I cast around the bookshelves today in search of inspiration and picked out Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake. I re-read the 1st 2 or 3 chapters and it still conjures up a powerful picture.

This got me to thinking and I returned to the shelves to pick out what my top 5 might be. These are books I’ve read more than once and some many, many times. In no special order and probably this week only …

Lord of the Rings: J. R. R. Tolkein, I will never tire of this book

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Robert M. Pirsig, I take something different from this book every time I read it. Doesn’t mean I understand it though!

Titus Groan: Mervyn Peake, basically the Gormenghast Trilogy but definitely ordered 1,2 and 3 being a mere shadow of what came before. This is a Tone Poem on paper.

The Road Less Travelled: M. Scott Peck, for the opening line “Life is difficult.” Just this realisation is worth it!

I was so sure I had 5 when I started out but had to give some serious thought to  another book or set of books I’d enjoyed enough to read more than once and wanted to take 5th place. Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov I’ve read 2-3 times; anything from the Cthulhu Mythos by either H.P. Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith as I often dip into and re-read these short stories (The Call of Cthulhu or At the Mountains of Madness being favourites) or possibly Chaos by James Gleick, which is always a good mind bender. I guess it depends on the mood.