November 17, 2024

I thought I would think out loud here about the books that I re-read. Without spoilers, what is about them that draws me back to them and why have they become favourites?

To make this list I need to have read these books at least once, with an intention to read them again.

Sunset Song

Starting with a quartet of Scottish novels… Sunset Song is a novel I have read more times than I can remember and is often lauded as Scotland’s favourite novel. My first encounter was when I was forced to read it at school and I hated it! Now when I read it, I marvel at the descriptions of the inner world of characters such as Chris, Long Rab and Chae Strachan, as everything in Chris’s world changes and nothing endures. If you want to learn more about my desert island disc book, there’s a more detailed review here.

Witch Wood

I have just finished John Buchan’s Witch Wood for the second time and have asked for a nice old secondhand copy as a Christmas gift to read again at some time. Buchan was author of the The 39 Steps, but this book is regarded as his masterpiece and it has everything! There is 17th century English and Scottish politics, Covenanters, witchcraft and romance.

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

Another Scottish novel about religion (Calvinism) and focused on those predestined to be saved by God — the Elect — regardless of the life they lead. When I brought this to my book group it was a disaster, with only two members finishing the novel because it was seen as old-fashioned. Needless to say, the other were surprised when we started talking about shape-shifting serial killers!

This is very much an Edinburgh book; the city I live in. When I explore the old town I can see those closes and vennels where so much of the action in the book takes place.

O Caledonia!

Lots of Scottish novels at the head of this list. Until quite recently I had never heard of O Caledonia! by Elspeth Barker, a novel that tells the darkly humorous story of the life of Janet, a doomed adolescent, growing up in the mid-20th century. I first read this in a single day and was left reeling at the end!

East of Eden

I first read East of Eden when it was brought to our book group by a lover of Americana. I love the book for the wonderful cast of characters, including a wonderful villain, who are all portrayed with affection by the author. There are so many layers to this novel. Anyone who reads it should (and I generally hate the word ‘should’) also read Journal of a Novel that is a series of letters written by John Steinbeck to his friend that he wrote in parallel with the first draft of the novel.

To Serve Them All My Days

I think To Serve Them All My Days by RF Delderfield is not literature but I have read it several time and have a hankering to read it again soon. It tells the story of how David Powlett-Jones, a coal miner’s son from South Wales, recovers from the First World War by becoming a school teacher at Bamfylde School.

Sherlock Holmes

I first read Sherlock Holmes at my local library, falling in love with the world around 221B Baker Street. Doyle grew-up in Edinburgh and I always find it striking that the flat at 221B is so obviously a Scottish flat, with a bay window, rather than a London one.

When my life was organised around a Psion organiser I even created a set of the complete Sherlock Holmes canon in the iSilo e-book format so that I could carry them with me.

The Jungle Books

I have a feeling we’re not supposed to enjoy reading that old colonial Rudyard Kipling. I have fond memoroes of my parents giving me a copy of The Jungle Books when I was young, and it was a hardback copy with wonderful engravings. A few years ago my wife bought me another beautiful old copy of this book that was printed in Edinburgh about a mile from our house, and I loved re-reading these stories again.

My Name is Asher Lev

I first discovered Asher Lev when someone on a podcast was asked “what’s the best book you have ever read that no-one has heard of?”. Like O Caledonia! this is another book that left me reeling at the end and I just had to finish it in a single sitting as I neared the conclusion. I brought it to our book group and was gratified that everyone enjoyed it — it always risky recommending a favourite books to opinionated reader.

Is this what I am doing now with this list?

Books


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