The Booker Award – My Top 5 Books

This award is passed around from author to author (or to other bloggers) so that they, too, can share their top five books. The idea is the old desert island thing; you can take 5 books with you and, assuming they’re in a water tight box, what would they be.

I received this award from Vanessa Wester at http://vanessawesterwriter.blogspot.co.uk. She lives near me on the beautiful Isle of Wight and has already published her first novel Hybrid, and has collated a short story anthology for Halloween called ‘Out of Darkness’ including one of my stories.

It’s obviously hard to narrow all of the books you’ve read down to the five best but I’ll give it a go. I’m sure if I thought about it tomorrow then I’d have a different selection so don’t base too much of your judgements on these five.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

I absolutely love Christmas and I read this book every year to get myself in the mood for it. When I heard that this book was responsible for creating the modern Christmas, that we know and love, then it made me cherish it even more. Charles Dickens was pretty good with his words, I don’t know if anyone else has ever heard of him but try him out if not. 🙂 All of his books are excellent but this is the most special to me.

Summer Lightning – P.G.Wodehouse

A farcical romp from the first page to the last written by the greatest comedy writer of all time. His use of language is a joy to behold, enabling you to totally escape in to a harmless, gentle, stupid world. It was reading this book years ago that inspired me to have a crack at the writing lark myself. You know someone’s a genius when on the surface it looks so effortless and simple.

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin – David Nobbs

Once again this was a book that stood out for me as an example of excellent comedy writing. It tackles such a common problem for most people in their every day lives that hate their jobs and offers an extreme escape solution. The premise is still relevant today and often gets quoted in conversations regarding escape. I was first familiar with the TV series in the 1970’s but after I read the book I realised that the story was plotted to perfection by Nobbs.

Life – Keith Richards

‘Keef’ is the epitome of a rock star. The lead guitarist of the band that invented modern day rock n’ roll. A dirty, scary, street-fighting, hippy, that spent most of his life on drugs and lived to tell the tale. This book, written by his own hand, leads you on a journey over the last fifty years into a world that I for one always wanted to live in. Exciting, fast-paced, happy and sad. It’s a book that tells you where William Blake’s Road of Excess leads and what the consequences are to the person that walks it.

The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern

I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery of this book that kept me going right until the last page. The language is beautiful as it describes a strange world and the complexities of love within it. It conjures up a dark illusion that entangles you into the plot leaving you as intrigued as most of the characters. A modern classic.

So, there you go. My choices for what their worth.

All I must do now is name five more authors that can share their five.

Gary Henson – http://garyalanhenson.blogspot.co.uk

Mackenzie Brown – http://mackbrown.moonfruit.com

Lian Trowers – http://lktrowers.wordpress.com

Aine Warren – http://ainewarren.wordpress.com

Samir Rawas – http://cecileswriters.wordpress.com/

Let me know what you think.