This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
When I was chatting to Novelicious founder, Kirsty, recently she mentioned she has more than one copy of Talking to Addison by Jenny Colgan in different rooms so she can reach for it quickly in times of need. Then book blogger, Laura, mentioned that she always keeps a battered copy of Pride & Prejudice on her bedside table, which she picks up regularly to read a page or two at random. Debs, our deputy editor, does this too. h This got me wondering whether most people keep a special, go to book in an easily accessible place for times of need. Apparently, lots of Team Novelicious do. Here’s what we came up during a recent discussion…
1. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters – There is something about London during wartime that draws me towards a book. In The Night Watch, Sarah Waters skillfully paints a picture of illicit liaisons against a backdrop of air raids and blacked out streets. The book starts in 1947 and ends in 1941. This is a novel I can read again and again, getting something new from it each time.
2. Thirty Nothing and One Hit Wonder by Lisa Jewell – Vintage Lisa Jewell. These books are, unbelievably, now thirteen or fourteen years old. Jennifer has lost track of the amount of times she’s read these two books (and the Jane Green ones below). Early Lisa Jewell and Jane Green books made her “fall in love with chick lit”. In Thirty Nothing, Nadine realises she’s in love with her best friend, Dig. They’ve been mates since school. Only Dig has just met up with Nadine’s nemesis from school, and starts going out with her. In One Hit Wonder, Anna Wills is trying to find out what happened to her famous and glamorous half sister.
3. Bookends and Babyville by Jane Green – Also favourites of Victoria’s as well as Jennifer. I’m quite partial to these two too, along with Jemima J. Perfect for a re-read that you turn to again and again. In Bookends, Cath, along with her friend Lucy, open a bookshop with delicious cakes. It is a story of relationships and what happens when a friend from the past reappears. In Babyville, Julia is trying to get pregnant, Samantha has had a baby and is besotted, and Maeve, career woman, gets pregnant after a one night stand.
4. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – A copy of this has followed Kerry from country to country and now has pride of place on her bedside table. When she auctioned it off at school for a two week loan in an English Literature assignment, she panicked and retrieved it the next day. It means that much to her. Much more than a decent mark in English. She got a D as a result.
5. Young Adult & Children’s Books – Of course, we couldn’t do a list of ‘go to’ books without including some childhood favourites we return to every now and again. For me, this could be Five Run Away Together by Enid Blyton as Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy the Dog take on the Stick family on Kirrin Island. I’ve also been know to re-read the Harry Potter series, as has Amanda. She re-reads The Hunger Games Trilogy during times of need, too.
So, what’s your go to book? What title do you find yourself returning to over and over again?