Kate asked an interesting question on Facebook this evening - name ten books that have really influenced you. Admittedly it turned a little bit into listing ten favourite books or series of books, but here is what I contributed:
1. All Adrian Mole books. Spent most of my life being excited by the release of a new one in the Mole series, and am desperately sad to think that there won't be any more.
2. All Inspector Morse books. Have gradually been re-reading them in order recently, although the truth is that whilst I have a 1st edition of "The Remorseful Day" I've never been able to bring myself to read it and will have to face up to it soon!
3. Danny The Champion of the World - you can keep your chocolate factories, this is my favourite Roald Dahl by a mile.
4. Casino Royale - always loved Fleming, and was reflecting the other day when I caught a snippet of an old Bond movie, that whilst some of the films have aged terribly, the books are just timeless.
5. An Innocent Man by John Grisham - Grisham writes great legal thrillers, but the point with this one is that it is a true story, written in the typical Grisham style, about a truly awful miscarriage of justice.
6. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. What can I say - Douglas Adams was a strange creative genius!
7. The Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams - wouldn't be a fair reflection of my reading if there wasn't some mention of epic fantasy in the list - and I remember getting well and truly lost in this one.
8. Quiet by Susan Cain - recent-ish book that was fantastic comfort to the introverts amongst us.
9. The Railway Man by Eric Lomax - remarkable tale of forgiveness despite the brutality of WWII.
10. And finally, One Day by David Nicholls. May be a cliche, but I thought it was fantastic. Really looking forward to reading his new book "Us". Read One Day when I was staying away from home, and remember having to phone home to talk to someone in the middle of the night when I'd just finished the book and was feeling a little emotional !!