Emma – Jane Austen

I first read this when I was eleven, purely because it is titled Emma, I was quickly hooked though, and have re-read it countless times.

Ostensibly, it is a story of the perils of misconstrued romance.  It deals with two of Austen’s common themes: the concerns and difficulties of women’s lives in Georgian-Regency England and a ‘comedy of manners’ among the characters. 

Apparently, Austen said that when she created her heroine Emma Woodhouse, she wanted to ‘create a heroine whom noone else but myself will much like’.  Indeed, Emma is a flawed character, yet she manages to be infuriating and endearing at the same time. 

The story revolves around the ‘handsome, clever and rich’  Emma Woodhouse who befriends the young Harriet Smith, a girl of questionable parentage and attempts to remake her in her own image.  Although Emma herself has vowed never to marry, she loves playing matchmaker among her peers, with often unsuccessful results.

Emma has been made into several film and television productions, and was also the inspiration for the teen movie ‘Clueless’, but nothing comes close to the original novel.

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My Sisters Keeper – Jodi Picoult

This book is so compelling that I stayed up all night to finish it, and then I couldn’t sleep for thinking about it.  It  poses some really controversial questions and made me wonder what I would do in that situation?

Anna was genetically engineered to be a match for her cancer ridden older sister Kate.  Procedures become increasingly invasive until thirteen year old Anna decides to sue her parents, upon hearing that a kidney transplant is planned.

The story is told from all viewpoints, which highlights how impossible a decision it is to make. There is no right or wrong answer; it is the ultimate moral dilemma and you find yourself pondering it long after the novel is finished. 

Picoult deals with the uncomfortable subject matter well and the heart wrenching, unexpected plot twist at the end is the perfect finale to the perfect novel.

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On the Road – Jack Kerouac

I read this whilst backpacking in my early twenties and loved everything about it immediately.  I exchanged it with a fellow traveller and read it cover to cover in one very long journey from Italy to Switzerland.

It is a largely autobiographical work based on the spontaneous roadtrips of Kerouac and his friends’ across fifties America.  It is widely considered as a defining work of the postwar Beat generation inspired by jazz, poetry and drugs.

This novel influenced among others Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison and was described by the New York Times as ‘the most beautifully executed, the clearest and most important utterance.

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Little Women – Louisa May Alcott

This is a serious contender for being my favourite novel ever.  It is definitely one of the ones I can most identify with.

The novel follows the lives of four sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March, and is loosely based on Alcott’s own childhood experiences.  It explores family life thoroughly whilst also delving into issues of feminism as Jo struggles with the boundaries placed on women during the nineteenth century. 

My favourite thing about the book, is the characters and how each of them has a fundamental flaw, which they must overcome during the story.  Meg is vain, Jo has a short temper, Beth is extremely shy and the youngest Amy displays selfish characteristics.  This all makes the girls more likable and real.

When it was first published in 1868 it was an overnight success, selling over 2000 copies immediately.

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This is only the start of my list, there are hundreds more which could be added, and probably will be at some point.