nor are they the fifty books that have influenced me the most, although again, the overlap is there. They're just my favorites.
Lloyd Alexander – The
Chronicles of Prydain
Anonymous – Beowulf
(the Heaney translation)
WH Auden – The Sea and
the Mirror
Jane Austen – Pride
and Prejudice
Peter S. Beagle – The
Last Unicorn
Ray Bradbury – From
the Dust Returned
AS Byatt - Possession
Susanna Clarke – Jonathan
Strange and Mr Norrell
Susan Cooper – The
Dark is Rising series
Pamela Dean – Tam Lin
Charles Dickens – A
Christmas Carol
EM Forster – A Room
With a View
Tana French – In the
Woods
Christopher Fry – The
Lady’s Not for Burning
Neil Gaiman – The
Graveyard Book
Neverwhere
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Lauren Groff – The
Monsters of Templeton
Lev Grossman – The
Magician King
Elizabeth Hand – Mortal
Love
Waking the Moon
Seamus Heaney – The
Cure at Troy
Joe Hill – 20th
Century Ghosts
Shirley Jackson – The
Haunting of Hill House
Diana Wynne Jones – Fire
and Hemlock
Guy Gavriel Kay – The
Lions of Al-Rassan
A Song for Arbonne
Stephen King – The
Eyes of the Dragon
It
Ellen Kushner – The
Privilege of the Sword
Madeleine L’Engle – The
Arm of the Starfish
A Wrinkle in Time
Kelly Link – Stranger
Things Happen
Penelope Lively – Moon
Tiger
China Miéville - UnLunDun
Erin Morgenstern – The
Night Circus
Garth Nix - Sabriel
Arthur Phillips – The
Song is You
JK Rowling – The Harry
Potter series
Karen Russell – St.
Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
Mary Doria Russell – Doc
The Sparrow
William Shakespeare – The
Tempest
Twelfth Night
Dodie Smith – I
Capture the Castle
Patti Smith – Just
Kids
Bram Stoker - Dracula
Tom Stoppard – Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern are Dead
Donna Tartt – The Secret
History
James Thurber – The 13
Clocks
Having only read a handful of those, I can't comment much (by the way, this looks like a great list of suggestions). But still I'd like to understand what made you choose these particular Gaiman works (over, say, "American Gods").
ReplyDelete"The Tempest" is my favourite Shakespeare play, too.
It's hard to explain, because it is a list of favorites, and so even more subjective than these types of lists usually are. And I left off books that I loved by authors that are on this list, because I love them, but I love others more. I do love American Gods. It's a terrific book. But I don't love it the way I love, say, Neverwhere.
DeleteI guess I'd say these are the books that I couldn't not choose, the ones that I reach for again and again, because something in them speaks to something in me in a way that matters.
Neverwhere is my favourite Gaiman book (Stardust comes a close second) over American Gods. I got a signature on my old battered copy of Neverwhere that's kind of falling apart rather than my copy of American Gods which is in better nick because I don't read it over and over!
DeleteSome good authors here!
DeleteIf I made a list like this, Neverwhere would definitely make the cut. Along with Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay, almost everything by Jacqueline Carey, and The Scar by China Miéville.
Been meaning to read A Wrinkle in Time for years now...
The thing I love about lists like these is seeing what other people choose as their favorites. Kushiel's Dart was one I considered really seriously adding, and The Scar is terrific.
DeleteI have seen a few of these lists, and the same thought keeps striking me -- where are the picture books? If I were to make my list, I would have to have at least a few on it, because without the love for those books, I never would have learned to love reading at all.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I would exclude picture books for the same reason that I didn't include comics on this list - the art is too integrally wrapped up with the story, and so it becomes a different sort of thing.
DeleteI would, of course, love to see your list.
I have really great memories of The Chronicles of Prydain - I think it was one of the first fantasy trilogies that I really dug into. I really need to double back and give it another go.
ReplyDeleteHave you read incarnations of immortality by pires Anthony?
ReplyDelete