My 25 Favourite Books of All Time

As it is my birthday I would like to start by saying thank you for all the lovely wishes people have given me. I would also like to say that because it is my 25th birthday, I will be covering my top 25 books of all time. As you know, with a bookworm these can change year by year, or even more frequently, so I'll probably put out another if anything changes. However, my top five books have not changed ever since I was fifteen and so, this is a very special occasion for me since it is their tenth year of featuring together in their positions of this list.

For this list, I will be going through how I discovered the books and what I love most about them. Trying not to keep you here too long, I wish for you to discover these for yourselves if you haven't already and happy reading when you do.

Here is my list of books then...

My 25 Favourite Books of All Time

25. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

One of my all-time favourite horror novels, I discovered this book when I was only fourteen years' old and it was quite a tattered copy as well that I had bought used from a market. I remember my first time reading it because not only did the whole atmosphere of the book feel cold but I remember it being nothing like anything I had ever read before. The fact that the very essence, nature and existence of this house is pure evil is something that bewildered me back then and has bewildered me ever since. I have read this book every single year ever since and it has never changed in its incredible ability to chill me. It was always that line about whatever walked in Hill House walked alone - I always got the creeps from that line.

24. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

My favourite George Orwell book that I find is very under-read, it is more autobiographical than his other works and starts off in Paris where the narrator is trying to make ends meet in a society that seems to not want him to. I first read this book when I was sixteen and did not read it again until I was twenty-two. I fell back in love with the book and understood it far more than I did as a teenager in my twenties and honestly, I think it is his most heartfelt work. I would love it if you took the time to read it as you read other works by Orwell.

23. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

If I even tried to tell you how many times I have re-read this book since I was fifteen, I do not think I would be able to count. Whenever I need something truly overwhelming in nature, I turn to "Frankenstein". I swear to God that none of the movie adaptations in all of cinematic history can live up to the beautiful chilling nature, the sublime and the gothic of Mary Shelley's writing. The fantastic science, the gruesome details and the murders most foul, there is something about Mary Shelley's writing of Victor Frankenstein that makes him simultaneously smart and the worst person in the world. It is a breathtaking novel.

22. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

The first book in McCarthy's "Border Trilogy" this is a book that I believe though the plot may be fairly straight-forward, displays some of Cormac McCarthy's best writing ever. The sheer beauty, the violence and the perfection of the craft is a sight to be beheld. Something that always struck me in this novel was the language of sleep and dreams, it is almost Shakespearean in nature - it stands out from the rest of the novel being outlaw like and almost rough. It is like you're watching cowboys race their horses across a field and someone is chasing after them with the Mona Lisa.

21. Moby Dick by Herman Melville

When I was sixteen, I am not going to lie to you when I say I did not really understand why "Moby Dick" was considered one of the Great American Novels because when I read it at that age, it was everything but amazing and probably thoroughly average. I can tell you now that age makes a lot of difference and so does maturity. I found that when I re-read the book at twenty, I was stunned by the sheer beautiful natures described. The way in which human nature especially is described may not always be intentionally 'good' but it is always beautifully written - as if Herman Melville wanted us to understand that even the bad things make humans human, but it does not always mean they are right. There's a scene where Ishmael is sitting on top of a coffin with a corpse inside and honestly, it made me think a lot about survival in that situation and what I would possibly do to survive as with all of our human instincts.

20. Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan

Called an autobiography but really a mash-up of events, stories and whether they are fact or fiction we will never know. But Bob Dylan has displayed himself once again as being possibly the greatest poet of his century. He not only shows us that through his language use but his ability to articulate such philosophical ideas within his context in a way the reader would very much understand. But purposefully keeping himself obscured behind a sheet of frosted glass, Bob Dylan gives us a tiny bit of who he is in exchange for our belief in him. And as a Bob Dylan fan, I have had no objections so far so why would I ever have them?

19. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

When I was in sixth form, I was obsessed with this book. I was about seventeen when I first read it and honestly, I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. It was one of those books in which there are really bad things happening, such as rape and drugs etc. but it is written in a way which makes it so hurtfully human that you cannot help but become engrossed by the characters and their responses - especially those of Clayton. Clayton returns in "Imperial Bedrooms" to give his new takes on the events from the previous book. They change him an awful lot.

18. The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory is one of my favourite writers ever. Since I was in my early teen years, I have read Philippa Gregory's novels and my favourites include many of her series books and this, stand alone novel. "The Wise Woman" is about a girl called Alys who is deemed as being a 'wise woman' and goes to work for the royal courts as a midwife under the guise that she is normal. She has been through everything including being accused of being a witch, delivering a controversial child and various other incidents but Gregory writes her life so well that you can actually imagine she existed. I read this when I was about fifteen and I could not help but go straight back to the beginning once I hit the end.

17. Life with a Capital L by DH Lawrence

This is not really a fiction novel but more a set of essays written by DH Lawrence. Various topics from book reviews to appreciations to a mean take-down of Thomas Mann. DH Lawrence, in this book, displays his most candid and more or less, his most personal writing. It is a brilliant book I spent a lot of time re-reading one summer a few years ago. It was very hot and I lay on my living room floor near a screen door and read the book in the light of the sun whilst underlining parts that I found just incredible. I ultimately wrote down a few quotes from the book and placed them in a jar just because they made me giggle a bit.

16. Lotte in Weimar by Thomas Mann

I know, I know, after writing about DH Lawrence's great take-down, I am now talking about the man himself, Thomas Mann. I believe that when it comes to Thomas Mann's bibliography, "Lotte in Weimar" is often overlooked. I read it some time back and it quickly became one of my favourite books. About an apparent muse of JWG Goethe and the writings of a book called "The Sorrows of Young Werther", I don't want to give too much away but the book is just beautifully written and about a mad love story that seems to never end. It was intoxicating.

15. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

When it comes down to it, "War and Peace" has to be one of those books that I just completely fell in love with. I read it for the first time when I was fifteen and since then, I have read it twice more. From the very beginning, it is an incredible book with an amazing cast of diverse characters. My favourite character was always Marya and that was mostly because she seems to be neglected all the time, feel too much and constantly be overwhelmed about how he brother may or may not be dead. When Natasha is suspected of going off with Anatole and then Prince Andrei comes back to her, we get this intensely moving scene of Anatole and Prince Andrei laying side by side in different hospital beds, one asking for the other's forgiveness. From start to finish, I could talk about this book all day. The story is mind-blowing and so intensely dramatic.

14. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I have loved this book for about ten years or so. The first time I actually read it though, I didn't enjoy it at all, I thought it was boring and long-winded. But as the years went on, I began to appreciate the strange oddities of Jane - her obsession with appearance, her anger and how Helen taught her to control it, her love for Mr. Rochester and the way in which Bertha Mason almost ruined that entirely. I love the fact that this book made it on to my list because it definitely deserves to be there after many, many re-reads and studies of it.

13. The Complete Stories by Truman Capote

Truman Capote has always been a favourite author of mine and since I read his "Early Stories" and his "Complete Stories" he has only solidified in his position as one of my favourite authors. Don't get me wrong, I love the novels he put out but I think the stories present a different, often darker writing style of his. He definitely had a thing for psychological stories and they sometimes included death, trauma and other things that Capote grew up possibly seeing. These are far different to his novels and I can appreciate his ability to write so well in such a short space of story.

12. Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This has to be my favourite Marquez novel because of the psychological intricacy. From the beginning to the end, there are numerous situations in which the main character is put to some psychological engagement as is the reader. I think that the very best thing about the book though is the ending, which I will not saying anything about but only that if you did not read the entire book properly [and take your time], you will definitely not get it. It probably requires more than one read to really understand why it ends where it does. But, as all Marquez novels, it is written beautifully.

11. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

One of my favourite books from my childhood as well as my adulthood. I loved reading and re-reading this over the years from about ten years' old all the way to being an adult woman. My favourite parts of the book include the situation in which Huckleberry Finn first escapes home and then, this weird intense journey that ensues of how two people can connect regardless of how different they are. When you reach the end, there is a strange unfulfilling notion about it, but if you read it carefully, then it is actually quite fulfilling after all. My point is that this one is far better than the previous book, Tom Sawyer and I just adore the way Huckleberry Finn speaks in dialect.

10. Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov

My favourite Nabokov novel which I think is also greatly under-appreciated is one of deception and despair. Told in classic witty Nabokov fashion, it makes you question the nature of human beings whether they are behind bars or not. An amazing story and and written by a controversial but intriguing writer, this book explores not only human nature but the very concepts of what we see as right and wrong. Possibly one of the most darkly humorous things I have ever read, I am going to ask you as well to read this book. Don't worry, it's not very long - but it will make you laugh in the most awkward of places.

9. Just Above My Head by James Baldwin

One of the greatest writers of all time, and in my opinion one of the most articulate men to ever live - James Baldwin was a powerhouse of literature, activism and pure intelligence. Beaming from his literature was realities that many never even knew existed written in a style to evoke some of the most intense emotions towards the situations of race relations. "Just Above My Head" was written later in his career and deals with a dead musician and his brother. The brother ultimately recounts the reason why the musician was killed by investigating signs within his life. It is one of the greatest things you will ever read and honestly, I think it is his best work though many would not agree with me on that.

8. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

Written by a great Southern Gothic author, "Absalom, Absalom!" is like a novel of a Shakespearean tragedy set in the depths of the American South at the brink of disillusion. When you read it, you can definitely see the Shakespearean influence; the power, the machiavellian deceit and the moral decline. This book shows us the way in which not only power can corrupt but the situation of feeling almost invincible can corrupt as well. Bad things and only bad things can come out of this. Written like a true tragedy, to this day I have not read a better William Faulkner novel.

7. Kafka was the Rage by Anatole Broyard

One of the books that I think everyone should read because it is so important when you're young - this book was written by the great reviewer of books and New York Times writer Anatole Broyard. Written in a fashion similar to Hemingway's "Moveable Feast", this book is arguably better than it with its concentration on dislocation, disassociation and the lacklustre for life after the Second World War. New York in the 1940s had never looked so bleak and it definitely challenges the swinging happiness of the post-war era that we are so used to learning about from the more affluent classes. These are real people, wanting to read and study and live - unfortunately not many of them got to do the last one and not many could afford the first two.

6. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

I have read this book many times since I was sixteen and I hope to read it many more. One of the things I had enjoyed about this book was the writing styles because each different section feels like it is written by a different person. David Mitchell's ability with words, especially in the narration by Robert Frobisher, really inspired me into writing for myself and made me want to be able to write as beautifully as that. The philosophical intricacies of the book are astounding and it drops you into this timeline in which every little movement of every single character impacts how you read the rest of the book.

5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Yes, it is another Tolstoy novel on the list and this time it is the one that is normally hailed as being the greatest novel ever written. "Anna Karenina" is the story about a woman who becomes entangled in a spinning web of love affairs, rumours and mysteries when she leaves her husband the Count Karenin for her lover, Count Vronsky. But when that relationship too starts to turn sour, all eyes turn to Anna as she tries to get out of it alive. She has a son, she has her lovers, she has her family and her brother Stiva - but you just watch as she slowly and surely loses it all in a battle between loose morals and high society. No wonder it is called one of the most beautiful novels ever written - beautiful, yet tragic.

4. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky has had his number of hit novels but personally, "The Brothers Karamazov" is my favourite Russian novel of all time because it is deceptive, dark, cunning and intense just like its characters. From Fyodor Pavlovich, the patriarch of the Karamazov family - to his three sons: Dmitri [the money-minded man], Ivan [the studious one] and Alyosha [the religious one] and all the way to the situation regarding Smerdyakov and Grushenka. It all begins with an open window and ends with a closed door. As the situation heats up - one of the men must be accused of patricide, but the way we find out who it is can be regarded as the greatest murder mystery ever written.

3. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

A story about and told by the character Charles Ryder, he is warned about the mysterious and infantile Lord Sebastian Flyte. He is warned not to befriend the figure but goes ahead and does so anyway. A painter, he works on the family's home called "Brideshead" and becomes more and more involved with Lord Sebastian Flyte and his family. Flyte's increasing reputation for drinking begins to spin out of control, the lack of a father figure becomes a question as to what happened to him and something unexpected happens when Charles meets Sebastian's sister, Julia. An absolutely incredible story told in a fashion that would make the decadent writers of the Belle Epoque proud, Evelyn Waugh tells the greatest and most endearing story of his career - the sacred and profane memories of Charles Ryder.

2. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

This is possibly the greatest book series I read throughout my teen years. When I was 12 I first read "Interview with the Vampire" and I fell in love with the book, the film and I was admittedly a part of many chatrooms on the subject. Yes, chatrooms. About a man called Louis who is being interviewed by another man called Daniel, Louis tells the story of how he met and fell in love with a vampiric man called Lestat after Lestat turned him into a vampire. They adopt a child together, a child called Claudia. But little does Daniel know that this is only the very beginning of the multi-faceted narrative which would become the biography of the crown prince of darkness, Lestat de Lioncourt - the central character to this universe where vampirism meets romantic narcissism. It's almost Shakespearean in design.

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Ever since I first found this book by sheer accident when I was 11, I have absolutely adored this book. I re-read it every single month and I own over 50 different copies of it, some dating back to the early 20th century and some written in the versions that were initially banned and unrevised. It is one of the greatest stories ever told and if you have read my various essays on the book and the way in which the book has impacted my life for only positives, I can assure you that you know exactly what I'm talking about. I don't want to keep you all day so I will say this: for fourteen years I have adored this singular book as creating meaning in my existence and I do not think that any other book in history could ever have as much of an impact as this one has had on me.