From Oscar Wilde to The Remains of the Day, Guardian writers have been sharing the books they wish more people would read on our blog for the last few weeks. To end our series, here are our readers’ favourite titles to share – and some of their most heartfelt and hilarious book-giving anecdotes.
‘Find it, buy it, read it’ – advice after 40 years selling books
“As a bookseller of 40 years standing, I have the pleasure of recommending my favorite books on a daily basis. There’s a bookcase in my shop titled ‘Proprietor’s Picks’ on whose shelves I put the books I most like to impose upon my customers. Of the hundreds of titles that have graced its shelves over the years, it is impossible to choose just one that I most enjoy recommending. I therefore will name the least-known book that every customer who I’ve convinced to read it has adored: The Enormous Room by EE Cummings, a memoir of the months he was held as a prisoner of war by the French during World War I. Find it, buy it, read it. You won’t regret it.” By bookmanjb.
‘You can guess how well the date went after that’
“This story is not safe for work, but it’s true and relevant.
Years ago, when I was new to online dating, and thought that it was an opportunity to meet men whom I might not otherwise have contact with, I arranged to meet, in a public place, a man who had represented himself as intellectually curious, sensitive, and a good dad to his teenage daughters. We talked about books and culture and other things, and he seemed like an interesting guy. We eventually agreed that we would move off e-mail and meet for coffee.
I’m not sure how the subject came up, but we mutually agreed that it would be fun to bring something to the date as a gift that we would like the other person to know about. The idea was that it would be a way of deepening the growing friendship. We agreed that the gift should be something that we had found moving, and that might not be something that the other person wouldn’t know about. In addition, he had emphasized that, since I was a writer, and he a reader, that introducing him to some great books would be appropriate.
I was a newly single mom, working as a university professor, deeply concerned about the world and in love with literary fiction. At the time, I had a favourite book, because I had just read it, and was an evangelist for it.
The first issue was that he showed up in a gigantic yellow HumVee. It dawned on me that people could have their own little inconsistencies and not to make too much out of the most irresponsible car choice I could think of. To each his own, I told myself.
The conversation was going okay, and things were fine as long as we stuck to talking about our kids or films. The time for the gift exchange arrived. I produced a copy of A Sunday by the Pool in Kigali by Gil Courtemanche, which I realized was a buzz kill, but Rwanda and the Congo were two issues that were dominating my activist life and I wanted him to know that about me, but I livened it up with a copy of Robert Hellenga’s The Sixteen Pleasures which I had found both smart and erotic. So I didn’t appear to be a complete wet blanket.
His gift? A vibrator and a piece of feminine sex wear that appeared to have more holes than fabric.
You can guess how well the date went after that. Turned out, he was a hedge fund manager. I know how to pick them, huh?” By fingerlakeswanderer.
‘I have loaned my precious copy to friends over the years’
“For me it is Laurie Lee’s As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning. I have loaned my precious copy to various friends over the years. I have also read it five or six times and at the age of 62 I look forward to reading it a couple more times in my precious life. I used to read it every time I visited Spain but I go there so often now that I take other books with me. However when I am visiting that beautiful country inevitably I will see a vista or an interaction on a street which will remind me of a scene in the book. Estupendo!” By PatLux
‘How a copy of Frankenstein founded a relationship’
“I lent this book in pristine condition to someone I cared for dearly. Though after exchanging books we parted on uncertain terms and didn’t speak again. A few few months later I finally gathered the courage and conviction (with the help of a little gin) to get in touch and asked if we’d ever return books to their rightful owners. A wonderfully bizarre conversation ensued, featuring many tangents and my perhaps unjust comparison between Victor Frankenstein and the book receiver; both engaged in an ardent pursuit of knowledge and critically, both isolated themselves to their own detriment and shunned the ones who needed them. Soon after, Frankenstein did find its way back into my hands, though in the characterful condition pictured below. I said he could keep it, though this time we didn’t part ways.” By Bethrae97.
‘I started a bit of a movement in Ohio when I sent a friend a copy’
“I started a bit of a movement in Ohio when I sent a friend there a copy of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. She shared it with some of her friends, then took another copy off me when we met, and says a number of her friends went on to buy their own copies. For some reason, when it was first published, that book resonated with a number of people I know and I have always been happy to give away my copy and buy another one later. I think I am on my sixth copy now.” By palfreyman.
‘I grew up separately from my siblings – this book connected us’
“I grew up separately from my French siblings (father’s second marriage) but saw them once a year or so, and still do.
I’ve always been a keen reader, but when I read Paul Auster’s Moon Palace it affected me more than any ‘first reading’. It electrified me; I can honestly say the world was not the same to me after reading it.
It was more than spooky to discover, some years later, that the book had had exactly the same impact on my French half-brother and sister.
I’ve given that book away probably over 10 times by now.” By xtrapnel
‘There is something in this book – a yearning for something lost’
“There are so many books to share-but the one most recent one I shared with my sister was Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast – a very old copy that I very need to get back eventually. I don’t know why I love this book so much. Hemingway seemed such a jerk! There is just something in this book – a yearning for something lost and which you feel will never be regained.
I feel a little bit the same way when I read another favourite, Henry Miller’s Book Of Friends. I feel I could have played with Henry on those Brooklyn streets all those years ago even though I am a girl and would never have been considered anything according to Henry at the time. However, I love that book – another book with that ‘yearning feel’.” By 7sisters.
‘At 19, I still reread this old Christmas present from my grandma’
“I have always believed that books are the best present you can give or receive. As a teenager my friends are always spending the build up to Christmas hoping for the newest phone and buying bath stuff for all their friends whilst I spend hours every week wandering around and around Waterstones, finding the perfect book for each person whilst adding to my own mile-long wishlist.
Books are something that shape our personalities. The first book I remember being given is The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark, a Christmas present from my Grandma, and even at nineteen I still read that book at least twice a year. In primary school I took it in for show and tell, in secondary school I used it as a part of my coursework and it even featured in my personal statement. No other gift I have ever received has given me so much as that one, tattered, paperback book.
With the move to ebooks and kindles and nooks the gift of a real life book could easily be lost, but I hope that it never is for there is something magical captured in the pages of a truly amazing book.” By rowankeith.
‘This book will change how you see America’
“Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee was lent to me by a work colleague in about 1975, shortly after its publication, and I have since recommended it to anyone who would listen. I have also given it as gifts on several occasions, most notably to my late father from whom I re-inherited it on his death. That copy has since been passed on to my sister. The story of the white man’s conquest (there is no other word) of the USA from the native Americans’ viewpoint is powerful, emotional, highly informative and well written. It will change your view of the USA for all time. It is at the top of my non-fiction list.” By electricgrapefruit.
‘Everyone should read this working-class heroine tale’
“I can’t remember how I acquired a copy of The Heart of the Midlothian, but I recommend it to everyone. It is astonishingly modern in its treatment of women for a novel published in 1818. The central character Jeanie Deans is a working class Scot (contrast Jane Austen’s heroines) who sets out from Edinburgh to walk to London to beg a pardon for her sister, who is facing execution for child destruction. It is in keeping with the sisterhood theme of the novel that she petitions the queen, not the king. There is a melodramatic sub-plot, but it does little to distract from the story of an independent woman who is single minded and has a stronger personality than all the men around her.” By janeinalberta.
‘Until recently, an almost impossible book to share’
“Until recently, sharing John Freely’s Stamboul Sketches was a difficult and expensive endeavor. Published in 1974 in a limited paperbound edition of one thousand copies by a small English-language press in Istanbul, it soon went out of print. Few libraries outside Turkey had copies, and those rare specimens offered by booksellers fetched prices otherwise associated with the middle register of a wine list.
Because of its reissue last year by Eland Books of London, Stamboul Sketches is now available to wider audiences. At last count I have purchased seventeen copies for birthdays and Christmas. Like the best literature, however, Stamboul Sketches creates its own reason to share. Its great value is its relentless optimism, even in situations where none seems apparent. It is the most personal and affectionate book about Istanbul ever written, readily accessible to those who have never visited the city.” By donaldspanel. Read more here.
‘That such a novel could be overlooked is an amazement’
“Stoner by John Williams. That such a novel could be overlooked is an amazement. The edition I give to those who I wish to proselytize is the one with the preface by John McGahern my old teacher, who certainly recognised this book as a classic.” By labowe. [Read an appreciation by Julian Barnes here.]
And Bacon78 shared this about Butcher’s Crossing, from the same author:
“It had me reading it in nearly one sitting. It was exceptional. I’ve told so many people about this novel and loaned it out to just as many, all came back with positive agreeing comments.”
What is your favourite book to share? Let us know in the comments.
