A Favourite Books A-Z

Well, my review of Annexed is still in the works, but I've not been well for the last couple of days and since review-writing requires actual brainpower I'm going to leave it alone until I'm feeling better.  Most of you will already know that I have quite bad IBS, which I usually keep well and truly under control - but every now and again it manages to flare up and have a little party in my abdomen all by itself.  You know how you feel if you get a stomach bug?  Yeah, that - only it can go on for days.  Today is day 3, so my stomach currently feels like it's been enthusiastically wrung out by a large strong-armed washerwoman, I'm white as a sheet, I keep getting the chills, I have a lovely headache, and my back and side muscles are in need of a good massage. 

I've had to come to work every day, of course. This is one of the really, REALLY bad bits about running your own shop (without staff) - common sense would tell you to stay at home wearing pyjamas and snuggling under a duvet with the cat/a book/the telly/a cup of tea, but what you're ACTUALLY doing is sitting behind a shop counter looking like you've been recently exhumed, smiling painfully at the customers, writhing around a little bit when no one's looking, and trying not to fall off your chair.  I've spent quite a bit of time desperately trying to get comfy in the office, snuggling under a fleece jacket with a hot water bottle and nibbling arrowroot biscuits, and yesterday we closed an hour early because Mum had had enough, oops!
 

Anyway, today I'm feeling (mercifully) a tad less like death, but still fuzzy and sore, so I'm back on the counter and distracting myself a little bit with Blogger and some fun Tumblr sites.  And I'm still trying to read in between bad spells, of course - because what is life without a book to while away a few unpleasant hours when you need it most?!

Sooooo, Matthew at A Guy's Moleskin Notebook posted this meme in which you name your favorite book that starts with each letter in the alphabet.  I reckon this is one of those memes that would be really fun to do every year or two, see what amazing books you've read since that could topple your old answers off the pile...  I saw it yesterday over at Caroline Bookbinder and like her, I couldn't resist, so here we go!

0-9  84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff

A  Atonement - Ian McEwan

B  Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs: The Left Bank World of Shakespeare and Co. - Jeremy Mercer
C  The Cat Who Came In From the Cold - Deric Longden
D  The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank
E  Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table - Nigel Slater 

F  Faceless Killers (Kurt Wallander 1) - Henning Mankell

G  Gold - Dan Rhodes

H  The Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling

I  I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith

J  Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë

K  Keep the Aspidistra Flying - George Orwell*

L  Lorna Doone - R.D. Blackmore

M  Matilda - Roald Dahl

N  Notes from a Big Country - Bill Bryson 

O  The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton

P  The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Q  Queuing for Beginners: The Story of Daily Life from Breakfast to Bedtime - Joe Moran

R  Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

S  The Secret History - Donna Tartt

T  This Book Will Save Your Life - A.M. Homes

U  The Undomestic Goddess - Sophie Kinsella

V  Virals - Kathy Reichs

W  Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

X - No title

Y  Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks

Z - No title

* I haven't actually read Keep the Aspidistra Flying yet, but I didn't have anything else to fill that slot and I DO love the movie, so I'm expecting great things from the book!

Hmmm, very interesting.  Many of the books listed here are amongst my absolute favourites of all time; a couple are just decent reads that were pushed up onto the platform because their letters didn't yield many choices (at least not yet - I've got so many unread books I'm sure a few of them will be easily replaced!).  Some of my favourite books were pushed out of the running because they were from letters with LOADS of choices!  Still fun though - and coasting through my LibraryThing catalogue for something like this also serves the delightful purpose of reminding me of all the wonderful books awaiting me on my shelves.  It's easy to forget sometimes, especially now I'm living down in the family house with most of my books still shelved or boxed in the flat!

If you decide to nab this meme for your own amusement, do drop by and leave the link in the comments so I can come have a wander through all the titles that made it onto YOUR list.  Have fun!