Books we love

Of course, there can be no consensus. Not ever. My father had a saying to illustrate the fact that people's taste vary: "Some men," he'd say, "prefer blondes; others prefer whisky."

With that in mind, I almost hesitate to write a post about books we love. We did a quick poll in my book club group, and we discovered that, no matter which book we mentioned, for every two members who enjoyed it, another member would hate it. I guess two to one are not such bad odds... if everybody on the planet bought my books and only 33.3% disliked them, I'd be very happy (not to mention fabulously rich).

Still. The books in which I personally found magic enough to keep them on my shelves, include:

• everything by Joshilyn Jackson, because of their quirkiness and the beauty of language
• "Gone with the wind", because I admire the heroine
• "I don't know how she does it", because I identify with the heroine
• "We need to talk about Kevin", because I dislike the heroine
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld, because of the ideas and humour
• Harlan Coben's thrillers, because I love his voice
• Nick Hornby's fiction, because it speaks to me

By the same logic, some books I put away unfishined, even though they are humorous and I like the heroine. No matter how beautiful the language, I refuse to read about sad things (the Kevin book excluded), which automatically crosses almost all award-winning fiction off my bedside table. In that, I suspect, I'm a majority, though you wouldn't know it judging by the number of tear-jerking, twisted, desolate literature that gets published year after year.

Oh well. Eclectic tastes are not always a blessing.

Incidentally, I'm not a man and I prefer whisky. Single malt.