When I was asked to nominate 10 significant books important to me I can gladly knock these off (in no particular order) : 1. Lord of the Rings. And its about now I should be reading it again. Bought it with my first wage packet (£2.10). It was expensive but I still havent got all the value out of it. You know who wrote it. 2. The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers. Read it at 20 and it did for me what Catcher in the Rye is supposed to do but didnt. Not a word out of place, reading this book was like someone had stepped right inside my bones and reported back. 3. Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner. Writing with the brakes off, Faulkner teaches compassion, the folly of pursuing dreams at all costs and why we cannot live outside the world. All wrapped up in the most glorious prose ever written. 4. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. His masterpiece, no argument. Without this no Waste Land which comes next. 5. The Waste Land by T S Eliot. I love this so much I learned it off by heart so I could carry it with me. It means more every year I live with it. Putting a poem in the list might be against the rules but poetry is something I read every day and its very significant to me. 6. A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh. After many years this has toppled Brideshead as favourite. It has the most horrifying ending of any novel which scares me every time I think too much about it. 7. Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome. A book which opened doors to many interests Im still exploring. No childhood should be without at least one Ransome. 8. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. That family. And I thought it was just me. 9. Farthest North by Fridtjof Nansen. The great Arctic explorer and a pretty fantastic human being. An inspiration. Wikipedia will only give you half of his achievements but look him up. 10. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. I picked this from the library because it had my grandads name in the title (he was such a good man I took his name when I became an actor and happily keep it with some friends). The Jude in the book taught me what could happen when the doors to education are slammed in your face. An important warning I took notice of. Not Hardys best writing but it changed my life. A list I didnt have to think too much about, its more or less set in stone. A lot of these arent necessarily books people associate with me as I keep my passion for them mostly to my chest. I guess I wouldnt want anyone to be mean to them so I dont let them mix too much. They have a good life right here. I love a list. ~ Tim Butler, bookseller
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 09:40:49 +0000