World Book Day - ten great books

1.  Goodbye to Berlin (Christopher Isherwood)
Christopher Isherwood's semi-autobiographical account of 1930s Berlin presents one man's life in a city on the brink of catastrophe.  A cast of characters, whose lives are playing out against the backdrop of the rise to power of the Nazis, this novel left behind an uncomfortable chill for the future of the protagonists, who knew not the direction they were heading.

2.  Kim (Rudyard Kipling)
"He crossed his hands on his lap and smiled, as a man may who has won Salvation for himself and his beloved."  So closes the novel on Kipling's love letter to India in this most stunning novel.  Probably my favourite ever novel, which sees young orphan Kimball O'Hara engaged in the game of Empire, whilst all the while following the lama on his quest to Enlightenment.  Deeply affectionate, tear-jerking beauty.

3.  Tintin and the Broken Ear (Hergé)

It's hard to pick a Tintin story above all others, but if pushed, I chose The Broken Ear.  The intrepid reporter takes up the case of a stolen Arumbaya fetish, meeting along the way a talking parrot, a madcap General, and a lost explorer.  Can Tintin return the stolen fetish to its museum plinth, or will he fall for one of the many replicas?  Brilliant artistry, as always, from the master cartoonist, and an interesting study of the political and economic issues of the day.

4. No Shitting in the Toilet (Peter Moore)
Excuse the profanity!  The travel guide for when you've really lost it, Peter Moore's alternative globe-trotting bible is jam-packed with utter hilarity, giving the real side of all those horrible hostels, terrible trains, and disgusting dinners, which are all part-and-parcel of a backpacker's life on the road.

5.  A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway)
"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."  Hemingway's memoirs of literary life in the French capital are a joy to read, effortlessly conjuring up the atmosphere of the City of Light, in its most iconic era.

6.  Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson)
It's impossible to not include Treasure Island in this book list.  As an 11-year-old boy, tucked up in bed on a dark and stormy night, this adventure story leapt out of the pages.  I've read it several times since, especially after I received my Grandma's 1937 hardback edition.  A timeless classic, even if better writing was to follow with Kidnapped.

7.  Maps (Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski)
Fancied this one from the moment I first saw it in Waterstone's, until Lizzie gave it to me for Christmas.  Essentially a kids book, but one of those publications completely lost of youngsters, it's full of glorious art work showcasing the best of countries around the world.  Lovely!

8.  This Side of Paradise (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
Scott Fitzgerald's unique, memorable portrayal of life at Princeton University in the years preceding the First World War.  A brilliant, precocious student, the novel tells the tale of Amory Blaine's evolution into a "personage."  Arrogance and sophistication abound, Princeton never truly forgave Fitzgerald for his version of life at the University in the early days of the Twentieth Century.

9.  The Diary of a Nobody (George and Weedon Grossmith)
Laugh-out-loud moments in this short comic novel, which was surely light-years ahead of its time, detailing the life and times of Charles Pooter, a master of misfortune.  The book sticks in my mind for the quote: "My good master shook my hand warmly as he nodded his head.  It was as much as I could do to prevent myself from crying in the 'bus: in fact, I should have done so, had my thoughts not been interrupted by Lupin, who was having a quarrel with a fat man in the 'bus, whom he accused of taking up too much room."

10.  Times Atlas of the World
Ok it's another mappy choice, but my Atlas is probably the book I treasure above all others.  How else can I go around the world in the comfort of the armchair, pore for hours over cities, oceans, mountains, and jungles, imagine, and dream.  When I was a student, I discovered that people can be broadly put into one of two categories - dictionary people, and atlas people.  Well, my Compact Oxford Dictionary is a massive help to me at work, but it pales into insignificance compared with the joys and pleasures of my beautiful Atlas.

Happy World Book Day everybody!  I hope whatever you're reading today is brilliant!