Five in Mind part the sixth
Back in the day when I had an answer for everything, I used to ask everyone I met what their favourite book was. It was my trademark question, my run-out-of-conversation-on-a-first-date question. Then one day, I realised I could no longer answer the question myself. I was a bad first date.
The funny thing with favourite books is that they change all the time, because we change all the time (stay with me on this one). Which means that certain books read at certain times become, for that day, week or month, the 'best book ever written'. Probably a book that inspired you at a time when you needed inspiring, or whose characters you quoted from endlessly because you were standing in their shoes when you met them.
It's a relief to learn from the inside that the Penguin Classics list of the Best Books Ever Written isn't selected on the emotional whims of a woman in her late teens and early twenties. But I was delighted to find that there's at least some degree of crossover ...
When I’d reached a point where I was reading Phillip Larkin by day and watching Six Feet Under by night, I knew the world couldn’t get much blacker. Larkin’s honest portrayal of the ugliness of the world is juxtaposed with the occasional moment of stark beauty which always comes as a shock, even when you know the poems by heart.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novels are magic, not to mention the best form of escapism you can find. And the more of his books you read, the more vivid their world becomes. Journeying through and beyond the whole spectrum of humanity and range of emotions (at least several times), this particular novel is an epic for all the family.
I love this story, not only because it gives such a wonderful insight into India at the time, but also because it makes you feel humble in a way that stays with you well beyond the final page. It is rare to find a novel that makes you care about the characters from the very beginning so consistently, and with so much heart.
I suspect that I’ll never again meet anyone as funny, tragic or dedicated to the cause as Don Quixote. He'll always be the one to remind us how hilariously poor our perception can be when we let ourselves be ruled by our emotions. This novel is also a great celebration of friendship – we all need a friend as loyal and entertaining as Sancho Panza, but they’re few and far between.
The world became an infinitely more beautiful place when I read this novel, although its greatness lies not so much in the story as in the way it is written. A must-read for anyone with a god-shaped hole in their universe.
I'll stop there. Except to say that I dig this blog. Because, to quote from Jon McGregor, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things how can they be called remarkable? Wise words indeed.
Natalie Ramm
Marketing Manager
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