The Book Lover's List

Britain's librarians recently nominated Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird as the book ‘every adult should read before they die’. These are probably the same people who put Citizen Kane in the ‘movies every adult should see before they die’. American Pie did not make it to that list; probably because there is a very remote possibility of any ‘adult’ in our generation giving up the ghost who hasn’t seen the movie already.

I’m a voracious reader and a huge movie buff and yet the significance of the books and movies that make it to these lists are often lost on me. Apparently these are targeted at an audience with more refined tastes, people who like ‘layered’ stories and ‘multidimensional’ characters. But what about people with more of a, should I say, pedestrian taste? This lobby has long clamoured for a list of must read books that just have a great story to tell. If there are any deeper insights into the human psyche or gritty social commentary, its incidental and always secondary to the primary purpose of the book, which is to entertain and enthral its readers; to take the readers away, for whatever brief period, to a land where they can close their eyes and rest their weary heads while the soothing voice of the author spins an epic yarn of heroic men, determined women and resourceful kids pitted against vile monsters that threaten to consume and destroy their lives.

Well, here’s my two cents towards the eventual creation of such a list:

1. The Shining – Stephen King

2. Blood Secrets – Craig Jones

3. Boy’s Life – Robert McCammon

4. Bourne Identity – Robert Ludlum

5. Whispers – Dean Koontz

6. The Golden Rendezvous – Alistair McLean

7. The Judas Goat – Robert B. Parker

I’ll be posting reviews of these novels as and when I get time.