Malu's Literature Challenge (Top Ten Fiction - General)

Member Name: Kukana

Product:	Top Ten Fiction - General
Date:	08/11/03 (112 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: thinking about lots of wonderful books

Disadvantages: not enough time to read them and the many more waiting to be read

I've put this under 'Top Ten Fiction', because this challenge seemed like a good opportunity to decide my top ten favourite fictional books, both adult and children's. See below.

* What is your favourite genre? *

I don't really think in terms of genre. However someone told me, some months ago, that there are basically three ways that people mainly focus their minds, depending on their personality preferences. Either they focus mainly on information, or on activity, or on people. Someone who mainly focuses on information would probably enjoy non-fiction the most, or the kind of books with a lot of technical or linguistic detail. Someone who mainly focuses on activity would probably mostly enjoy plot-driven books with plenty of action. I happen to be someone who focuses mainly on people, so it makes sense that I like books which focus on people - those that are character-driven. That doesn't mean I don't want any plot, but it's secondary, and has to have a satisfactory (preferably happy) ending.

So I mainly read modern family sagas and gentle romances, at the moment; I also like some historical novels, so long as they're not set in the battlefield, and aren't too depressing. For non-fiction, I enjoy lighter Christian authors, 'clean' humour, popular psychology books, and just about anything to do with health, nutrition, education and raising children.

* Do you read the classics, i.e., the great authors of the 18th and 19th century? *

Some of them. I like Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë, but am not too keen on Dickens, other than 'A Christmas Carol'. I read 'Mayor of Castorbridge' at school, and thought it was OK, but when I read one or two other Thomas Hardy books I found them utterly depressing, particularly 'Jude the Obscure'. So I don't read those any more.

* Are you interested in thrillers? *

I read light
crime fiction sometimes - Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton, or Ellis Peters for instance - but I'm not interested in high-action thrillers. I've never yet read a Tom Clancy, although my husband has dozens of them.

* What about horror stories? *

No way! I'm the kind of person who used to hide behind the sofa when Dr Who was on television. Anything scarier than that, and I'd have nightmares for weeks.

* Do you read Science Fiction? *

Not in general, though I've delved into it occasionally. I do enjoy Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams, but they're both a strange blend between sci-fi, fantasy and humour. I also very much enjoyed CS Lewis's sci-fi trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength). But I find most of the genre either too technical or too depressing.

* How many Harry Potter books have you read? *

All of them. I read the first one, which someone gave one of my sons, before they become so well-known - though not, unfortunately, a first edition! I don't like all the hype that surrounds them, or the antagonism in some quarters which has fuelled the amazing popularity in others - but I do think they're extremely good books for older children, well-written with humour, and with plenty of appeal for different ages. My favourite so far is the third, the Prisoner of Azkhaban.

* Have you ever read and enjoyed biographies or autobiographies? *

Yes, in a low-key way. I really enjoyed CS Lewis's autobiographical book 'Surprised by Joy', and have read a few others by or about authors. I like them best if they're interspersed with some humour. I also like semi-autobiographical books such as Bill Bryson's explorations around the world, the James Herriot 'vet' series, Gerald Durell's family-based books, and 'Driving over Lemons' which describes one of the ex-Rolling Stones buying an
d doing up a property in Spain

However I'm not at all interested in general in the lives of film-stars, sports personalities or politicians.

* Do you remember any of the books you read and loved as a child? *

Absolutely! Enid Blyton was my favourite for many years, and certainly encouraged me to become an avid reader. I loved the 'Faraway Tree' series when I was about six, and then later on the Mallory Towers and St Clare's books. As well as those, I read the 'Lone Pine' series and others by Malcolm Saville, anything I could find by Noel Streatfeild, all the Paddington books by Michael Bond, the Chalet School books by Elinor M Brent-Dyer (all 60+ of them), books by E Nesbit, Arthur Ransome, Hugh Lofting's 'Dr Dolittle' series, Mrs Pepperpot, Louisa Alcott's 'Little Women' series, Susan Coolidge's 'Katy' series... I could go on all day! I used to read at least one book every day.

* Have you reread these books as a grown-up? *

Certainly! I've read many of them to my own children, and some of them to myself. A good book is a good book at whatever age.

* Is there a book of which you can say it has influenced you? *

The Bible is the most important and influential to me. Other than that, I couldn't choose just one. But here's a selection:

Patricia M St John's 'Treasures of the Snow' - as a young child
CS Lewis's 'Narnia' series - as an older child
CS Lewis's 'Mere Christianity' - as a teenager
Walter Trobisch's 'I married you' - as a young wife
Penelope Leach's 'Baby and Child' - as a very young mother
Ross Campbell's 'How to really love your child' - when my children were about four or five
Otto Kroeger and Janet Thueson 'Type Talk' - about ten years ago
Philip Yancey's 'Where is God when it hurts?'
- about five years ago
Riso and Hudson's 'Wisdom of the Enneagram' - recently

* Which are your favourite authors? *

Oh boy... have you got all day?!

Rosamunde Pilcher, Robin Pilcher (her son), Adrian Plass, Terry Pratchett, Susan Howatch, Elizabeth Goudge, Louisa M Alcott, CS Lewis, Ross Campbell, Maeve Binchy, Georgette Heyer, Janette Oke, Mary Sheepshanks, Alexandra Raife, Marcia Willetts, Erica James, Philip Yancey, JK Rowling, Dick King-Smith, Shirley Hughes, Jane Aiken Hodge, Jan Karon, Kathleen Rowntree, PG Wodehouse, Anne Tyler.... to name a few off the top of my head.

* Which book would you take with you on a desert island? *

I'm assuming that's in addition to the Bible and Shakespeare, like on the Desert Island Disks radio show! Ummm ... well it depends how long I was there. If it was for a long time, I think I'd want a good illustrated encylcopedia (preferably the full Britannica) so I can identify plants and learn how to survive. But just for a few days, up to a week, if I had shelter and food provided, then maybe something like Lord of the Rings. I've read it three times in all, but the last couple of times I skimmed a fair bit. It's so long I doubt if I'll take the time to read it properly again, and it would be quite fun to do so if I had a week to myself with nothing else to do.

* What is your attitude towards translations? *

I'm very thankful for them, since I don't read any language other than English fluently. The only thing I think is silly is when a British book is 'Americanised' (or an American book 'Anglicised') supposedly to make them easier for people to understand. To me that's condescending, as if we couldn't work out from context what an elevator or a diaper is.

* Do you buy your books/get them from the library/borrow them from friends/steal them? *

Buy them second-hand, or ask fo
r them from relatives for Christmas/birthdays! I like to keep books if I enjoy them, and usually I do. I suppose we have about 4,000 in all.

* When you buy books, do you prefer hardcover editions or pocket books? *

I do like hardcover books, but generally buy paperbacks because they're so much cheaper.

* Have you ever tried Audio Books? *

No, but they're an excellent idea for the partially sighted, or for people who drive a lot, or for children. One of my sons used to listen to audio books a lot to help him get to sleep.

* Top ten favourite fiction books *

I've limited this to books I've read in the past ten years. There are many, many books which I've enjoyed (I read on average about one a week) but these have the additional 'Ahhhh.... ' factor that leave me feeling moved, or awed, or refreshed in some way above and beyond the normal enjoyment of a book. In alphabetical order of author:

Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)
- I read this in my teens and fell in love with it. Even though I can now see how over-melodramatic and unlikely the ending is, I still love it. I've read it about four times in all, including within the past year.

Arabella (Georgette Heyer)
- I enjoy almost everything this author has written, but somehow Arabella stands out above the rest as an almost perfect historical romance, with delightful characters that have human flaws, clever plotting, and a most satisfactory conclusion.

Absolute Truths (Susan Howatch)
- I love Susan Howatch's 'Starbridge' series, which starts with 'Glittering Images'. The sixth one, 'Absolute Truths', is outstanding in its characterisation, the way it ties together plots from all the previous books, and the relationships between the many characters involved.

Precious Time (Erica James)
- A young mother takes six months off work to travel around
the country with her pre-school son, to give them time together. Lovely characters, and a great story.

Perelandra (CS Lewis)
- Also known as 'Voyage to Venus'. A newly created world, where a young couple need to decide whether or not to follow an apparently arbitrary rule. My absolute favourite of this trilogy.

The Sacred Diaries (Adrian Plass)
- Perhaps not well-known outside Christian circles, this author is the only one who can make me laugh out loud, time and again, while still imparting incredible wisdom about humanity and faith, through his diary-style fiction. I'm cheating here and including all three of his 'sacred diaries', and the two related books, since no doubt they'll be included in one volume sooner or later.

An Ocean Apart (Robin Pilcher)
- This is Rosamunde Pilcher's son, who's only written two novels so far but is working on a third. He's inherited her talent fully, and I was thrilled to discover this, his first book, which I thought wonderful.

Winter Solstice (Rosamunde Pilcher)
- Probably overall my favourite modern author, and if I hadn't chosen this book I'd have chosen 'September', another of her family sagas.

Off Balance (Mary Sheepshanks)
- I like all this author's books too, but Off Balance was particularly good due to the inclusion of a very lovable child with learning difficulties, who was most sympathetically drawn.

A week in Winter (Marcia Willett)
- A wonderful blend of sadness and delight, with a very satisfying ending.


* Favourite children's fiction books *

I can't come up with a single ten favourite children's books, so instead here are my favourite children's fiction series. I read the first six avidly as a child. The final four weren't around then - but I've read them to and with my own children, and also to myself.

Faraway
Tree series (Enid Blyton) - the first books I ever read to myself
Narnia series (CS Lewis) - read and re-read through my childhood, and again as an adult
Chalet School series (Elinor M Brent-Dyer) - the first twenty or so particularly
'Gemma' series (Noel Streatfeild) - four books about some cousins growing up together
Anne of Green Gables series (L M Montgomery) - eight books in all, about Anne as child and adult
Little Women series (Louisa M Alcott) - classic American family books

Sophie series (Dick King-Smith) - for younger readers, about a delightful but determined small girl who wants to be a farmer
Truckers series (Terry Pratchett) - about some 'nomes' who have to escape from imminent destruction, full of humour
Harry Potter series (JK Rowling) - no need for description here!
Bagthorpe series (Helen Cresswell) - humour and strange antics from this gifted family

And finally ... my all-time favourite children's book, not amongst the above, is a simple story with delightful pictures and a lovely message:

'Dogger' by Shirley Hughes.

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