One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I first heard about the book from a 'RENTA’, Mat Carter, who was with us in 1995. He would speak of it with such passion that the title stayed with me long after he left.

Years later I found myself in a dinky little second hand bookshop in Perth where I came across it on one of those dusty shelves it seemed no-one had looked at for years. Of course, I bought the book immediately (along with a collection of works by Franz Kafka which contained the famous story Metamorphosis; about a young man who slowly turns into a cockroach – also well worth a read) and began the journey Marquez had set out for me.

To this day I think about the characters and wonder if the family has survived after so long. I feel that I lived with the people who suffered and rejoiced with them in their (infrequent) success. Absolutely brilliant!
  

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

It seems that everyone knows the story of Captain Ahab’s hunting of the great white whale Moby-Dick. However, up until recently, I had never read it. Let me just say this about the book; it is not what I had imagined. In fact, it was far superior than the popular culture sound bites that people use to reference parts of the book that, without context, are totally devoid of meaning.

The book is a fascinating insight into a different time (yes – they hunt a kill whales) that is full of adventure and the characters are larger than life. I was personally intrigued by the journey, exploration and hardships that the narrator – Ishmael – took, especially given his former employment as a schoolteacher!

Forget what you think you know about Moby-Dick and just read it.
  

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of The Da Vinci Code. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it as the perfect holiday reading. It moves at a cracking pace, contains mystery, love, violence, intrigue and a healthy swathe of religious fervor. Without getting into the debate about it’s content, it made quite a stir when it first came out – of course I just had to find out what all the fuss was about. My curiosity was well pleased.

Speaking of curiosity, if you’re an older reader you may want to look into a book called The Catcher in the Rye – but you didn’t hear it from me…