Alternative Booker that is.
Thanks to Sarah W who tagged me with The Alternative Booker Award wherein I share my five personal favourite books and ask five more bloggers to share theirs. Like Sarah, I struggled to limit myself to five. I needed some way to sub-categorize; I started thinking of favourite books and three were first novels. There was my sub-set!
Five favourite first novels*:
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee – I’ve read this book so many times. As a undergraduate I cited the Boo Radley phenomenon in a paper, as an English teacher I taught TKAM two years in a row. A dear friend gave me a limited edition on the 50th anniversary of its publication, but any edition of this book is a keeper. Imagine this being your first novel. Wow.
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles – this was probably (see, even here I must qualify) my favorite read of 2012. A zippy, swingy, jazzy read. I did not want it to end. How could you not fall in love with a protagonist called Katey Kontent?
Lives of Girls & Women by Alice Munro – this is a coming of age story, billed as Munro’s “only” novel, although some argue it’s a series of linked short stories. Either way, it permits me to include my writing heroine, Alice Munro, on my list. I’ve read every single short story collection of hers, but am saving her latest, Dear Life, for a special occasion. I already know it deserves that.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling – I first read this when it came out in 1997 and waited eagerly for each subsequent one to be published. The plot, the setting, the concept – pure escapism. The Boy has the boxed set – instant gratification. Missy has just started reading this first book, while The Boy has just cracked the last in the series.
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery- my comfort read. I keep a copy in the drawer of my bedside table for medicinal purposes. A dose of Anne cures insomnia, ennui and other first world problems. I am waiting for the right moment to introduce Missy to the Anne series. It will kill me if she rejects it as she did Little House in the Deep Woods and Trixie Belden.
Finally, I’m tagging these bloggers to continue the Alternative Booker Award:
Reb Alexander – speaking of debut novels!
Cat of The Divorced Lady’s Companion to Living in Italy - speaking of debut novels!
Ladies, you’re it.
I don’t think my heart will take it If any of my kids reject that first Harry Potter book. That would be so, so wrong.
I’m putting Anne of Green Gables on my TBR list. Forgive me but who is Trixie Belden?
She was a girl-detective type who often “shook her head ruefully.” One in a long line of book series I read as a girl…
http://www.trixie-belden.com/
I am so embarrassed to admit I have not read Alice Munro. What’s wrong with me? Must read Alice Munro, must read Alice Munro. (Where should I start?)
They’re all good. Any of the short story collections. You can’t go wrong. (Unless you lend three of your hardbacks to a friend who never returns them, as I did………..)
Alice Munro is my idol. (there, I just wanted to say that) Well, Alice and Margaret Atwood — who needs the Americans.
Yeah, those Americans, eh?
Your list is so much classier than mine, Downith. I need to read the second one–and re-read the third.
Let me know what you think of Rules of Civility. I think Teri recommended it to me. She has very classy taste.
Happy to participate, Downith. Many thanks for tagging me!
Five favourite historical novels?
How lovely Downith thank you! Now I will be distracted all day staring up at my bookshelves instead of thinking of my own words. How lovely to savour book thoughts. And a fellow Trixie Belden fan? I never knew. I collected them and was so proud of my long line of books on my white bookshelf. Xcat
Yes, I collected the Trixie books, too. Maybe we can start a blogger’s Bob-White club?
Blog-White?
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A good list, for sure. I’m happy to say my precious girls have already embraced Anne with an E so big breath of relief…
Phew! That’s encouraging.
I just wish that “Mockingbird” wasn’t an only novel.
Hey, Hey. (can I call you Hey?)
I know. Then again, when you achieve perfection first time out, it might be daunting to even consider a second novel.
Some good choices here! When I respond (which is overwhelming, to think of all the books I love, and all first books in particular) I might have to steal To Kill a Mockingbird. Book-love theft — it’s the most satisfying kind!
It doesn’t have to be first books – that was the subset I chose. You could do favourite short story collections. Ahem. And yes, book-love theft is the biz.
Rules of Civility! Loved that book. I have been trying desperately to get one of my kids to read Harry Potter with me and none of them will take the bait. It’s like I’m begging for a date around here. The oldest one has now moved on and she was never interested in Harry. My seven-year old boy, is Star Wars obsessed and the more I mention it the more he resists. The youngest guy is four, so all of my hope is on him. I may tell him I will not under any circumstances read it to him just to see if he’ll bite.
She resisted for awhile and now is devouring the first one. “I LOVE this book” was the comment at lights out last night.
Banning a book is a good way to pique interest!
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I’m a big Alice Munro fan too. Here there was a huge outcry when the new addition of Anne Of Green Gables had a cover featuring Anne looking sexy with blonde hair. Doesn’t sound right. What about Enid Blyton and her Rockingdown Mysteries? And of course Harry Potter, what a series.