Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Image of Jane Austen from CFT archives (and originally from Pixabay).
Do you recommend books to others? I do sometimes, usually when chatting with other writers at an event over a cup of tea, and they recommend books to me. This is why all writers everywhere have an enormous To Be Read pile. They have an even bigger To Get Around to Reading at Some Stage pile. Don’t even ask what I’ve got waiting for me on my Kindle. Am just go glad electronic book shelves can’t collapse under the strain!
I blog once a week for Goodreads, the book website, and recommendations crop up all the time on there.
My Recommendation Criteria
Do you have criteria for recommending books to others? Mine are:-
- I’ve read the book at least twice. (Often more).
- It is a book I would have to take away with me on that famous, fictional desert island.
- I can’t imagine the world of literature without it.
- It covers interests of mine that I know or have found out are shared by whoever it is I’m recommending the book to. For example I love history and crime so a historical crime fiction novel is likely to go down well. I can think of writers who would probably enjoy the book too so would happily recommend to them.
- When I’m having books recommended to me, who is doing the recommending makes a difference. Someone I respect – I get that recommendation bumped up my to be checked out list.
Recommending Books and Series
Writers need to read well to help inspire their own writing. Besides, why would you not want to do so? You’re supporting the industry you want to be part of for one thing. Reading other books can help encourage you to keep going with your own – to get to that point where it is your name on the front cover.
Occasionally if I’m writing a blog post, I will recommend a book when it is in keeping with my theme. I was writing about humorous books and stories recently (for Goodreads) so happily recommended The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose compiled by the late, great, and much missed Frank Muir. Am glad to recommend it again here. It is a huge book (don’t drop the hardback on your foot) but a fabulous read and there are so many interesting pieces in there. He included the likes of Chaucer and Wodehouse, to name just two.
One of my favourite pieces ever is in this book. It is about an author whose characters come to life and berate him for giving them stereotypical lives rather than doing something more interesting with them. Am so glad this is fictional. I can think of a few of my own characters I wouldn’t want to be haunted by.
I sometimes recommend series (most notably the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett). This is because the characters develop over the course of the series and all writers can learn from seeing how that has been done here. So book recommendations can also help you learn to improve your craft.
I’m also happy to recommend how-to-write books but only ones I’ve used. Stephen King’s On Writing is a fascinating combination of a memoir plus thoughts on writing and is a great, entertaining read, even if you don’t intend to pick up a pen and write.
My Recommendations
So I thought I’d share some recommendations here. Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?
- The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose
- On Writing
- Pride and Prejudice
- The Lord of the Rings
- Anything by Wodehouse
- Anything by Pratchett
- Nemesis (Agatha Christie, her best Marple novel I think)
- Murder on the Orient Express (Christie’s best Poirot novel in my view).
- The Daughter of Time (Josephine Tey’s novel is the only one ever to change my mind about a historical character – Richard III).
- A Christmas Carol.
I concede I may be cheating for 5 and 6 above but I find it so difficult to leave out anything by these two master humorists. Their entire canons are worth checking out.
I am currently reading an interesting take on history called 1000 Years of Annoying The French. Funny, informative, and I think this will end up on my To Be Recommended list. Also to go on here at some point will be Ben Macintyre’s Operation Mincemeat, the true story of “the man who never was”.
You will see my ten is a good mix of fiction (with one non-fiction) across different eras and genres. That is how it should be I think. I’ve never seen the point of limiting your reading (or book recommendations) to one category. There is a saying “too little time, too many books”. My reply to that would be “true but let’s get as many in as possible then”! Don’t forget the library for checking out books/authors new to you.
Oh and audio books count too. They’re just another way of taking in information or stories new to you. I happily read Pratchett. My other half prefers the audio versions (narrated by Sir Tony Robinson). We both love the Discworld for its inventiveness and humour.
There is no way my other half would read The Lord of the Rings trilogy (another one not to drop on your foot) but loved the films and, after the first one, couldn’t wait for the next installments. But without the books, no films! Something about that pleases me.
Conclusion
Recommendations, like reviews, are personal and no two people will like exactly the same things. But having an interesting reading list to check out is always a good thing I think. I won’t ever run out of reading material!
Now over to you! What would you recommend and why? (If you prefer something on audio or film, do include that but why would you prefer this to the original book?).
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
Never miss out on another blog post. Subscribe here:
I like books that provide insights that I had not previously assimilated. Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson – Why Nations Fail. The Origins of Power Prosperity and Poverty is good.
My father, who only read books with titles like ‘Gunfight at Deadman’s Gulch’ and ‘Lynching in Laramie’ got hold of my GCSE text, Seifried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man and enjoyed it. I read it more carefully than necessary for the exam and went on to read Sassoon’s war poems and other memoirs leading to Robert Graves.
Sassoon threw his Military Cross into the Mersey. Afraid to court marshal him, the authorities got Graves to escort Sassoon to a psychiatrist, Rivers, in Scotland. Rivers featured in my University essays on the nature of sensation. It’s an interconnected world.
Many thanks, Mike. (I did approve your comment earlier. Have no idea why it is not showing up here). You’re right about it being an interconnected world – and books and stories can help form those connections.
Now your comment IS showing, Mike. Ah technology can be a fickle beast!