Choose the five books of your life. What a brief. I could easily bore you to tears talking about my favourite books. But narrowing it down to a handful is quite difficult. It’s like being asked to pick the best dish from a Chinese takeaway. Or your favourite child. Nevertheless, here is this book worm’s pick of the paperbacks.
by Charlie Smith-Knight
The One that was more than a book:
The Crossing Places
by Elly Griffiths
The first novel of the Dr Ruth Galloway series, introduces forensic archaeologist Ruth, whose life is upended when she is asked to assist in a police case involving a child’s bones that are found on a Norfolk beach. Alongside DCI Harry Nelson and his team, Ruth aids in hunting down the killer after a second child goes missing. Being Norfolk born and bred, I enjoy Griffiths’ depictions of local villages and coastline and the way she incorporates myths and legends into the storylines. Moreover, I love this series because I was introduced to it by my Nan. A prolific reader, she bought this book for me, and we read through the series together, chatting about Ruth and Nelson as though they were our neighbours. My Nan was reading The Night Hawks when she passed last year and I will continue to read them until Griffiths’ fulfils Ruth’s ultimate destiny: with or without Harry. Engaging, crime-based dramas with real-world relationships at their heart.
The Controversial One:
Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
Perhaps this epic novel has not aged well under the scrutiny of a modern audience. It is fair to say that it’s told from the perspective of slave owners, so the characterisation of slaves has certainly been questioned over time. But if you’re looking at it as a celebration of slavery, you’re reading the room with less accuracy than Liz Truss. The story itself is set during the American Civil War and centres on the life of wilful, young Katie Scarlett O’Hara. Spanning several decades as she becomes a wife, mother, widow and wife again. We follow the drama of a spoilt, anti-hero who rebels against the social expectations of the time, set against the sweeping backdrop of the American south during the Reconstruction Era. The story encompasses themes of white supremacy, war and, ultimately, is a story of survival. Although some of the characterisation is problematic in modern society, the story still has merit to acknowledge the injustices apparent in our shared history and to recognise the positive change that have made elements of this novel outdated and jarring. I read it when I was 15 and I can still envisage the whitewashed brick and timber of Tara, who’s own evolution mirrors that of the often disagreeable protagonist.
The Bedtime One:
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
by Kate DiCamillo
This is a tale starting in the 1930’s of a vain, china rabbit called Edward, who is given to ten year old Abilene by her grandmother. Cherished and adored by his young owner, Edward values his appearance above all else until an unfortunate event causes him to be parted from her. From here Edward’s guardianship changes hands several times from a homeless man and his dog to a sickly young girl. With each change, Edward’s selfish behaviours are stripped away until he is finally reunited with Abilene, now a parent herself, as a more humble and grateful companion. Quite simply a beautifully succinct children’s story with solid foundations in life affirming themes of redemption and love.
The Contemporary One:
Run, Rebel
by Manjeet Mann
Amber Rai is a young girl, being raised by her traditional Indian parents in present-day Britain. Written in poetic verse, the novel is fast paced and punches its way through Amber’s coming of age story. Tackling issues of jealousy, domestic violence and arranged marriage, this story is emotive and insightful. An outstanding one off that I read it in one sitting.
The Tear-Jerker:
The Storyteller
by Jodi Picoult
I should start by saying I have never read a story by Jodi Picoult that I didn’t love. She is the master of huge and unanswerable moral dilemmas, and The Storyteller is no different. Sage Singer is a young woman, carrying tremendous personal pain, who joins a grief support group and befriends a kindly elderly gentleman called Josef. The friendship takes a turn when Josef confesses, he was once a Nazi and asks Sage to assist him to die. Unbeknownst to Josef, he crossed paths at Auschwitz with Sage’s grandmother Minka, a Jewish prisoner of war. The story travels back through the stench and grit of the concentration camp with poignant and realistic details that are both harrowing but necessary to truly relay the horrors of The Holocaust. Ultimately, Sage makes her decision but as always in Picoult’s work, there is a twist that turns the story like a kaleidoscope, just when you least expect it. This book stayed with me long after I closed the cover.