Tagged by Karen Follett - 10 books that have stayed with me. I know youre not supposed to think too hard about this but I came up with about 20 books so I had to narrow it down a bit. 1) Moominland Midwinter - Tove Jansson. Yes, its a Moomin book, ostensibly for kids but its really so much more than that. Its a surprisingly profound and honest exploration of loneliness, not belonging and the fear of the unknown - and the Lady of the Cold genuinely scared the life out of me as a kid. 2) Firestarter - Stephen King. My nan bought me this from a car boot sale. I was about 11/12 and was absolutely captivated by it. It was around about that time I realised that a good horror story does more than just indiscriminately frighten. I blame nan for the things I write today. 3) Spike Milligans War Memoirs - I have to treat this as a series because underneath Milligans hilarious commentary theres a very real and very human story, especially following Milligans shellshock and subsequent slide into depression. Mostly, its bloody hilarious though. 4) The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris - read this when I was probably a bit younger than I ought to have been (14) and decided I wanted to be Clarice Starling. Hannibal Lecter is a fantastic, complex villain/antihero/christ knows what 5) Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - studied this at GCSE and am gutted its supposedly going to be removed from the syllabus because it is such an important piece of literature. 6) The Green Mile - Stephen King. I dont care if its a giant cliche, I love this book. The film version is also the only film Ive ever watched that makes me cry every time. I have a heart of stone, but even though I know whats coming, I tear up. A modern day Of Mice and Men, in many ways. 7) Smoke and Mirrors - Neil Gaiman - it was a toss-up between this and American Gods, but I chose Smoke and Mirrors because it introduced me to the idea that the short story was as powerful and worthy a medium as the novel. (Snow, Glass, Apples is still a favourite of mine) 8) The End Of The Affair - Graham Greene. Again, a toss-up between this and Brighton Rock but this book makes my heart hurt every time I read it, and I figure thats the sign of a very well-written story. 9) Watchmen - Alan Moore - I know its a graphic novel but its still one of the best things Ive read in a long time, and appeals to my own sense of politics in many ways. Plus, the superhero genre was always ripe for deconstruction. 10) No Country For Old Men - Cormac McCarthy - Sometimes I think that if I could write like McCarthy, Id be a very happy writer indeed. Its a dark story without redemption, and I was utterly captivated by the sheer brutality of it - not in a spilled entrails and splattered blood sense, but in the total lack of apology it makes for being so bleak and dark. I dont know if Luke Walker, Francis Knight, Gary Couzens and Martin Owton have done this yet, but consider it an invitation.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 13:11:44 +0000
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