Hello there, and welcome to the first of my ‘Bookish Posts’! You would think that creating a new page called ‘Bookish Posts’ would be easy to do… Well, you would be wrong. It was super frustrating and took me a little over an hour (excluding the writing of this post). But I got there eventually, so here we are!
I am glad to have got it sorted, and I am excited to now be able to share my non-review bookish thoughts – the first being my 5 favourite fiction books. This (as you would expect) was very difficult – firstly, because the moment I tried to remember what books I have read, I forgot almost every book I have read (typical!); and secondly, once I was able to remember the books I have read, it was even more difficult to cut the list down to just 5 books.
After much deliberation, however, I did eventually face the challenge, and was able to bring it down to just 5 books. So, let’s get started (not in any particular order)!
1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I was tempted to choose ‘the Complete Sherlock Holmes’… But, that would have been cheating (given that it is several books in one). However, there was no way that I could have a post about my favourite fiction books without mentioning a Sherlock Holmes book. They are some of my favourite books by my favourite author, and while I rarely read a series of books in one go, I very happily read the Complete Sherlock Holmes in one go (not in one sitting, that would be insane!).
But I was still stuck between whether to choose The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, or The Hound of the Baskervilles. In the end, I opted for the former. This is mainly because The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes manages to tell 12 different stories, while making it seem like you have read 12 books by sucking you into each story. I also think being able to come up with what is often a highly bizarre (but believable) story, and include a logical explanation that leaves you thinking “how did I not think of that?”, not once, but TWELVE times is incredible!
2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
This book is a lot of things. It is heart-breaking, while also being heart-warming. At times it will fill you with anger, and at others it will fill you with pride. But all of it is simply brilliant.
As you can probably tell, this book is full of emotion, but it is so wonderfully well-written, and the story so well told, that the emotion is not overdone (though it is powerful!). It must have been about 3 years since I read this book, but it is one of those that stays in your mind for most (if not all) of your life – it is well worth a read!
3. 1984 by George Orwell
I feel as though this is a book which will be on most people’s lists of favourite fiction books… And for good reason! George Orwell (fun fact – his real name is Eric Arthur Blair) literally creates a whole new world, with a completely different political (well, it is full of thought-control, so not really ‘political’ anymore…) system which is bizarre, terrifying, and… believable. The way that the whole story is put together makes it easy to believe how such a system could exist without people rebelling. I hate to imagine how much time must have gone into just thinking about the system before even beginning to write the book!
I also still remember feeling almost genuine panic at some of the twists in the book – so unexpected that they caught me completely off guard. While I won’t spoil anything – you should (if you haven’t already) read this book to find out the twists for yourself. It is no surprise that this book makes most people’s lists.
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Here is yet another classic. I still remember being in secondary school, and my English teacher asking if I had read To Kill a Mockingbird. When I said I had heard of it, but neither read, nor knew what it was about, my English teacher got the book from the bookshelf at the back of the classroom, loaned it to me, and told me to read it. And I did.
It has been a long time since I read this book, and it is one I need to re-read again soon, and so there is a lot from the book that I don’t remember… But there is also a lot from the book that I do, and probably always will, remember. I remember that I loved this book and raved to my English teacher about how good the book was the first day that I was in school having finished reading the book.
It is incredibly powerful, and I am pretty sure that almost every aspiring lawyer who read To Kill a Mockingbird immediately felt that they wanted to be like Atticus Finch.
5. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
It is this fifth choice that was the most difficult, with several books fighting in my mind to be in the top 5… But in the end, I felt that a list of my top 5 fiction books would be incomplete without a Harry Potter book. I remember that I used to read a lot of books when I was younger, but I don’t really remember what it is that I used to read (other than the books we were required to read). What I do remember, however, is standing in the dinner queue, reading Harry Potter, waiting to be let into the food hall (which others saw as being super weird…).
I will say that I don’t think this is the BEST of the Harry Potter series. But, this one makes it into my favourite fiction books, because this is where it all started – this is the book that creates the whole wizarding world, and brings the characters to life, and that is simply (pardon the pun) magical.
Though I do need to read them again, because I am not faring very well at the Harry Potter sections of Zoom quizzes…
Conclusion
So, there you have it! My 5 favourite fiction books. It is difficult to see any books I read breaking into my top 5, given the quality of these books, but you never know! I am going to keep on reading to find out.
So time to pop on the kettle, and open another book!
TBT
Theodore's Bookish Thoughts (TBT) 