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A Month In the Country
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Gene Kelly, Singin' In the Rain
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The Age of Innocence
Emma -- Jane Austen
Persuasion -- Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility -- Jane Austen
Hawk of May -- Gillian Bradshaw
Kingdom of Summer -- Gillian Bradshaw
In Winter's Shadow -- Gillian Bradshaw
(a trilogy to be read in this order)
The Sixth Lamentation -- William Brodrick
Down All the Days -- Christy Brown
Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery -- John Gregory Brown
Possession -- A S Byatt
Oscar and Lucinda -- Peter Carey
Beach Music -- Pat Conroy
The Prince of Tides -- Pat Conroy
Bleak House -- Charles Dickens
Great Expectations -- Charles Dickens
Little Dorrit -- Charles Dickens
Martin Chuzzlewit -- Charles Dickens
Our Mutual Friend -- Charles Dickens
Rebecca -- Daphne du Maurier
Ragtime -- E L Doctorow
Silas Marner -- George Eliot
Past Imperfect -- Julian Fellowes
Howard's End -- E M Forster
Anansi Boys -- Neil Gaiman
With No-one as Witness -- Elizabeth George
(the best of her Inspector Lynley books)
Pincher Martin -- William Golding
Don Camillo and His Flock -- Giovanni Guareschi
In a Dark Wood Wandering -- Hella S. Haasse (historical novel)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time -- Mark Haddon
Growth of the Soil -- Knut Hamsun
Far From the Madding Crowd -- Thomas Hardy
The Life and Death of the Mayor of Casterbridge -- Thomas Hardy
Catch 22 -- Joseph Heller
Winter's Tale -- Mark Helprin
Knulp -- Herman Hesse
Rosshalde -- Herman Hesse
High Fidelity -- Nick Hornby
The Kite Runner -- Khaled Hosseini
The Bone People -- Keri Hulme
Tangi -- Witi Ihimaera
The Summer Book -- Tove Jansson
The Outcast -- Sadie Jones
Tarry Flynn -- Patrick Kavanagh
Zorba the Greek -- Nikos Kazantzakis
The Historian -- Elizabeth Kostova
(I usually avoid stories involving vampires, but I simply couldn't put this one down)
The Swan Thieves -- Elizabeth Kostova
Immortality -- Milan Kundera
The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- Milan Kundera
Independent People -- Halldor Laxness
World Light -- Halldor Laxness
Love in the Time of Cholera -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Book of Atrix Wolfe -- Patricia A McKillip (fantasy)
the Riddle-Master trilogy -- Patricia A McKillip (fantasy)
Fugitive Pieces -- Anne Michaels
Suite Française -- Irene Némirovsky
The English Patient -- Michael Ondaatje
Knowledge of Angels -- Jill Paton Walsh
My Name is Asher Lev -- Chaim Potok
The God of Small Things -- Arundhati Roy
Ali and Nino -- Kurban Said
Rob Roy -- Sir Walter Scott
Waverley -- Sir Walter Scott
The Lovely Bones -- Alice Sebold
At Paradise Gate -- Jane Smiley
The Pearl -- John Steinbeck
The Master of Ballantrae -- R L Stevenson
The Bonesetter's Daughter -- Amy Tan
The Kitchen God's Wife -- Amy Tan
Vanity Fair -- W M Thackeray
The Lord of the Rings -- J R R Tolkien
Smith of Wootton Major -- J R R Tolkien
The Last Magician -- Janette Turner Hospital
Vile Bodies -- Evelyn Waugh
The Age of Innocence -- Edith Wharton
The Shadow of the Wind -- Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Book Thief -- Markus Zusak
Miracles of Life: From Shanghai to Shepperton: An Autobiography -- J G Ballard
Nothing to Be Frightened Of -- Julian Barnes
To Sir, With Love -- E R Braithwaite
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee -- Dee Brown
A Short History of Nearly Everything -- Bill Bryson
Rapture -- Carol Ann Duffy (poetry)
Fillets of Plaice -- Gerald Durrell
My Family and Other Animals -- Gerald Durrell
The Pity of It All: A Portrait of the German-Jewish Epoch, 1743-1933 -- Amos Elon
At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays -- Anne Fadiman
Ex Libris -- Anne Fadiman (essays)
Letters of John Keats -- ed. Robert Gittings
Mai Pen Rai Means Never Mind -- Carol Hollinger
The Great Game -- Peter Hopkirk
On Secret Service East of Constantinople -- Peter Hopkirk
Cider With Rosie -- Laurie Lee
A Rose for Winter -- Laurie Lee
The Man Who Loved Egypt -- Bimbashi McPherson
Holidays in Hell -- PJ O'Rourke (essays)
The Purest of Pleasures -- Jill Parker
The German Trauma/The Healing Wound: Experiences and Reflections, Germany, 1938-2001 -- Gitta Sereny
A Distant Mirror -- Barbara Tuchman
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Far From the Madding Crowd
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The Shop Around the Corner
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Life On a String
August Rush
Chocolat
Les Choristes
City Lights (Chaplin)
The Color Purple
Un Coeur en Hiver
Dead Man
Departures
Dersu Uzala
The Enchanted April
Ever After
Despicable Me
Fiddler on the Roof
Flawless
The Gold Rush (Chaplin)
The Golden Door (Nuovomondo)
Ice Age (I)
Kagemusha
Ladies in Lavender (Judi Dench, Maggie Smith)
Life on a String
A Month in the Country (Colin Firth, Kenneth Branagh)
My Fair Lady
Il Postino
The Return of Martin Guerre
Romuald et Juliette
Roseanna's Grave (aka For Roseanna)
The Secret of Roan Inish
Sense and Sensibility (Emma Thompson's adaptation)
The Shop Around the Corner
Singin' in the Rain
Song for a Raggy Boy
(am not sure about its historical accuracy, but it's deeply moving)
Stardust
Travelers and Magicians
Up
Wall-E
War Requiem (Derek Jarman)
You've Got Mail
Coupling
(a side-splitting look at the differences between the sexes)
Emma (2009)
(with Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller)
Far From the Madding Crowd (1998)
the Inspector Lynley mysteries
(my favourite detective team)
Jane Eyre (1983)
(with Timothy Dalton as Mr Rochester)
A Little Princess
(the version that is closest to the book)
Middlemarch
Piece of Cake
(WWII series about human nature under stress)
Pride and Prejudice 1995
(with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth)
Trust
(thriller)
Vanity Fair (1998)
Wives and Daughters
-- Do you somehow get the impression that I love costume dramas? Several of these are set in the 19th century... Great literature, and excellent adaptations to the small screen.
I am happy to say that I have never lost my inner child completely: I read some of these books even today. You may find many of them more acceptable to girls than boys, but then again, you may be surprised. Some of them are decidedly old-fashioned, having been written in the late 19th or early 20th century. For my daughters, nieces, sisters and me alike, though, that is part of their charm.
(full of wisdom and with some delightful characters)
The Book of Three
The Black Cauldron
The Castle of Llyr
Taran Wanderer
The High King
Little Lord Fauntleroy -- Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Little Princess -- Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret Garden -- Frances Hodgson Burnett (my all-time favourite: magic!)
the Artemis Fowl series -- Eoin Colfer:
(great fun)
Artemis Fowl
The Arctic Incident
The Eternity Code
The Opal Deception
The Lost Colony
The Time Paradox
The Dark is Rising series -- Susan Cooper:
The Dark Is Rising
(I found the film disappointing)
Greenwitch
Over Sea, Under Stone
Silver on the Tree
The Grey King
The Neverending Story -- Michael Ende
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen -- Alan Garner
The Moon of Gomrath -- Alan Garner
Elidor -- Alan Garner
The Owl Service -- Alan Garner
Red Shift -- Alan Garner
Little Plum -- Rumer Godden
(this comes after Miss Happiness and Miss Flower)
Miss Happiness and Miss Flower -- Rumer Godden
The Little White Horse -- Elizabeth Goudge
(More magic. I found the film a sad diminution.)
Dream Days -- Kenneth Grahame
The Hamish Hamilton Book of Princesses
(full of rare treasures, and a true delight for little girls who enjoy a fairy tale with a wry sense of humour)
Lottie and Lisa -- Erich Kastner
(also translated, sometimes, as Lisa and Lotte)
The Land of Green Ginger -- Noel Langley
The Chronicles of Narnia -- C S Lewis:
The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Horse and His Boy
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle
(the hidden religious message doesn't have to interfere with your enjoyment if that's not your theology:
it has never interfered with mine;
try to get a copy with the original Pauline Baynes illustrations)
The Six Bullerby Children -- Astrid Lindgren
Sir Gibbie -- George MacDonald
The Princess and Curdie -- George MacDonald
The Princess and the Goblin -- George MacDonald
(you need to read this before The Princess and Curdie)
The Railway Children -- E Nesbit
Tom's Midnight Garden -- Philippa Pearce
the Harry Potter series -- JK Rowling:
(if you have not read them, please do not be put off by detractors with doubts about their subject-matter:
these books are about courage, loyalty, friendship and lateral thinking (inter alia))
Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Black Beauty -- Anna Sewell
The Rescuers -- Margery Sharp
(try to get an edition with the original illustrations by Garth Williams;
they are an intrinsic part of the book's charm)
You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! -- Andy Stanton
Tristan and Iseult -- Rosemary Sutcliffe
The Rose and the Ring -- W M Thackeray
(again, the original illustrations are part of the fun)
Amigo -- Byrd Baylor (illustrations by Garth Williams)
Goodnight, Ben -- Bernard Waber
(for some silly marketing reason, now renamed Ira Sleeps Over)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar -- Eric Carle
May I Bring a Friend? -- Beatrice de Regniers (illustrations by Beni Montresor)
Hairy Maclary From Donaldson's Dairy -- Lynley Dodd
What Do You Do, Dear? -- Sesyle Joslin (illustrations by Maurice Sendak)
What Do You Say, Dear? -- Sesyle Joslin (illustrations by Maurice Sendak)
The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate -- Margaret Mahy (illustrations by Margaret Chamberlain)
There's a Nightmare in My Closet -- Mercer Mayer
The Nutshell Library -- Maurice Sendak
The Sign on Rosie's Door -- Maurice Sendak
Where the Wild Things Are -- Maurice Sendak
The Whale's Song -- Dyan Sheldon (illustrations by Gary Blythe)
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day -- Judith Viorst (illustrations by Ray Cruz)
Mr Rabbit and the Lovely Present -- Charlotte Zolotow (illustrations by Maurice Sendak)
You will see that most of these audio-books are read by the British actor Nathaniel Parker. This is because I find his readings the most expressive and entertaining. There are other recordings of some of these works, but as I've not heard them, I can't recommend them.
The Blood-Dimmed Tide -- Rennie Airth; read by Nathaniel Parker
The Beast Must Die -- Nicholas Blake (C. Day-Lewis); read by Nathaniel Parker; abridged
The Sixth Lamentation -- William Brodrick; read by Nathaniel Parker; abridged
The Gardens of the Dead -- William Brodrick; read by Nathaniel Parker; abridged
Selected Poems -- John Donne; read by Stella Gonet, Haydn Gwynne, Jeremy Northam, Alex Jennings, David Horovitch and Nathaniel Parker
Staring at the Light -- Frances Fyfield; read by Nathaniel Parker
Far From the Madding Crowd -- Thomas Hardy; read by Nathaniel Parker
Selected Poems -- John Keats; read by Stella Gonet, Haydn Gwynne, Jeremy Northam, Alex Jennings, David Horovitch and Nathaniel Parker
The Child in Time -- Ian McEwan; read by Nathaniel Parker
Vile Bodies -- Evelyn Waugh; read by Nathaniel Parker (narrator), Emilia Fox and Tobias Menzies; abridged
Selected Poems -- William Wordsworth; read by Stella Gonet, Haydn Gwynne, Jeremy Northam, Alex Jennings, David Horovitch and Nathaniel Parker
(part of the 10-disc set The Romantic Poets)
David Copperfield -- Charles Dickens; read by Nathaniel Parker; abridged
Young Bond 1: Silverfin -- Charlie Higson; read by Nathaniel Parker
Young Bond 2: Blood Fever -- Charlie Higson; read by Nathaniel Parker
Young Bond 3: Double or Die -- Charlie Higson; read by Nathaniel Parker
Young Bond 4: Hurricane Gold -- Charlie Higson; read by Nathaniel Parker
Young Bond 5: By Royal Command -- Charlie Higson; read by Nathaniel Parker
Stormbreaker -- Anthony Horowitz; read by Nathaniel Parker
The Rinaldi Ring -- Jenny Nimmo; read by Nathaniel Parker
The Midwich Cuckoos -- John Wyndham; read by Nathaniel Parker
Artemis Fowl 2: The Arctic Incident -- Eoin Colfer; read by Nathaniel Parker
Artemis Fowl 3: The Eternity Code -- Eoin Colfer; read by Nathaniel Parker
Artemis Fowl 4: The Opal Deception -- Eoin Colfer; read by Nathaniel Parker
Artemis Fowl 5: The Lost Colony -- Eoin Colfer; read by Nathaniel Parker
Artemis Fowl 6: The Time Paradox -- Eoin Colfer; read by Nathaniel Parker
Peter Pan -- Sir James Barrie; read by Samuel West
Danny the Champion of the World -- Roald Dahl; read by Nathaniel Parker
The Little White Horse -- Elizabeth Goudge; read by Miriam Margolyes
The Water Horse -- Dick King-Smith; read by Nathaniel Parker
Black Beauty -- Anna Sewell; read by Nathaniel Parker
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Charles Chaplin: The Kid