i wish (and by no means for the first time) that i had made a list of every single book i had ever read. the titles below are in no specific order; they are books i enjoyed throughout my life, since childhood. i took my time adding titles to my list and no doubt i shall add more. these reads were not just pleasant. they left me much more than touched and profoundly happy, probably with the feeling of not wanting to talk for a while (i often feel like this when i have finished a particularly lovely book) because they were so...satisfying, maybe? what makes us love what we read? i don't quite know the answer to that, of course. there is so much more i want to say about books. (there are types of books i dislike intensely, but let me not go there, however, 'the secret' comes to mind) i would always finish a book i started, even if it nearly killed me in the process, but no more...oh no, that all changed with frank herbert's dune and i struggled through joyce carol oates and virginia woolf only once each. life is way too short for such self inflicted suffering.

the L shaped room - lynne reid banks

the long silence of mario salviati - etienne van heerden

gormenghast - mervyn peake

exodus - leon uris

lady chatterley's lover - d.h. lawrence

small dreams of a scorpion - spike milligan

the chosen - chaim potok (also my name is asher lev)

zorba the greek - nikos kazantzakis

triomf - marlene van niekerk

wuthering heights - emily bronte

the kite runner - khaled hosseini

duma key - stephen king

chain of voices - andre brink

sophie's choice - william styron

one day in the life of ivan denisovich - alexandr solzhenitsyn

the grass is singing - doris lessing

devil's valley - andre brink

the sunbird - wilbur smith

atlas shrugged - ayn rand

cider with rosie - laurie lee

rain and other south sea stories - w. somerset maugham