Ok for Ben, Mike, Mike, David, Philippa n all... My top 10 (+1) kids and mid teens fiction books... Robert J. Lee - The Runaway Puppets (Toddler picture book about two puppets who adventure out of their play room and get lost in a forest where they are guided home by a wise owl. The images in this book are still intoxicating especially the mysterious wood) James Thurber (illustrated by Ronald Searle) - The 13 Clocks (Spellbinding childrens story with an evil duke but even more evil nemesis in The Todal) A A Milne - The World of Pooh (Delightful. I recall finishing the book with my mum and tearing up looking at the final image of the silhouettes of Christopher Robin and Pooh holding hands walking away. I realised that things come to an end) T.H. White - The Once And Future King (Read after a childhood holiday visiting Tintagel. Moves from fun childrens adventure into serious grown up waters) Spike Milligan - Puckoon (I recall laughing out loud with tears streaming down my face to this) The Brand New Monty Python Bok (surrealist comedy drenched in Gilliams visual baroque style, my life manual for several years) Michael Moorcock - Cure for Cancer (Read on holiday in Cornwall at the age of about 14 - totally changed my idea of what a book could be - non-linear - and featuring sampled texts - a creative epiphany) Robert Nye - Merlin (I consumed everything I could by Robert Nye who seems to have been forgotten about - like reading magic spells by a warm crackling fire - glorious intimate prose and characters who seem to whisper in your ear) Salvador Dali - The Secret Life of Salvador Dali (Obsessed with Dali since the age of 12 this monumental lie of a book about his life, beautifully illustrated, pulled me in to the thrillingly strange Dalinian universe) Marquis de Sade - Juliette (Sades masterpiece and what a great gal! Especially in comparison to the awful wimpy Justine. I didnt appreciate just how accurate his characterisation of senior members of society was until relatively recently. Great dollops of raging philosophical rants interleaved with insane bouts of lubricious embuggerations, S&M and murder - heady stuff for a teenager and still the gold standard) Anthony Burgess - Clockwork Orange (Read it because I couldnt see the film in the 70s. Fortunately I didnt read the version of the book with the awful final happy ending chapter)
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 12:20:47 +0000
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