Following a tagging chain on Facebook, I was asked to give eleven book suggestions to read before you die. Well, I’d be less dramatic, but push the urgency on that providing my book suggestions to read before it’s too late!

There are books that can change your life. If I have to mention all the amazing books I’ve enjoyed since I learned the art of reading, it’d probably take half a day to only list them all. Eleven book suggestions are definitely a small part of them, and the selection was quite tough to handle. I eventually chose the books that marked a moment that changed my life, or helped me see the world in a different– often better– way . In short, the book suggestions I’d give to a stranger who doesn’t have a clue about reading. Here they are, with my motivations.

1) Poirot’s Christmas – Agatha Christie.
When I read this book, as young teenager, I decided I wanted to be a mystery writer as well.

2) The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By – George Simenon.
If you can’t guess my personal motivation behind this choice it means that you still have to read this masterpiece.

3) The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway.
They told me I was too young to read this book. They told me that a 13 year-old girl would never understand this novel. They were wrong. (But I re-read it also when I was older, just to stay on the safe side!)

4) The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka.
The Metamorphosis taught me that sometimes a world without mankind would be much freer, because we haven’t still figured out how to get rid of our prejudices, and this makes us mean.

5) Little Women – Louisa May Alcott.
One of those books that parents in Italy pushed their kids to read. I realised many years later why my mother wanted me to read it because it’s a deeply feminist book. If I my hair is always short and I’m a graphomaniac, it’s also because of this book.

7) Crime and Punishment + The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoevsky.
I’ve read Crime and Punishment at least four times, and each time I read it I discovered something new I haven’t noticed before.

8) Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck.
The best ending in the history of literature, in my opinion.

9) The Day of Judgment – Salvatore Satta.
There is no more beautiful ancient photograph of the place where I was born and raised than this wonderful novel.

10) The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde.
I hate mirrors and photographs because of this novel. This book coded forever in my mind, since I was very little, to avoid vanity at any cost.

11) Cutting Right to the Chase Vol.1 – Stefania Mattana.
When I saw this book on my Kindle for the first time, I realised that I had become a mystery writer.

I believe you awesome readers have many more book suggestions to share!
I look forward to read them, use the comment field below :)

[Jetpack_subscription_form]