I was tagged by Namie to do this post, so here are the first 10 books which I really like that popped into my mind. Basically, I love books that are easy to read, a page turner, and at times, make me put the book down for awhile, because the story is overwhelming or urges me to think about the parallels between the story and my life.
1. The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
This book is amazing! I thought it was fiction at first, so imagine my amazement when I went to Google this book and found out that everything written in this book are real!!!!! I highly recommend ALL Jon Ronson’s books. He’s a brilliant journalist! I thank him for uncovering all these stories which I can never ever imagine happening in real life! He really made me think more about the different people co-existing with us in this world. Haha! I would love to meet him actually…how does he get such in-depth stories when the people he interviews are usually seemingly dangerous or unstable?? This is my first Jon Ronson book and it turned me into a huge fan of his. I follow Jon Ronson on Twitter! XD
2. The Confidant by Helene Gremillon
I haven’t read a book like this in a long while. It’s a very gripping and heartbreaking story. Very easy to read and you just can’t help but keep reading page after page till the book ends. Very very good story. I don’t understand why its book rating is so low. It is so good. It really disturbed me a great deal while reading it, and I took about 2 days to recover after I’ve finished the book. The story successfully brought out all my emotions and I found myself feeling the pain of EVERY character. Recommended!!!!
3. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
This book was introduced to me by a friend who realised we had similar taste in books and movies! It’s a very good book, much better than the movie. Recommended!
4. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS BOOK! Seldom do I re-read a book, but I re-read this because I loved it so much! Put yourself in the head of Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15 year-old boy with really interesting thoughts. I love this book so much, you can’t imagine. I even bought the book! But I lent it to the friend who lent me The Book Thief, and she didn’t return it to me. -___-”
5. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
I love Oscar Wilde’s stories, and Dorian Gray is my favourite book from him! So beautifully written. Many quotable quotes in the story which…I’m embarrassed to say, but I agree with. For example, “I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvelous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if only one hides it.” and “Some things are more precious because they don’t last long.”
Don’t you just love Oscar Wilde?! He’s brilliant.
6. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
This wasn’t my first book by Haruki Murakami, but it was the first one that impressed me so much. It was also the one I loved so much that I wrote about it in my blog, and then suddenly, there was a boom in Haruki Murakami’s books. I’m not saying that I started the boom, since I only had like, what? 50 blog readers a day. Haha! But I had been reading Haruki Murakami’s books for some time then, both English and Chinese translated versions, and I loved them because they brought me into another world – yea, his books can make you feel trippy. I remember I kept recommending his books to anyone who saw me holding his book. Nobody I talked to knew him then. And then suddenly, everyone knew him. He became mainstream. Haha! The thing about anything becoming mainstream is that now you’ve got so many people talking about it (in this case, books by Haruki Murakami), even people who only read whatever book is popular at the moment. I don’t like such people because the opinions they can render are trite and shallow. XD
Anyway, here’s my favourite part of the story that made me impressed that Haruki Murakami can describe the feelings of a woman so well!
“Waiting for the perfect love?”
“No, even I know better than that. I’m looking for selfishness. Perfect selfishness. Like, say I tell you I want to eat strawberry shortcake. And you stop everything you’re doing and run out and buy it for me. And you come back out of breath and get down on your knees and hold this strawberry shortcake out to me. And I say I don’t want it anymore and throw it out the window. That’s what I’m looking for.”
“I’m not sure that has anything to do with love,” I said with some amazement.
“It does,” she said. “You just don’t know it. There are time in a girl’s life when things like that are incredibly important.”
“Things like throwing strawberry shortcake out the window?”
“Exactly. And when I do it, I want the man to apologize to me. “Now I see, Midori. What a fool I have been! I should have known that you would lose your desire for strawberry shortcake. I have all the intelligence and sensitivity of a piece of donkey shit. To make it up to you, I’ll go out and buy you something else. What would you like? Chocolate Mousse? Cheesecake?”
“So then what?”
“So then I’d give him all the love he deserves for what he’s done.”
“Sounds crazy to me.”
“Well, to me, that’s what love is…”
7. Mr Rosenblum’s List by Natasha Solomons
This book was lent to me by my previous boss. She raved about it and I could see why after I read it. Very well-written book. You follow Mr Rosenblum, a Jewish refugee, who arrives in London, determined to fit in. He takes becoming British very seriously. In fact, he takes everything he wants to accomplish very seriously. Things don’t always go so well as Mr Rosenblum planned but he never gives up. There are many reasons why I love this book. The characters feel like family after awhile. I don’t know how it would be for you, but I found myself rooting for Mr Rosenblum. Poor Mr Rosenblum. He has no one on his side in his family. But perhaps you may find yourself pitying his wife too, who desperately tries to hold onto what it means to be Jewish. Anyway, the description of the food Mr Rosenblum’s wife makes, is very satisfying. 🙂
8. ZOO by Otsuichi
I read the translated Chinese version of this book. I first found ZOO on Crunchyroll actually. If you can find the movie, do watch it. It’s a compilation of 5 short stories, all very impactful. I was delighted to know after reading the book that, the movie is very close to the book! My favourite story is “Seven Rooms” about a brother and a sister trying to escape from a mysterious cell with seven rooms. Many people like the story about the twins. Anyway, Otsuichi’s stories are very dark and gothic. I guess it’s either you like it or you don’t. To me, he’s a master of twists in the stories he tells. I was very hooked to his books after reading ZOO. Also, I’m very surprised that Otsuichi is actually very young, and he doesn’t look creepy, considering he has such masterful storytelling skills and the ability to write very horrible things. Haha!
9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
My favourite book when I was a kid!! I could actually taste all of Willy Wonka’s amazing candy creations in my head. This is a very well-written and delicious book that opened up my imagination. I really think Roald Dahl’s books are classic and timeless!
10. Delicacy by David Foenkinos
Another book with many quotable quotes. I loved this book so much I actually copied down all the parts I liked in my private blog which I have deleted because there were too many sad memories in that blog. Haha! But it’s really really good. I really recommend you to read it. What’s it about? It’s about this girl who is so in love with her husband, and then one day he died just like that in a car accident. And then she meets somebody else. Hold it! You’re thinking you hate such books right? The sypnosis would have turned me off too, and I wouldn’t have read it if not for Audrey Tatou on the cover (yes, it was made into a movie). But this book is so good. The author could write about the love between the characters so well. It’s French and very romantic, not in a soppy “The Notebook” way (man, I can’t stand Nicholas Sparks’ books). The romance is very real, probably what you will experience in your own love life. I hope you will read it because I’m sure you will enjoy it. 🙂
So there you have it! Any books you have read before and liked? Or any books you wanna check out now? Or recommend to me??? I’d be happy if you leave a comment!!!! XD
From the Sunny Island~! 