Listmania!
Some Books, Plays and Poetry I Have Read
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (International Writers)Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (International Writers) by Patrick Suskind
Buy new: £4.40 / Used from: £0.01
A heady tale of obsession
AtonementAtonement by Ian McEwan
Buy new: £5.57 / Used from: £0.01
Probably a masterpiece, definitely one of the best I have read
19841984 by George Orwell
Buy used from: £14.73
Terrifying nightmare about power and submission
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Penguin Popular Classics)The Picture of Dorian Gray (Penguin Popular Classics) by Oscar Wilde
Buy new: £2.17 / Used from: £0.01
A rich parable of morality and art
Dubliners (Penguin Modern Classics)Dubliners (Penguin Modern Classics) by Joyce James
Buy new: £4.77 / Used from: £0.01
Beautifully written, The Dead is magnificent.
Lord of the FliesLord of the Flies by William Golding
Buy new: £4.37 / Used from: £0.01
Studied it to death in English Lit, hasn't put me off.
Tender is the Night: A Romance (Penguin Modern Classics)Tender is the Night: A Romance (Penguin Modern Classics) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Buy new: £6.08 / Used from: £0.01
Probably overshadowed by The Great Gatsby, but this is brilliantly crafted, and more personal.
DisgraceDisgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Buy new: £4.57 / Used from: £0.01
An cutting insight into a troubled country. Some of the scenes are unforgettable.
The New York Trilogy: "City of Glass", "Ghosts" and "Locked Room"The New York Trilogy: "City of Glass", "Ghosts" and "Locked Room" by Paul Auster
Buy new: £4.97 / Used from: £0.01
Brilliantly written and very enjoyable, but it left me slightly empty after finishing.
When We Were OrphansWhen We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
Buy used from: £0.01
I didn't like Ishiguro's prose style, and didn't find myself interested in the answers to the questions the book raises.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) by J.K. Rowling
Buy new: £5.52 / Used from: £0.01
The darkest of the Harry Potter books, and very fun to read.
Girlfriend in a ComaGirlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland
Buy new: £4.97 / Used from: £0.01
A very interesting book, about the present as much as the future, but the chatty, American prose style is quite annoying.
The Great Gatsby (Penguin Modern Classics)The Great Gatsby (Penguin Modern Classics) by F Scott Fitzgerald
Buy new: £4.49 / Used from: £0.88
A fantastic novel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story (Penguin Modern Classics)Animal Farm: A Fairy Story (Penguin Modern Classics) by George Orwell
Buy new: £4.95 / Used from: £0.98
Great political fable
The Iron Man: A Story in Five Nights (Faber Children's Classics)The Iron Man: A Story in Five Nights (Faber Children's Classics) by Ted Hughes
Buy new: £3.47 / Used from: £0.36
Excellent story by a fine poet
Frankenstein: or `The Modern Prometheus': The 1818 Text (Oxford World's Classics)Frankenstein: or `The Modern Prometheus': The 1818 Text (Oxford World's Classics) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Buy used from: £0.17
Definitely a scary, important novel, but some passages are clumsy, and the constant narrative can get a bit much, whether by Walton, Frankenstein or the monster.
Macbeth (Cambridge School Shakespeare)Macbeth (Cambridge School Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare
Buy used from: £0.01
Packed with observations that will never go out of fashion
Translations (Faber Paperbacks)Translations (Faber Paperbacks) by Brian Friel
Buy new: £4.88 / Used from: £0.01
Fantastic play, which tells more truth than centuries of politics ever have in my country
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (Dover Thrift)The Ballad of Reading Gaol (Dover Thrift) by Oscar Wilde
Buy used from: £0.01
Don't watch the Shawshank Redemption, read this instead. The nursery rhyme style makes the truth even harsher. But look carefully and you will find hope.
Collected Poems 1909-62Collected Poems 1909-62 by T.S. Eliot
Buy new: £7.77 / Used from: £0.99
Full of questions and conclusions, and beautiful poetry.
Slow Dance on the Fault LineSlow Dance on the Fault Line by Donald Rawley
Buy used from: £0.01
Such a fresh and vital voice, unfortunately Rawley died before I had heard of him.
Enduring LoveEnduring Love by Ian McEwan
Buy new: £4.99 / Used from: £0.01
Faster than Atonement, McEwan's books are what you look for in a novel, but rarely find.