My personal TOP 10 books of all time...

"The more you read, the more you'll know.
The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."
-Dr Seuss. 

I wasn't always such a fan of reading; I remember the early years of primary school, begging my dad to sign my reading record so I could get the gold stars without having to read the 6-page-long caricatured rubbish the teachers always sent home with me. I was pretty fond of poetry and paintings and indeed films, but books just didn't seem to be my media.I realise now that I probably just wanted something a little more challenging, or even just more interesting. 

Due to this ingrained aversion, I would often abandon books sent to me at Christmas and recommended by friends. I don't recall when this changed, sometime when I came to live with my mother in a house crammed full of all sorts of books I guess, or when I started hanging out in the library with my friends at lunch. I remember absorbing and retaining passages of useless script like a sponge, and then wringing them out on anyone who would stop long enough to listen to my recitals. 

It took quite a while for my taste in different genres to expand, as I had a habit of sticking to teen-horror or re-reading the same old thing again and again. I got there eventually though, and while I am always looking for new books and authors to study, I still retain these time-honored favourites, broken down for you here, into another debatable and stress-fully arranged 'Top 10'... 

Lucky you: 

10) 'Everything and Nothing.' - Araminta Hall.

"She had spent most of the night in the tiny box room, going over and over all her preparations. Mentally repacking the knapsack that was hidden in the airing cupboard containing all her possessions, plus most of Hal's, and both their passports. She was unsure how long the media coverage might continue. She envisaged months of hiding themselves away. Months of not returning looks, of crossing the street from penetrating eyes, of checking over her shoulder..."

This is one I haven’t read for quite a while, but now I’ve had to rethink this list, I might well pick it up again. I’ve already read it about 3 times – it’s so gripping that I think I read it cover-to-cover in one sitting and then opened it up again the next day. The story is about a dysfunctional bickering couple who hire a young nanny to come into their home and take care of their two young children. But from the very start, she’s too perfect at her job, and so eager to stay.

I don’t want to ruin anything, but things get pretty twisted and dark. Written from multiple perspectives, giving insights into 3 different minds, this book is terrifying and fascinating, and explores “themes of thwarted and damaged love”. I love it because I love stories about psychology and psychological issues, and both of these certainly crop up. 

9) 'The Hellbound Heart.' - Clive Barker. 

"Outside, somewhere near, the world would soon be waking. He had watched it wake from the window of this very room, day after day, stirring itself to another round of fruitless pursuits, and he'd know, known, that there was nothing left out there to excite him. No heat, only sweat. No passion; only sudden lust, and just as sudden indifference. He had turned his back on such dissatisfaction. If in doing so he had to interpret the signs these creatures bought him, then that was the price of ambition. He was ready to pay it."

Clive Barker is one of the most vivid, graphic and imaginative horror-fantasy writers out there. His gift for dark expression and emotion is astounding. I also find that the books of his that I have read, seem to have very extensive explorations on themes of sensuality, sexuality and desire. This is most especially true in The Hellbound Heart. 

I first experienced this series through the Hellraiser movies as a little kid, but I didn’t find it very interesting (although I did find it slightly disgusting), because there is a lot of adult pleasure/pain content. It is certainly not for the faint-hearted! As I got older, I find myself more gripped by the vivid imagery, and I think the experience you get from the books is so much more immersive, because you bring your own fears and desires in as part of the image you create. It is a very clever, very graphic piece of writing. 

8) 'The Magic Cottage' - James Herbert. 

As with Clive Barker, there are two James Herbert books on this list, because he is another author that I love to follow.  His books are very similar in style – graphic, vivid, imaginative, but I feel that his works are more supernatural/paranormal than fantasy-horror. I mean, there’s not a lot in it, but there is that slight difference.

This particular James Hebert story, I have only read once, many moons ago – I don’t even particularly remember what it was about exactly- but I remember being so gripped and thrilled and horrified by the events and descriptions, that it has left a deep impression even if I can’t remember the plot. It’s honestly worth looking up and checking out, because that is all I can tell you, hence why it’s near the bottom of the list. 

7)'Call of Cthulhu' - H.P. Lovecraft. 

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."

H.P Lovecraft is, in my view, the daddy of horror – he paved the way for writers like Stephen King and Clive Barker and James Herbert and all my favorites I imagine. Like every genius, he was not appreciated in his time (as his kind of writing was not commonplace I imagine), but his works are now famous and influential.

I was introduced to Lovecraft by an ex-boyfriend who complained of an inability to sleep after reading various short stories and such. I thought that seemed a bit like of a challenge and bought the most beautiful copy of ‘Necronomicon’, which is a collection of short stories and novella’s.  By far my favourite is ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ , which is unarguably Lovecraft’s most famous story.

I find his short stories have a tendency to end or begin in a similar manner – with the main character writing a personal account of the horror and tragedy that has befallen them and forced them to turn to drugs or alcohol before they throw themselves out of the window or under a bus. However, this tale is such a classic example of suspense and mystery and it plays so well to everyone’s greatest fear – the fear of the unknown, and the unstoppable. 

6) 'Carpet People' - Terry Pratchett 

"To Snibril's amazement it began to coo at its reflection, and then lay back with the mirror cuddled in it's arms. Then the termagant, with a clank, died peacefully in the temple that had been built for it time out of mind. Often, later, it was said by minstrels and wandering story-tellers that the termagarant died when it caught sight of itself in the mirror. Never believe what you hear in songs. They put in any old thing if they think it sounds better. They said that its  reflected glance turned it to a statue. But the death of the termagarant was more complicated than that. Most things are." 

Carpet people is a wonderfully woven (ha, see what I did there?) tale full of imaginative scenery and subtle wit. From the names and creatures to the use of everyday objects as mystical wonders (like matches and pennies), this is such a well thought out story that I could read over and over again and never get bored. It is also the story that inspired me to write as well, so you have Terry Pratchett to blame for all this! 

5) 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' - Douglas Adams. 

"'Resistance is useless!' bellowed the guard.'Just don't say things like that,' stammered Ford, 'How can anyone maintain a positive mental attitude if you're saying things like that?''My god,' complained Arthur, 'you're talking about a positive mental attitude and you haven't even had your planet demolished today. I woke up this morning and thought I'd have a nice relaxed day, do a bit of reading, brush the dog... it's now just after four in the afternoon and I'm already being thrown out of an alien spaceship six light years from the smoking remains of the earth!' He spluttered and gargled as the vogon tightened his grip. 'Alright,' said Ford, 'just stop panicking!'" 

A classic really, had to be on the list.The whole book is so so funny that I found it real hard to even chose a single quote.

 As Sci-Fi goes, for me, this is the pinnacle. The whole tone is just brilliant, and he has such a clever hand for writing and witty imagination for characters and inventions and places, that it is always a joy to read and re-read all of his books. I’d have loved to have a pint (or six) with Douglas Adams.He’s that interesting kind of chap. 

4) 'Weave World' - Clive Barker. 

"The pressure of growth beneath Cal was enough to throw him off the carpet a the strands sprang from their bondage, spreading the seeds of a thousand forms to right and left. Some were swifter to rise than others, reaching the ceiling in seconds. Others chose instead to make for the windows, trailing streamers of colour as they broke the glass and raced out to meet the night."

Clive Barker had to go on this list twice because he has such a gift for dark description and creation. I feel his books read a little bit like thrillers, which ordinarily I don’t tend to like, but his I retain an affection for. They are so complex and gripping and just… well, vividly imaginative that I read them over and over- in fact, my copy of Weave World (now missing) was so over-read the cover fell off. 

Weave world is a fantastical story about a whole beautiful world woven into a coveted rug, sought by benevolent forces that escaped the rug when it was woven. It is a chunky book, but so worth the read, and it keeps me entertained for a whole week when get stuck in, which is rare as I read fairly quickly. 

3) 'The Bitch Rules' - Elizabeth Wurtzel. 

"In fact, this is a book in praise of mistakes. May you make many of them along the way. May you make them left, right and centre, and when you do, may you never claim to have profited from them. May you never chalk them up to lessons learned or experience gained or any of the trite, commonplace bullshit. Just enjoy your idiocy, cry about it and bask in it, and be glad you are lucky enough to have a life that has room for some stupidity and lolling about and kicking around, because, you know, that's how it goes, and that is what it means to be living." 

This one is probably the least well known of all the books on the list, and also the only non-fiction work. This brilliant book of crucial advice for women was gifted to me by a very good lady-friend for my 17^th birthday, with the note “I remember getting this when I was 16, and I took it out at least once a year to remind myself of the rules…” This is a book ‘in praise of mistakes’- It is a book jam-packed with “rules” that would seem like common sense, but I expect most of us don't always remember to adhere to. I love it and re-read it myself very often, in spite of it’s very slight feminist undertones. It is wittily written, quotable in itself and takes quotes from songs and poems and influential women who you’d perhaps never think of before.  It should in  fact, be compulsory reading for all teenage girls and boys – everyone should know these rules. 

2) 'Sepulchre' - James Herbert. 

"The lamp revealed a closed receptacle of some kind inside, its surface dulled by centuries of dust. He brushed his shivery fingers across the front and felt metal; bumps and ridges that might have been symbols were embossed on what must have been a door, for set in one side was a small projection that served as a handle. He stared. He did not want to open it. He knew he was going to.His hands shook so violently he could barely grasp the handle. Squeezing his fingers tight around it, he tugged. The door opened easily. And his scream threatened to bring the walls of the pit down on him..." 

Sepulchre is an amazing thriller-meets-ancient-supernatural-forces novel.... it's a lot less lame than it sounds. Playing on evangelical scripture and paranormal powers, the story follows a private security guard trying to protect a wealthy, secret asset of a mega-company from a team of hit-men that they have "predicted" will come after him. With so many intriguing turns and flashbacks and a whole world of the unexpected, combined with brilliant descriptive prowess, this is another one of my over-read favourites that I always have to hand. 

1) 'The Book of Lost Things' - John Connolly. 

"For a lifetime was but a moment in that place, and each man dreams his own heaven. And so in the darkness he closed his eyes, and all that was lost was found again."

My number one book is most probably not very well known either. This is the only thing I have ever read by John Connolly, so I don’t know how popular his works are, but I know this is very different from any of his others.

It wears the disguise of a children’s book, but it's full of sinister and graphic content. The story follows a young boy in the beginning of World War Two who loses his mother and begins to hallucinate about talking books and strange worlds.

Connolly explores very adult themes and ideas through the worldview of a naïve boy who becomes a man. It is basically a fantastical coming of age story that is beautifully written and expertly imaginative. It is dark and gory and twisted, but in the most beautiful way possible – I would recommend it to anyone ever, it is a must read!

So please consider this a list of everything you need to read in the next couple of weeks. 

Unless you're a bit squeamish... then maybe not?