World Book Day 2016 - 40 Books To Read Before You Die - Our Favourites - Features - Culture - The Independent

World Book Day 2016: 40 books to read before you die our favourites ...
1 de 36
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-40...
We use cookies to enhance your visit to our site and to bring you advertisements that might interest you. Read
our Privacy and Cookies policies to nd out more.
Culture Books Features
World Book Day 2016: 40 books to read

before you die our favourites
Our personal favourites, and why you should add them to your bookshelf
Staff | 6 hours ago | 11 comments
2K
shares
Books are deeply personal things. Each of us form unique bonds

with the characters we read about, relate to storylines and
personalities in di erent ways and enjoy all sorts of genres from
03/03/2016 20:30
2 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
World Book Day celebrates the comfort, joy and ful lling
challenges to be found in a good novel, with readers taking part
in a host of activities around the world.
Sadly, those of us here at e Independent HQ have not opted for
fancy dress this year, but we have been having a long, hard think
about the books that make us tick.
Together, weve come up with a list of 40 novels that mean the
most to us, from the classics to less well-known stories
deserving of a wider audience.
Take a look at our picks and see if any of them grab your fancy.
Pour yourself a cuppa and enjoy.
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

I have read it to three-year-olds who learn about friendship and
confronting fear, to seven-year-olds who ponder about nature
and wistfulness and for me, to re,ect on other-worldliness and
personal space. Martin King
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

I cried reading this book. Hemingways story of the anguished,
hopeless love a air between American war veteran Jake Barnes
and Lady Brett Ashley is set against the backdrop of the San
Fermin bull festival in Pamplona, Spain. The writer is more
present in this work than he is in any other, in Jakes cold,
slightly bitter voice; in his friend and Bretts ex-loved Robert
Cohn you can picture Hemingways former boxing partner
Harold Loeb. At the place of his rst obsession, Hemingway
succeeds in distilling the passion and life to be found
there. Roisin O'Connor
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
03/03/2016 20:30
3 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
One of the most heart-wrenching books I have ever read that

transcends cultural gaps to touch the darker areas within us all.
Betrayal, guilt and redemption are the strongest themes here,
with Hosseini's second, mother-daughter novel A ousand
Splendid Suns also strongly recommended, so long as youre
willing to let the tears keep falling. De nitely try and read this
before watching the also excellent lm. Jess Denham
All Who Go Do Not Return by Shulem Deen

I was brought up an Orthodox Jew and this story about a man's
journey out of Orthodoxy was compelling both because of its
value and how it did and did not re,ect my childhood. One for
anyone who has ever felt lost. Dina Rickman
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

Expect some hefty historical chapters about the Italian and
German occupation of Cephalonia in World War II. Wade
through these, interesting as they are, and you'll nd many
fascinating explorations of love, including my favourite passage
03/03/2016 20:30
4 de 36
Denham
News
Voices
Culture
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
Books staying with you long after the nal page might be a
cliche but could not be truer in the case of Chad Harbachs
03/03/2016 20:30
5 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
character slowly becomes a friend whether you love them, hate

them or somewhere in between and its hard not to empathise
with the crippling self-doubt that threatens to destroy Henrys
future. Prior baseball knowledge is not a necessity: e Art of
Fielding sparked the most heated debate yet at my monthly
Book Club and not one of us knew what a shortstop was before
reading it. If the human condition fascinates you, turn to this
one next. Jess Denham
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Carrolls work is the greatest paradise for dreamers there is.
Reading and re-reading Alices adventures taught me, each time,
that imagination is an in nite thing and the word impossible
belongs to the vocabulary of the uninspired. Clarisse Loughrey
Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr

An utterly depressing read but one that is necessary to
understand no one is infallible to an addiction. Selbys
descriptions are outstanding; you truly experience the
harrowing lives of these four unfortunate New Yorkers. This
book is a train crash - uncomfortable to read but gripped by its
gruesome reality. #an Ramgobin
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

This quintessential jazz age novel is about so much more than a
shallow bunch of rich people hosting lavish parties. Fitzgerald
explores crushed idealism, hopeless love and the elusiveness of
the American Dream. The green light at the end of Daisy's dock
will speak to everyone's unful lled dreams. Jess Denham
Most iconic book covers
03/03/2016 20:30
6 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
12
show all
Vanity Fair by William Thackery

I dearly love Austen, but shes forgivingly attached to her
creations. She mocks them with a smiling nod and an e usive
warmth. Not Thackeray though; Becky Sharp is despicable,
calculating, and relentlessly cruel. And, boy, do I love her for it.
Clarisse Loughrey
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

When I was a wee nipper my Dad gave me a copy of e Hobbit
for my birthday, marking my rst foray into the fantastical world
of Middle Earth. Immediately, I fell in love with Bilbos
adventure into the Lonely Mountain, the characters being so
loveable and, unlike e Lord of the Rings, Tolkiens writing was
so easily accessible. Now, every time I return to the Shire its
like revisiting an old friend; I just wish I could forget about those
awful lm adaptations. Jack Shepherd
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
03/03/2016 20:30
7 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
This classic was forced upon me as a 15-year-old as it was part of

the GSCE syllabus. Im very thankful it was. Where else would I
have learnt so vividly about racial tension in the southern US
and the importance of ghting injustice and prejudice? They
were topics that in a predominantly white, middle-class, British
commuter town were not exactly on my radar. But told through
03/03/2016 20:30
8 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
American history and forever cemented the name Atticus Finch

as a byword for moral decency. I still havent read Go Set A
Watchman, that shows a darker side to Atticus, as I really dont
want to shatter my teenage illusions. Sally Newall
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

A handsome, narcissistic young man enthralled by hedonism
commits himself to indulging in every pleasure in life: both
moral and immoral. Roisin O'Connor
The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The power of female relationships is at the heart of this Pulitzer
Prize-winning book about the leading part sisterhood can play in
encouraging women to be the best person they can be. Set
mainly in rural Georgia in the 1930s, it follows the life of poor
African-American girl Celie and the sexism, racism and violence
she endures. Deeply troubling throughout, but inspirational and
life-aDrming too. Jess Denham
Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor

Gentle sophisticated humour covering the ctional history of a
03/03/2016 20:30
9 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
Small is quite good ethos. Slightly sentimental and

Thurberesque, this is the genuine Great American Novel. Alex
Johnson
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

This is one of those books which made me laugh out loud with
its wordplay and witty dialogue. It all seems a bit absurd at rst
but it builds towards a clever conclusion. Samuel Osborne
Middlemarch by George Eliot

A marathon of a book, it plods along until suddenly you are
utterly gripped, involved and entertained to the last ,ourish of
its nale. Theres no Victorian epic with a better pay-o for
those willing to persevere. Adam Withnall
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

Even though its a pretty radical and famous book from the
1960s, I only read e Golden Notebook two years ago, when I
was 24 and had already had my heart broken once or twice.
What Lessing managed to do was take everything Id learnt so far
about the modern world - con,ict, politics, how men and
women interact - break it down, show me how its all
interconnected, and put it back together again. She sharpened
my understanding of so many things Id only just begun to get to
grips with. Bethan McKernan
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

I silently took in the nal lines of e Age of Innocence; carefully
closed the book, and then threw it against a wall. Not a smart
reaction considering Id borrowed it from the library; but
Whartons words had devastated me, body and soul. There is no
other novel in existence that better reminds me regret is the
most poisonous of emotions. Clarisse Loughrey
03/03/2016 20:30
10 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
e Stand is probably the only book that has made me cancel

plans. Comprised of sections placing the microscope on
survivors of a pandemic based in varying locations, the epic
remains gripping throughout, achieving more tension across its
1,000 plus pages than most TV shows can muster in a single
season; Kings words are as infectious as the plague at the centre
03/03/2016 20:30
11 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
projects, is as essential as they come. Jacob Stolworthy
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The deep, unjust sense of inequality that permeated the Deep
South in the 1960s runs true throughout the book but so does
the importance of the relationships formed. The most special in
my mind is between house maid Aibleen and two-year-old Mae
Mobly, who she educates about not judging on skin colour and
in the face of a distracted mother, tells her everyday: You a
smart girl. You a kind girl. The ending breaks my heart every
time. Olivia Blair
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Prophet Almustafa has lived in a foreign city for 12 years and is
about to board a ship home when he stops to tell a group of
people everything he has learnt about all areas of life, from love
and marriage to joy and sorrow, crime and punishment, reason
and passion, good and evil and everything in between. Once
discovered, this spiritual bible is impossible to live without. Jess
Denham
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

It shows the absurd futility of trying to do anything in life. And
that makes me happy. Steve Anderson
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Gothic literature beautifully poses a single question to my own
mind: are ghosts merely a distraction from what truly frightens
us? The true horror lies within our own hearts and minds, and
the phantom of Rebecca is a merely a pointed nger towards
that revelation. Clarisse Loughrey
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
03/03/2016 20:30
12 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
her rst novel about the harrowing e ects of white beauty

standards on black self-acceptance and identity is arguably her
most profound. Jess Denham
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
I hadnt read a Hemingway book until last year, For Whom the
03/03/2016 20:30
13 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
Spanish Civil War-set story was such a thrilling, accessible read

that would transport me into a time and place I had no previous
knowledge of. Its ending, shrouded in ambiguity, has had me
thinking about it more than most books Ive read in my lifetime
thus far. Jacob Stolworthy
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

No-one does teen angst quite like Salinger in this short but
seminal Fifties novel. Holden Caul eld's story beautifully
explores the struggle to accept death and lost innocence while
making the tough journey into adulthood. Jess Denham
Women in Love by DH Lawrence

Many more knowledgeable, respected critics would choose e
Rainbow, Lady Chatterley's Lover or Sons and Lovers as DH
Lawrences best work, but Women in Love holds a special power
over this reader. It follows the tumultuous lives and loves of the
Brangwen sisters; while Gudrun pursues her destructive
relationship with the handsome Gerald Crich, intellectual
Rupert Birkin becomes involved with Ursula, the latter of whom
tears him apart in most of their exchanges. Lawrences tortured
characters are lled with self-loathing, the landscape is bleak,
and yet the beauty to be found in chapters such as Water Party,
or the electrifying wrestling scene, makes this novel stand on its
own as a literary masterpiece. Roisin O'Connor
03/03/2016 20:30
14 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Murakami wows with his ability to portray love, loss and
melancholy through stark simplicity and minute descriptions
(e.g. As we ambled along, Naoko spoke to me of wells.)
Perfect. Victoria Richards
Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland

The seediness of LA, fading celebrity and the all-American
dream provide the backdrop to this story of a screenwriter and
jaded TV stars search for a real connection in a super cial world.
The mystery at the centre of this novel keeps you intrigued all
the way through until a life-aDrming resolution that ultimately
presents love through a more hopeful lens. Heather Saul
On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Just how big an in,uence the ultimate beat generation novel still
has on young people became clear while travelling on my gap
year aged 19. Everyone had their cherished, dishevelled copy
crammed into their backpack. Prepare for serious wanderlust.
Jess Denham
03/03/2016 20:30
15 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien

There isn't really a central narrative, it's mostly a list of
unpronounceable names, and will probably confuse even the
most ardent fans of the genre, but nothing comes close to
matching the fantastical breadth of Tolkien's legendary
precursor to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. When I
nished Silmarillion for the rst time and put it down, I couldn't
believe an entire mythology had been contained within a single,
smallish book. Matt Champion
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

It is a truth universally acknowledged that this love story is an
enduring classic, exquisitely written with Austen's characteristic
pen of irony. But fans of the BBC adaptation be warned, Darcy
does not emerge from the lake in a wet white shirt in the 1813
original (a travesty, in my opinion). This novel taught me what
Austen herself learned long ago: that charm can be the ultimate
deceiver. Jess Denham
03/03/2016 20:30
16 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
The Beach by Alex Garland

No book will add more excitement to your commute than The
Beach. With its exotic locales, sense of adventure and gradual
descent into the nightmarish, author Alex Garland (who
directed last years sublime sci- Ex Machina) presents the book
equivalent of going on a holiday you wont want to forget. It
remains the only book Ive revisited in my adult years. Jacob
Stolworthy
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

I wish every teenage girl could read e Vir/n Suicides. Every
woman, even. Theres this strange quality to Eugenides outsider
perspective that captures, like otherworldly magic, the feminine
experience as both the sublime dream and monstrous nightmare
its come to be. Clarisse Loughrey
Bobby Brewster by HE Todd

Scandalously out of print, Bobby Brewster is a timeless primary
school-aged boy who has mildly magical adventures nothing as
serious as Harry Potter, they usually involve everyday objects
such as spoons or conkers coming to life. He is also very partial
to sardine sandwiches. Alex Johnson
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I read this while travelling around Steinbecks California
stomping ground, which helped bring his dusty world to life. e
Grapes of Wrath is set during the Great Depression and follows
an Oklahoma family as they trek across America in search of a
better future. Humanity at its rawest and most un,inching. Jess
Denham
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
03/03/2016 20:30
17 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
case, it didn't have anything on the book. One independent

female farmer and three hugely di erent suitors make for a
rst-rate story. Hardys fourth and arguably least depressing
novel has unrequited love, death, insanity, murder and, nally,
the happy ending you were wanting all along. Jess Denham
The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa

This is an exquisitely told story of Ricardo Somocurcio and his
decade-long obsession with a Peruvian expatriate: the woman he
rst fell in love with when he was just 15-years-old.
More about: | Jane Austen | Jack Kerouac | Thomas Hardy |
JRR Tolkien | Haruki Murakami | JD Salinger | Ernest Hemingway |
Toni Morrison | Daphne du Maurier | Oscar Wilde | Doris Lessing |
Harper Lee
2K
shares
COMMENTS
Log in or register to comment
11 Comments
Milegobbler
Subscribe RSS
1 hour ago
"The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" Robert Tressell

Reply Share
Linden145
0 likes
2 hours ago
I second the vote for Gabriel Garcia Marquez, especially

One Hundred Years of Solitude, which is great fun if you've
already read Conrad's Nostromo.
03/03/2016 20:30
18 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
An Instance of the Finger Post; Josef Skvorecky's The

Engineer of Human Souls and Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains
of the Day and his The Unconsoled.
I like to be intrigued and I admire born writers. Too many
over-hyped books today seem to be the equivalent of
painting by numbers. They are churned out as quick reads for
book clubs.
Reply Share 1 reply
bebe
+1 likes
1 hour ago
Almost totally agree; but I've not read "The Engineer of

Human Souls". Since you seem to share my tastes, I
shall look out for it.
Reply Share
HimIndoors
0 likes
2 hours ago
Vladimir Nabokov (no, not Lolita).

Reply Share
JonnyOLowe
0 likes
3 hours ago
I know these lists are a bit of fun and totally subjective but
no Gabriel Garcia Marquez? Really!
Reply Share
maciver
0 likes
3 hours ago
Oh dear! What a bozo list. We live in an impoverished

cultural age.
Reply Share
landjohn
+1 likes
3 hours ago
Not a single book by James, Dickens, Bronte, Woolf, Joyce,

Forster, Conrad, Orwell, Greene, Roth, Updike, Bellow,
Smith (Z), Carey, Coetzee, Barnes, Rushdie... the list goes
on. But nice to see Edith Wharton there for a change. "The
Silmarillon"? You have to be joking.
Reply Share
ruskiny
+2 likes
4 hours ago
03/03/2016 20:30
19 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
never occurred to me. Antidote to a UK education.

Reply Share
CoffeeManiac
0 likes
4 hours ago
Aleph by Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist by Paulho Coelho
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setter eld
I actually there's a lot of interesting book. I always love this
kind of list, I'll try to nd all of them
Reply Share
thebooktrailer
0 likes
5 hours ago
This is a great list but so hard to do as there are just so many

great books out there that aren't considered classics or
'popular' that are very worthy. Recently two come to mind The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure which tells the
ctional story which could be true - of the lengths ordinary
people went to in order to hide Jews from the Nazis.
Then there's Kate Morton's The Secret Keeper which is a
story of war time London with a remarkable twist at the end!
For books where you can travel to far o distant lands - The
Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas, Nightblind by Ragnar
Jonasson set in Iceland and the Paris Bookshop by Nina
George which celebrates books, reading and is set all across
France even visiting the French city of Books along the way!
Happy reading and travelling!!
Reply Share
James Johnson
0 likes
6 hours ago
What a futile exercise since the enjoyment of books is so

highly subjective. There are at least three books in the article
above which I started to read and then stopped in
exasperation as they were just so dull and irrelevant to me.
The Silmarillion is genuinely unreadable. On the other hand,
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess, A Prayer for Owen
Meany by John Irving, The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch,
The Chymical Wedding by Lindsay Clarke or Gormenghast
03/03/2016 20:30
20 de 36
News
Reply Share
Voices
Culture
0 likes
Can you read faster

than the national
average? Take the test
The Premier League
table v transfer spend
makes for very
interesting reading
A man just proposed to
his girlfriend on Jeremy
Kyle and it was so, so
painful to watch
This teacher found a
very clever way of
making his students
work harder
Tiger Woods opens new
golf course, kid's rst
shot is a hole in one
MOST POPULAR
Scientists hear huge,
mysterious signal from
deep in space
Huge 8.2-magnitude
earthquake 'hits
south-east Asia'
Leonardo DiCaprio wins
his Oscar, and you have
one question....
Alexandra Andresen, 19,
the world's youngest
billionaire
North Korea launches
03/03/2016 20:30
21 de 36
News
warning
Voices
Culture
Mitt Romney blasts Donald

Trump in scathing speech
Rescued bear, lion

and tiger 'brothers'
refuse to be
separated
Sacha Baron Cohen

explains Borat
deleted scene
SPONSORED FEATURES
Science-ction dreams
are becoming a reality
Is your career catwalk

ready?
5 Things to do in
Iceland
What does failure feel

like?
The sound of silence:

take a pilgrimage to
Ontarios awe-inspiring
Woodland Caribou
03/03/2016 20:30
22 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
23 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
24 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
25 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
26 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
27 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
28 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
29 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
30 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
31 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
32 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
33 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
34 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
35 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
03/03/2016 20:30
36 de 36
News
Voices
Culture
Follow us:
User Policies
Newsletters
Privacy Policy
iJobs
Cookie Policy
Subscriptions
Code of Conduct
Advertising Guide
Complaint Form
Syndication
Contact Us
Evening Standard
Contributors
Novaya Gazeta
All Topics
Install our Apps
Archive
03/03/2016 20:30

World Book Day 2016 - 40 Books To Read Before You Die - Our Favourites - Features - Culture - The Independent

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Исходное описание:

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

World Book Day 2016 - 40 Books To Read Before You Die - Our Favourites - Features - Culture - The Independent

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

World Book Day 2016: 40 books to read before you die our favourites ...

Culture Books Features

World Book Day 2016: 40 books to read

Books are deeply personal things. Each of us form unique bonds

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

One of the most heart-wrenching books I have ever read that

All Who Go Do Not Return by Shulem Deen

Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

character slowly becomes a friend whether you love them, hate

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

Vanity Fair by William Thackery

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

This classic was forced upon me as a 15-year-old as it was part of

American history and forever cemented the name Atticus Finch

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor

Small is quite good ethos. Slightly sentimental and

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Middlemarch by George Eliot

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

e Stand is probably the only book that has made me cancel

projects, is as essential as they come. Jacob Stolworthy

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

her rst novel about the harrowing e ects of white beauty

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Spanish Civil War-set story was such a thrilling, accessible read

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

Women in Love by DH Lawrence

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Beach by Alex Garland

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Bobby Brewster by HE Todd

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

case, it didn't have anything on the book. One independent

The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa

"The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists" Robert Tressell

I second the vote for Gabriel Garcia Marquez, especially

An Instance of the Finger Post; Josef Skvorecky's The

Almost totally agree; but I've not read "The Engineer of

Vladimir Nabokov (no, not Lolita).

Oh dear! What a bozo list. We live in an impoverished

Not a single book by James, Dickens, Bronte, Woolf, Joyce,

never occurred to me. Antidote to a UK education.

Aleph by Paulo Coelho

This is a great list but so hard to do as there are just so many