The Weekend Question: Best Books

This week, the Question has a literary slant as I ask:

Which five books are your favourites and why did they have such a strong impression on you?

Here are my choices:

1: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. This French novel is wonderful, as we see one of literatures most famous adulteresses in a quiet town overspend money, come to bankruptcy and a tragic end. The detail of provincial life is fascinating.

2: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. The recently written novel is narrated by Mary Boleyn, who was the younger sister of Anne Boleyn. Historically, she was with Henry VIII before Anne. With a mix of fact and fiction, we see Henry tire of Mary and moving on to Anne, who will do anything to get what she wants. She then starts to fall from favour. A real thriller.

3: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. This classic novel tells of a man who sells his wife at a travelling fair. Years later, he is the Mayor of a local town, but his past catches up with him, and his world starts crumbling around him. A moral lesson here, with a tragic end. A fine story.

4: Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. This novel comes alive when reading it. The constraints of how a novel is usually written as this is a very experimental work. As the story weaves, the reader becomes emeshed in the life of the character. As a visitor of London, I saw it in a new light as it tells the events of a single sunny day in June 1923. A challenge to read, but well worth it.

5: Clarissa by Samual Richardson. This novel, written in the early 18th Century is one of the longest in the English language. It is written in letter format, and tells of Clarissa, a toung lady who is being enticed away from her home by the evil Lovelace. With this unusual format, we can get right into the minds of all the major characters. Another worthy read.

Now it's over to you....