Bethany Anderson (author of the Words, Words, Words Blog) recommends five books toread before you die.
Tess of the d’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
Still my favourite book of all time, and the one I will always recommend (if I can only recommend one). It’s a beautifully written story with all the true traits of tragedy - rape, betrayal, madness, murder. Tess is a book I have studied inside and out, and it still continues to amaze me. I first read this nine years ago, and it still holds an unrivalled top spot. For the non-Hardy readers, this is the place to start. For Hardy fans, there’s no need to say it twice.
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Go on - why not? So murdering yuppies might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but you only live once. If gore is outside of your comfort zone, delve into the deep end. If sick and twisted with a dash of humour is just what you want, then relish this book. It’s just too clever to miss out on.
Fugitive Pieces - Anne Michaels
Such a beautiful portrait of what it means to be human, and a humbling insight into the frailty of life. This novel is through and through a work of beauty. Simply put, it offers the most stunning accounts of falling in love that I have ever read. Even just thinking about this book makes me melt.
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Yes, this book might be a bit of an epic, but that’s because it includes every aspect of life possible: politics, religion, philosophy, aesthetics, history, society, men, women, love, hate, war, romance. There is no reason for anyone not to gain something substantial from this book. Tolstoy offers so much between one and eight hundred and odd pages, and it’s all so eloquently written. A hilarious read too, so it’s definitely worth a shot.
Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen
Five things to read before you die - say you’re on your death bed and you’ve got time for just one more story, pick up something by Andersen or the Grimms. One, it’ll give you that warm, cosy, happy nostalgic feel that comes from reading a fairy tale (no matters how grim it may be) and two, every fairy tale will remind you of hundreds of books that you’ve read. So, in your last moments, you’ll feel like you’ve reread all your favourite stories.
This article originally appeared in Word Up
