The only one I’ve even heard of is Wolf Hall which I intend to read soon. But I’m afraid it’s too late for something like a mere book to change anything here haha. Be well.⚛️❤
That’s a great list and I’m chuffed to say I have read 3, still have Tomb of Sand on the shelf to read, and need to get Pew! The ones I have read were all excellent, especially Ghost and Wolf Hall - I agree with everything you said about them 😅. For me the magic of Ghost comes from its disarming candidness and honesty, and the way that the author pursues her intangible subject in the midst of the realities of her daily life.
@@cait_murphyhurrell One Hundred Years of Solitude (I backpacked round South America for two years inspired by it), Braiding Sweetgrass ( changed how I think about the world, and I’m an ecologist!), Riddley Walker (amazed me with what a book could do), Ducks, Newburyport (blew my mind and I still miss the narrator years later) and Austerlitz (Sebald’s company is so wonderful and his death was reported when I was half way through the book so it left a deep impression).
@@ianp9086 I'm ashamed to say that I haven't read any of the ones you've recommended but I definitely want to read them because I've heard such great things about them (I've been desperate to get my hands on Braiding Sweetgrass for ages)! Consider me adding all of the above to my tbr :)
Shout-outs to "Wolf Hall"!! It was on my contemporary English lit list at uni when I was doing my bachelor's and it was one of the best reads! This year I decided to pick up the 2nd and the 3d books and finished reading the whole series and it was perfect! And completely agree on Mantel's historical writing. P.S. Added "Pew" and "A Ghost in the Throat" to my reading list, thanks!
I have just bought Ghost in the Throat and is next for me to read. Also enjoyed Home Going. You may also enjoy Strange Lucidity. She is studying literature in Vienna and Sorbonne in Paris Not sure I could pick five favourite books but this year I have loved Lady Tan’s Circle of Women (Lisa See) - historical fiction Piranesi (Susannah Clarke) Devotion (Hannah Kent) - historical fiction People of the Book (Geraldine Brooks) - historical fiction Cloudstreet (Tim Winton)
Fair point, I suppose I got so wrapped up in talking about the books that my ‘life-changing points’ got lost in it. Essentially I think each book opened up my eyes to a different kind of reading of life 😊
The 5 (or so) books closest to my heart and soul: The Wolf and the Watchman, Niklas Natt och Dag (I read the Swedish original; it's a book not for the faint of heart); Life After Death, Damien Echols (literally changed my life), Wolf Hall obviously😊; Confessions, Rob Halford❤❤❤; The Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling; and MORE!
