Posted by Mike Dennis on February 22, 2010 at 14:18:31 user MTD.
In Reply to: Here we go again; Best books and why? posted by Peter Ceresole on February 22, 2010 at 07:25:44:
As old ground as it may be I can't resist.
WH has to be top of the list for me, and years ago when I met Hugh Brogan I was pleased to find it was his too.
Then it gets difficult. I'm afraid PM is way down the list, I think I have only read it all the way through once - and I did try again a couple of years ago when its praises were being sung here, and once again I gave up after a few chapters in.
The Broads books I know are disliked by some for their location and lack of S&As, but they are high on my list because as a child it is an area we took family holidays in a few times so they seem more real on subsequent readings.
WDMTGS, well, too contrived, too laboured, too unbelievable (I can hear the howls of anguish from some people as I type this!) even its location, close to where I now live, does not save it for me.
Bottom of the list has to be GN; it is almost as if AR was writing to fulfil his contract with Cape. I remember when I first read it, the anticipation was far better than the actual reading (it was the last of the cannon I read).
The fantasy books, PD and ML have their moments but I do wonder, as I know others do, if GN should be included in that group.
Just my opinions of course, we all take whatever pleasure we do from all of them.