Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Ten Classics

Every week the delightful people over at the The Broke and The Bookish provides us with another theme for a Top Ten and today I am going to do my Top Ten Classics - a list of masterpieces that should only be bought in hardback editions to be read again and again. 

10) Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Some parts of this book were difficult to get through because they really touched me and made me worry so much about justice and fairness and the way that life sometimes does not go according to plan. 

9) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Be ready for some serious emotional rollercoastering when you read this book. I went through loving, hating, pitying and being infuriated at the main character Emma Bovary is so trapped by dreams of something, someone better than she forgets to live her life and instead stumbles in her own greed for a better version of life. 

8) Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Another book that made me emotional and enthralled me. A beautiful piece about the difficult dynamics of marriage and a novel that I personally enjoyed more than The Great Gatsby by the same author. 

7) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Don't let the brand and image of this book scare you off. It is a masterpiece both in terms of writing and in terms of the way it deals with an incredibly difficult storyline. Read it, then judge for yourself. 

6) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

This book is the classic love and mystery novel. It is the novel that has inspired a whole tribe of romance novelists such as Victoria Holt but no one ever comes even close to mastering it the way Charlotte Brontë does. Chuck out your romance paperbacks and buy a hardback edition of Jane Eyre instead. 

5) Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

My favorite children's book even and one that can easily be read and enjoyed by adults. A book that makes me both cry and laugh 

4) Emma by Jane Austen

Emma is the popular girl, the pretty girl, the lucky girl you want to be. She is also egoistical, bored and unable to think through the consequences of her actions - yet she is lovable and you will root for her as she tries to make couples of all of the single people in her village and instead makes a mess. A humorous classic that Elizabeth Bennett (See number 1 on the list) would have loved. 

3) The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Not only does this book have four main characters that all have each their own definite personality, it also has a plot that is full of political and love intrigues and the most scary female villain ever. Dumas is at his best in the action packed classic and I am still debating with myself if it should be number 2 or number 3 on my list... 

2) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

This novel has it all: love, revenge, hate, jealousy, a plot that twists and turns. Maybe that is why it is so incredibly long... mind you, I wouldn't have edited out even one page. A masterpiece from an author that I will never stop loving. 

1) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

If you are a living, breathing person and have not read this book yet then go buy it and call in sick until you have turned the last page. This has to be one of the best novels ever written. The story, the characters, the heartbreak and the humour, this book has it all and Austen writes like no other author ever has or will.  Oh and it features my all time favorite main character Miss Elizabeth Bennett. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Would Pick a Theme Song To!

Okay let me be honest. This post was written weeks ago because I stumbled over this fabulous theme on The Broke and The Bookish and couldn't wait to start thinking about it and putting together a great list. So what are the top ten books that you would pick a theme song to? And what song?
Here are mine:


10) "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk / "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters 
A book with a punch, my chosen theme song would be "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters. If any of you do Les Mills BodyCombat at your local gym, then you will know exactly what I mean. This is one hard-hitting track :-) 

9) "The Privileges" by Jonathan Dee / "Inside and Out" by Feist
For some reason I can just imagine the two main characters dancing to "Inside and Out" at their wedding (in the first chapter of the book so no spoiler), even though it doesn't really fit in with the timeline. But it captures that intense love and happiness that they both feel. 


8) "The Heart-Shaped Box" by Joe Hill / "Cut Here" by The Cure
So maybe Jude Coyne would feel better about something a little bit more hardcore, a little tougher. But when it comes to punkish rock with a strong aftertaste of melancholy and loss mixed with a bit of black eyeliner, there is no one quite like The Cure. They are the masters of this time up music. So for Jude's and Georgia's haunted roadtrip, this is the perfect soundtrack. 


Let me just share a little part of the lyrics with you (from lyricsbox.com):
"So we meet again!" and I offer my hand
All dry and English slow
And you look at me and I understand
Yeah it's a look I used to know
"Three long years and your favourite man
Is that any way to say hello?"
And you hold me
Like you'll never let me go

7) "Love Falls" by Esther Freud / "White Nights" by Ohland
This YA fiction takes place during a sunny summer in Tuscany and the dreamy tunes of Ohland perfectly sums up the never-ending feeling of a warm summer night. You can almost see the fireflies in the night darkness and smell the sun on the warm grass and the jasmine flowers. 

6) "Forbidden" by Tabitha Suzuma / "Undisclosed Desires" by Muse
The melancholy tune goes perfectly with "Forbidden". I am sure that Maya would love this song, I know that I do.


5) "The City & The City" by China Miéville / "Rullett" by Kaizers Orchestra
Right this song is actually in Norwegian but if you don't speak Norwegian, I think it could probably go for Besz with a bit of imagination. The song has just the right note of Balkan rock and gloomy beauty to set off this urban fantasy.

4) "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer / "The Balcony" by The Rumour Said Fire

For me this track reminded me so much of "New Moon" that I was actually surprised that it was not in the official soundtrack. It is the perfect soundtrack for the big forest on the Olympic Peninsula. If you liked the original "New Moon" soundtrack (even if you didn't like the book), then please please give this track a try. It is one of the most amazing indie-country-rock tunes. 

3) "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith / "Just One of Those Things" performed by Frank Sinatra
The perfect song for vintage teenage story about being in love for the first time and about watching others being in love. "Just One of Those Things" is such a beautiful song - and for a more modern but still beautiful version try the one performed by Bryan Ferry. 


A little taster of the lyrics (straight from my memory):
It was just one of those things
Just one of those crazy flings
One of those bells that now and then rings
Just one of those things

2) "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins / "Just So" by Agnes Obel
This song has a silence before the storm creeping feeling that fits perfectly with "The Hunger Games". For me it belongs in the parts of the books where Katniss is reflecting on her choices, on having to give up her own life to save her sister.


A little taster of the lyrics (thanks to sweetslyrics.com)
Today is gonna be the day, you hear somebody say,
We need you wide awake
You hear the moments kick and play.
The order of the day
is hollering your way
....
Drink a toast to the sun
To the things that never come,
To the break of the day
That is all that I say


1) "Tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald / "Let's Misbehave" performed by Irving Aaronson
A beautiful book and somehow I think it goes quite well with the Cole Porter song "Let's Misbehave". It is a song that never fails to make me think of 1930's Europe, champagne and rivieras. For a newer version try the one from the soundtrack of the movie "Easy Virtue. 


So which songs have made your list? Have you featured any of the same tracks or books? 

Top Ten Tuesday: Dazzling Debuts

Right so after a few intense working weeks with lots of traveling and on the homefront lots of ilness (why do those things happen at the same time? Flying with a migraine is very very unpleasant...)
Things seem to be going better now and what better way to celebrate that than to participate in today's Top Ten Tuesday?
This fantastic meme was created at The Broke and The Bookish - http://www.brokeandbookish.blogspot.com/ - a blog that you must visit!

This weeks subject is Favourite debut novels (from any author, any year). I have not included one-hit-wonders because that just didn't feel fair...
Here we go:

10) Evelyn Waugh: Decline and Fall
Satirical and extremely funny, making a fool of almost every character in the book, Waugh somehow manages to make this more than a comedy. A great reminder of all the trouble, naivety, pretentioness, laziness and greed can get you into.

9) Tamora Pierce: Alanna: The First Adventure
Pierce demonstrated from this first novel about Alanna and the kingdom of Tortall that she has a gift for making fantasy worlds come to life. From this book onwards the world of Alanna, her friends and family become better and better.

8) Alan Warner: Movern Callar
I think cool is the word to describe this novel about Morvern, a Scottish girl who steals her dead boyfriends unpublished novel and goes on a lifechanging journey.

7)Martin Amis: The Rachel Papers
Have just read this one and will review it this week. A really good novel about a teenage guy who falls in love or becomes infatuated with the slightly older and infintely more sophisticated Racel.

6) Dodie Smith: I Capture the Castle
A magical coming-of-age tale about Cassandra and her bohemian family. Smith later wrote "101 Dalmatians" and I still feel cheated that she did not write more.

5) F Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
More of a literary institution than a novel really. This book came to define an age and I think almost everyone who have taken a literature class has heard about it.


4) Michel Faber: Under the Skin
A seriously scary and uncomfortable read that nonetheless is fascinating and hard to put down. My stomach still turns when I think about it...

3) Karen Blixen: Seven Gothic Tales
Originally published under the name Isak Dinesen to disguise the gender of the author, this collection of short stories is a masterpiece from one of the greatest storytellers ever!

2) J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
From the very first HP novel, Rowling had her Hogwarts universe created down to the very last hair on Dumbledore's head. The magic began in this book which certainly did not seem like the work of a beginner!

1) Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility
This one is defitnitely one of the best debut novels ever. Full of emotions with enchanting, real characters and a great plot. The strength of this novel is the characters and many authors can only dream of bringing to life characters with as much skill and charm as Austen does in this her debut novel.

So which ones are your favourite debut novels of all times?