A List - Dymocks Booklovers' Best

I'm not reading books just because they're popular. I like reading obscure stories, and I love finding an old novel at the weekend markets. But, sometimes, books make book-seller shortlists because they are good. The book-seller shortlists are a good starting point to reading more widely, and if you find an author you like then you can read their other novels.

Here are the books I have read off the Dymocks Booklovers' Best/Top 101:

1. The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer (this is popular for ease of reading and for the use of classic act structuring - very satisfying, but very simple)
2. Harry Potter by JK Rowling (but I've only read books 1-5 and got sick of them!)
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Lizzie is one of my all-time favourite characters)
4. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (don't bother with the movie)
5. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (I was brought up having these read to me as a child, and probably read them one every 2 or 3 years)
6. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (an Australian author)
7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
8. The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson (another series of books that seemed to be popular for popular's sake. The main character was unique but the story constantly bogged down)
14. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (very unique)
17. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
18. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
19. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton (another Aussie)
20. The Host by Stephenie Meyer (I preferred this to the Twilight saga)
21. Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
22. Atonement by Ian McEwan (don't bother with this movie either)
23. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
28. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (an Aussie novel)
30. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
31. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
32. Tomorrow when the War Began by John Marsden (I read this when it first came out - I was in my teens, a bit younger than the main characters, and I was so in awe of this story. It probably helped that John Marsden came and spoke at our school)
37. Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (the most refreshing story I've read in a long time)
42. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay (another Aussie novel in the Top 101)
44. Tully by Paullina Simons (this is a disappointment, compared with some of her other masterpieces)
46. Breath by Tim Winton (I found this confronting, but my husband is an adrenaline junky, like these boys)
48. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (thrilling with a twist)
52. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (loved it!)
58. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery (I read this in primary school, along with the other 4 or 5 books in the series, and I think I should revisit them. I have fond memories)
64. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (the real vampires)
71. The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom (charming)
73. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (American sap)
85. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (horrifying)
87. The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

I'd love your comments on any of these books.

I'd also love your suggestions. Maybe I should compile my own 100 favourite books. Watch this space ...

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I just finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

This novel was entirely composed by letters, except at the very end when we read the journal of one of the side characters. The letters offer a beautiful detailed way of writing between the characters. They also eliminate the narrator, to an extent, as the story slowly unravels over a number of letters. The writers also write differently to each other, depending on their friendship or otherwise. The letters are also very personal, and always written in the first person from the view of the writer.

Like the last book I read, The Slap, this novel has such unique and distinct characters. They jump off the pages and are absolutely real.

Ultimately, the story is a love story. It follows a similar structure to other love stories - complications between the lovers coming together, and the love being obvious to the reader but not to anyone else. The lovers finally get together at the end, though I found the ending a bit of an anti-climax. I knew that they would get together in the end, but the end failed to give me the emotional elation that I was expecting. The letters worked well throughout the story, until the ending, for this reason. There wasn't enough detail at the end to build the emotions of the reader.

The story is also about the occupation of Guernsey during World War II, and the writer, Juliet, researching this for a topic of her new novel. There are some tragic stories that are told to Juliet, through letters from the people of Guernsey. This is another reason why it's good that the story is written in letters, because you can put it down after each letter, if they get too much.

This book was also very inspiring to me, because it's written from the point of view of an author corresponding with her publisher. It's also about the author finding a new idea, writing, editing, and submitting for publishing. Obviously the process is very different these days, and also different because the author's publisher is the author's best friend (which helps).

To quote one of the characters in the story: "Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones".

I highly recommend The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Books I've read in 2010

Part of my goal to be a great writer is to read as much as possible, which I hope can only improve my writing. The books I read last year were:

• Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
• The Other Boleyn Girl and its sequel The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
• Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
• Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• The Black Dahlia by James Elroy
• Breath by Tim Winton
• Swallow the Air by Tara June Winch
• The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham
• The Tea Rose and its sequel The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelley
• The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
• Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
• Mister God, This is Anna by Fynn
• A Simpler Time by Peter FitzSimons
• Daughters of Nazareth by Patricia Hughes
• The Quest by Wilbur Smith
• A Room At the Top by Heath Ducker
• Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace
• Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
• Tuscan Rose by Belinda Alexandra
• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
• The Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson 
• Down Under by Bill Bryson, and
• Night Street by Kristel Thornell

2010 was a wonderful year of reading, but I didn't achieve much writing!