“Picking five favorite books is like picking the five body parts you’d most like not to lose.” – Neil Gaiman
He has a point. It’s impossible to select only five books out of the many amazing reads out there, but for those of you who are new to our bookish ways, I thought I’d at least narrow it down to give you an idea of our general tastes.
My book jacket (shown in the image above) gives a pretty good overview of my favourites – Dune by Frank Herbert, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane, Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson – most involve magic and nature of some sort. I also love children’s fiction ranging from classics written by Roald Dahl to newer works by Katherine Rundell, Emma Carroll and Philip Reeve.
I always think there’s a massive difference between Al’s preferences and mine – mainly because he reveres John Updike, especially Of the Farm, but there’s more of a crossover than I thought. His top picks are A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier, The Magus by John Fowles, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Again, most with a hint of the otherworldly.
As for Little M, she enjoys reading picture books, illustrated chapter books and children’s classics of all shapes and sizes. Current favourites include:
- The Mr Gum books by Andy Stanton
- The Isadora Moon series by Harriet Muncaster
- The Scream Street series by Tommy Donbavand
- Fairytale collections
- Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai
- All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
This list is only the tip of the library card though. We like to mix it up now and again (see our book reviews for our latest picks) so if you’d like to send us review copies please get in touch via our contact form.
