Inspiring Books

From Peter Rabbit and Winnie the Pooh to Othello and Ulysses, your life is likely to have been punctuated with works of literature (both great and small). What we read – whether a work of fact or fiction; prose or poetry; book or magazine - often influences our thought processes and belief systems as much as the people around us. In many ways, books literally make us who we are today.

This page contains a small collection of the books that have touched us in some way, and have contributed something meaningful to our lives. Some of them are serious. Some are humourous. All are inspiring.

The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran

An inspiring ode to love and marriage, joy and sorrow, reason and passion, beauty and death. A short (and in some ways simple) story, yet beautiful and moving.

The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins

Irrespective of your current beliefs, this highly articulate and thought-provoking book will challenge the way that you think and encourage you to think deeply about the meaning of life - surely the mark of a great work of literature. Anyone even remotely interested in how we came to be here, and how our societies have evolved to become what they are today, owes it to their enquiring mind to read this book - irrespective of the conclusions that they reach after reading the book.

Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson

Calvin (a mischevious young boy) and Hobbes (his side-kick and pet (toy) tiger) can very well be credited with forming my personal sense of humour. This complete collection would not be out of place in the grandest of libraries. Simply superb.

Catch 22, by Joseph Heller

A modern classic. A satirical account of WWII, featuring some of the most creative thinking and delicious humour that I have ever had the pleasure to read. If you haven't read it, you simply must - you'll laugh for hours.

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

Preposterously funny, yet often startlingly profound. A cult classic. Surely there can't be many people who haven't read this? If you're one of the few who have yet to be delighted by Douglas Adams, don't delay any longer...

Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier

This is a minor classic, one that has stood the test of time, a model for established or aspiring authors. Each word is weighed and valued, and the plotting, dialogue and characterisation are impeccable. From that perfect opening sentence ("Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again.") the tension is stretched to the limit until eventually it snaps at a shocking climax. There have been several film versions but none has quite captured the essence of this engrossing story. A must for your library of favourite works.

A Farewell To Arms, by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway once said that it took years for a writer to learn how to compose a proper sentence. Thus, he had an enormous influence on American writing in the decades before and after the second world war.

A reporter in 1916 at the age of 17 and a writer and adventurer for the remainder of his 61 years, he introduced a literary style of utter integrity that bordered on the journalistic. He created scenes with simple use of words and with dialogue that broke the established mould and set modern standards.

In truth, he remained a reporter until he took his own life: all of his novels were based on personal experience; of war, bull fighting, big game hunting and fishing; of love, life and death, on which he had a fixation.

His writing is an acquired taste for many but no library could be considered complete without at least a few of his novels of which A Farewell to Arms, published in 1929, was his second. It is a compelling love story set against the horrors of war and a collapsing world, a world where established values have been lost forever, where violent, unregarded death has become commonplace.

It's a book that might have been published yesterday, such is its inherent truth. As a work of fiction it is timeless.