Favourite books (old)

[triskellian]

Having mentioned some books whilst writing about my favourite authors, which are among my absolute favourite books, I've put together a non-exhaustive, in-no-particular-order

My favourite books

The caveats

I've probably done this to death above, on my favourite authors. This list isn't exhaustive, or in order, and I may change my mind about the 'favourite' status of almost any of these, or sometimes prefer a different book by the same person. Or in fact do anything else to utterly change the contents of the list, depending on my mood.

The list

• The Robber Bride(Margaret Atwood)


• The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)


• The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)


• Enduring Love (Ian McEwan)


• Atonement (Ian McEwan)


• Possession (AS Byatt)


• The Night Listener (Armistead Maupin)


• Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carrol)


• Changeover (Margaret Mahy)


• I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)


• Strangers in Paradise (Terry Moore)


• Preacher (Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon)



They're graphic novels. Is that allowed? If so, are plays allowed? This lists business is a difficult one. OK, it's my list, and I choose to allow plays:



• Arcadia (Tom Stoppard)


• The Importance of Being Ernest (Oscar Wilde)


• Vox (Nicholson Baker)


• How to be Good (Nick Hornby)


• Human Croquet (Kate Atkinson)


• The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)



They're all modern. That wasn't intentional. OK, adding some classics:



• Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)


• Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)



And there's no science fiction in here yet, which has to be an oversight...



• Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)


• The Children of Men (PD James)


• 1984 (George Orwell) (Does this really count as science fiction any more? Perhaps not. Onto other things.)


• The Virgin Suicides (Jeffrey Eugenides)


• Good Omens (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman) (one of only two partnerships
  I've read where their joint work is better than either of their solo work,
  the other being Janny Wurts and Raymond E Feist with the Empiretrilogy, which doesn't merit a place in this list today)


• An Instance of the Fingerpost (Iain Pears)



And I get to this stage in the list, and I'm plagued by a nagging suspicion that there are some painfully obvious books I've missed out and I have no idea what they are. OK, thought of two more:



• Titus Groan (Mervyn Peake)


• Northern Lights (Philip Pullman)



Sadly, both marred by a flawed third part, and although both second parts are very good, the first is the outstanding achievement in both cases



• ... I've run out of steam now. I'll add more as they occur to me.