Don’t forget that everyone can play along. Just add your own favourite book titles beginning with ‘D’, or those of any author whose surname begins with that letter.
It couldn’t be ‘D’ without Charles Dickens of course. When I was a child, my grandmother had a complete bound set of his work, stored in its own bookshelf. She had never read it though, so as I took each volume down to read, I had the joy of being able to feel the binding, and to smell the pages of those unopened volumes. His books are fantastic examples of descriptive writing and wonderful characterisation, and have left us with an historical legacy to treasure always. I won’t bother to add any titles, as once I started, I could go on all day. But if you have never read any of his books, I suggest you start with ‘Great Expectations’.
British author Frederick Forsyth is a rather opinionated individual, who can be difficult to like as a person. However, in 1971, he published his first novel, and I could not put it down. I stayed up so late reading it, I was late for work the next day. ‘The Day of The Jackal’ is about an assassination attempt on the former French president, Charles de Gaulle. Rarely had I read a book so meticulously researched, or so gripping in its style. I soon felt that I knew so much more about events in modern French history, the war in Algeria, and the terror campaign of the OAS that followed. This is how to write a thriller, undoubtedly. It was later made into an excellent film, starring Edward Fox.
In the same year, I read a new novel, ‘The Dice Man’ by Luke Rhinehart. This fascinating book poses the question of how your life might turn out, if you left it all completely to chance. The main character is a psychiatrist named after the author, (a pen name) who one day decides to continue his life based on rolls of a die. He gives each number a potential outcome, and acts on the result. The effects of this decision are life-changing, and take him down a route from which there seems to be no escape. As well as the experiences of the Dice Man, we see cults spread around the idea, and as others begin to live their lives in the same way, society itself begins to change. A very unusual concept, and one that works very well.
Daniel Defoe was an English writer, best known for his books ‘Moll Flanders’, and ‘Robinson Crusoe’, though he wrote much more. As a child, I was drawn into the world of the castaway sailor, Robinson Crusoe, and his native companion, Man Friday. I used to imagine myself trying to survive on that island, wearing clothes made from palm fronds, and wondering if I would ever be rescued. That a book published in 1719 caught my imagination so firmly never really occurred to me at the time. It is interesting to note that this book has been printed in more than 700 versions, and is second only to The Bible in the numbers printed in the western world. It has also been made into films and TV series, and inspired many copycat series and films, such as ‘Lost In Space’, and ‘Castaway’.
I have to include the Russian author Dostoyevsky in ‘D’. His heavyweight fiction delivers moral impact, alongside historical accuracy, and his themes have endured from the middle of the 19th century, to the modern day. Never an easy read, with many characters, and often depressing themes, they do however reward the serious reader with a glimpse into a bygone age. Most of us will know his book ‘Crime and Punishment’, a tale of murder and retribution that has been filmed more than 30 times. But I can also recommend ‘The Gambler’, and ‘The Brothers Karamazov’, as examples of his other novels.
My top pick today is the first novel in a series by Frank Herbert. I did not usually read science fiction at the time. Although I had read some H.G. Wells at school, as well as a few John Christopher and John Wyndham novels, it was not a genre that appealed that much to me. (And still doesn’t) However, during the late 1970s, I read an article about Frank Herbert in the Sunday Times, and decided to try his novel ‘Dune’. I could never have imagined how caught up I would become in the unusual worlds portrayed in this book, and the five sequels that followed. Imaginary planets, time-travel by folding space, a drug that was the major currency of the universe, and giant sandworms too. Add a mystical religious order, warring families and empires, and some intriguing and unique characters, and I was well and truly hooked. I couldn’t stop reading them. I stayed up half the night, I was late for work again, and I couldn’t wait for the outcomes of the convoluted plots. This was story-telling at a massive level. I never aspired to get anywhere close to this, but it did give me ideas, and a lesson as to just how much work is involved for the author. It was later made into a film of course, by David Lynch. He did very well with it, but couldn’t get close to the complexity of the ideas.
Having mentioned Horror books for October on an L post, I thought I’d better mention Dead Sea by Tim Curran. That one really made me feel like I was trying to survive in an alternate world inside the Bermuda Triangle. Very scary stuff.
On a more classical note, author Charlton Daines writes books using Dickens characters, at least The Artful Dodger. They’re more accessible than the actual dickens!
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I do like the characters in Dickens’ books, and can bring them to life in my mind.
Thanks for the introduction to ‘Dead sea’, it sounds very good.
Best wishes, Pete.
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“Oliver Twist” was one of the first great novels I read in school (though I’d already digested “The Lost World” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, another D author).
I absolutely have to mention Alexandre Dumas (“La Reine Margot,” the “Musketeers” trilogy, etc.), Denis
Diderot (his “Jacques le fataliste” is perhaps my favorite French novel), and Philippe Djian (“37° 2 le matin,” whose 1986 film adaptation is known here as “Betty Blue”).
I also would like to mention an American author: James Dickey, whose novel, “Deliverance,” was made into an excellent film starring Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty. I’ve read this lyrical/brutal novel twice in French translation.
I refuse to slight any of these authors. So I’m not going to make a choice!
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Thanks for your French suggestions, and the mention of Dickey too, David. I didn’t know about the book of ‘Deliverance’ at all.
Best wishes, Pete.
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VERY late to this party but I don’t think anyone has mentioned The Double by Jose Saramago yet, unless you plan to pull it out of the bag for ‘S’. It’s my favourite book, and Saramago won a Nobel Prize for Literature so must have been doing something right 🙂 .
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Thanks, Heart. I haven’t heard of that one, so a great addition.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I am going to nominate Dirty Havana Trilogy Pedro Juan Gutiérrez and Dracula by Bram Stoker.
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I have read ‘Dracula’, but the other choice is new to me, so a great addition.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I was hooked on Daphne du Maurier as a young teen, maybe why I have ended up in Cornwall! Also enjoyed Dark Star Safari by Theroux.
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I always loved ‘Rebecca’. Thanks, Jude. x
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I love Robinson Crusoe, much of Dickens… I agree about Delusions of Grandma (I prefer ‘Surrender de Pink’ by Carrie Fisher… There, it can go on the F or S). Perhaps Emily Dickinson for poetry…
Thanks, Pete!
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Thanks for playing along, Olga.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I doubt I will have too much to contribute to this series, Pete, but I couldn’t let this pass me by.
Your favourite film for B was Bladerunner (it’s also one of my favourite all time films). There’s a double D available here (or Double Diamond for those who can remember that far back). The book is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Philip K Dick.
It’s worth reading, even if you’ve seen the film, as there are some themes in the book which are missing from the film
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I knew that the film was based on Dick’s novel, but I have never read it. I have heard many say that the film lost much of the best parts of the book, so I really should catch up with it. Well done with the double ‘D’!
Cheers, Pete.
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Any book by Kate DiCamillo is outstanding and worthy of being included. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is one of many.
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Thanks very much, Jennie. A new author to me, so a valuable inclusion.
Best wishes, Pete.
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And again everything is already mentioned. I do not even remember a German author with D! 😦
By the way, I’m currently reading “The Idiot” by Dostojewski.
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Thanks, Irene. He is a heavy read, but a rewarding one.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Anything by Dahl who I have discovered very late in life thanks to Michalina, but not only his children’s books but his short stories as well, he never fails to surprise.
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I haven’t read his stuff, Eddy. I used to only know him from introducing ‘Tales of The Unexpected’ on TV!
Cheers, Pete.
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Dickens, Dune and Roald Dahl are all great inclusions. I’ll throw in the character who enthralled me as a youngster—Nancy Drew.
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Thanks very much, Peggy. I have never read a ‘Nancy Drew Mystery’, but I have heard of them.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Too late to the party again
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Never too late, FR. I’m sure you can rake up something. Wasn’t ‘daredevil’ a book of sorts? 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Dickens for sure, though I had to be past middle age to really appreciate him. In college I made the mistake of taking a course called “The Nineteenth Century English Novel.” We had to read “Bleak House” in a week. Also many other long novels a week(what was I thinking? I wasn’t.) It is a great book about never ending courts and wills. Much easier to appreciate after going through probate with a relative’s estate.
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Bleak House is a great insight into the old judicial practice of Chancery Court. I found it fascinating.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Great choices Pete! I’d have them all as part of my list except for Dice Men, which I haven’t read. I’ll have to look that up. I’d also include:
The Dead Zone/Dolores Claiborne/ Different Seasons – King
The Diary Of A Young Girl – Frank
The Da Vinci Code – Brown
Dark Carnival – Bradbury
Dark Rivers Of the Heart – Koontz
Daughter Of Fortune – Allende
David Copperfield -Dickens
Dead Witch Walking – Kim Harrison
Death On the Nile – Christie
The Deep – Benchley
Diary – Palahniuk
Divine Comedy – Dante
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep – Dick
Don Quixote – de Cervantes
Down and Out in Paris and London – Orwell
Dracula – Stoker
Druids – Llywelyn
Dubliners -Joyce
Dune – Herbert
The Dunwich Horror – Lovecraft
Authors: Charles Dickens, Roald Dahl, James Dashner, Charles de Lint, Daniel Defoe, Phillip K. Dick, Annie Dillard, Cory Doctorow, E. L. Doctorow, Mary Males Dodge, Fyodor Dostoevsky Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas (both father and son), Daphne du Maurier,
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I have actually read 10 of those on your list. I impressed myself!
Best wishes, Pete/
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Woot!😊
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Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy, New York: Harper and Row, 1959, is a book that had when I first read it 50m years ago and continues to have to this day (and I do read if every few years) a profound impact on my thinking.
Warmest regards, Theo
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it had and continues to have an impact on my thinking.
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Thanks, Theo. Obviously a new one on me, but most welcome as a suggestion.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I read as much nonfiction as fiction.
Warmest regards, Theo
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I used to too.
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Dickens and Dune [squeals of joy]. I also love Great Expectations with my favourite bit being about Pip and the stolen pork pie. My favourite Daniel Defoe is A journal of the Plague Year and if you haven’t read it, you really should.
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Thanks very much, Robbie. I did read ‘Plague Year’ as a teenager, and confess to not paying that much attention back then. Time for a re-read!
Nice to find another ‘Dune’ fan!
Best wishes, Pete.
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D, for me, needs to include Marguerite Duras, especially the harrowing ‘La Douleur’
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Thanks, Sue. A great choice.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thank you, Pete! You know it, then?
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I read it in the 80s, I think. France during the war, collaboration, etc? I hope I have got the right book!
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Yep, indeed! And I read it in the late ’80s I see from my copy…
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Another great letter of books to share with others – I have a lot of non-fiction, and will share a few:
“Devil In The Kitchen” is legendary and volatile Chef Marco Pierre White’s autobiography – hilariously profane. Oh, and a quick jump to autobiographical fiction for the hilarious “Delusions Of Grandma” by the late great Carrie Fisher, another thinly veiled look at life with her Mom, Debbie Reynolds.
Finally, the great Travel Writer Paul Theroux went through the heart of Africa in his memoir “Dark Star Safari” – here is a look at the book, and others of his as well – sobering, intelligent and always fascinating:
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Thanks for those non-fiction suggestions, John. They are a great addition to the series.
Best wishes, Pete.
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“Great Expectations” was a good pick for Dickens, my #1 choice for a “D” author (Oliver Twist will always be a favorite of mine, too.) 2 other authors: Roald Dahl. Arthur Conan Doyle. The only “D” book that comes to mind: ‘Dracula”. Not only a well-written yarn, but it seems like the author must have had some serious unresolved mental issues, which just ooze out of his writing, and make it so effectively creepy.
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‘Dracula’ is a good choice for a Gothic classic, Robert. I could go on about Dickens all day, as I love the history that leaps off of the pages. I have suddenly realised that I have never read a book by Roald Dahl, so maybe I should remedy that.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I love Roald Dahl and Arthur Canon Doyle too. However my favorites do not start with a ‘D’. It is ‘Lolita’ by Ravindra Nath Tagore and “To kill a Mocking bird”.
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Not ‘Lolita’ by Vladimir Nabokov? That’s interesting.
Thanks, Shaily.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Sorry Pete! Got confused with names. The name is Chokherbali. It is a tale about indian widows of the past. 😊😁
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Ah, thanks for clearing that up. 🙂
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I have never tried Dostoyevsky. I really should before I die! I couldn’t get on with The Dice Man or Robinson Crusoe at all. I love Dickens. Too often his work and those of others are ruined by studying at school under a bad teacher. I couldn’t get to grips with him until I was in my 20s. I fell in love, of course. I give you The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith and Death in Venice by Thomas Mann.
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‘Death In Venice’ was on my shortlist, Sarah, so thanks for that. As I said in other replies, I think Crusoe is something of a ‘boy’s own’ adventure.
Best wishes, Pete. x
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I don’t think I have ever read any Dickens. Does that make me a bad person? Seen a couple of films. Try as I might I could not read Defoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’ but thoroughly enjoyed ‘Swiss Family Robinson’. I tend to read crime/thriller or travel books, not so much the classics. But I will try and throw a few authors your way…
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Doesn’t make you a bad person at all, Jude. But as a huge fan of Dickens, I would naturally say that I think you are missing out on a literary feast. I am not surprised about Robinson Crusoe, I think it is a very ‘boy’s’ book.
Best wishes, Pete. x
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You and me both, Jude, apropos Dickens….
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Just wanna share a few. The Divide by Nicholas Evans. I love all of his books but I could not find a copy of his last one. I love the movie adaptation of The Promise by Danielle Steele, read it so many times too. I struggled with Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky when I was in college but it was good one. Favorite Poems of Emilie Dickinson is also a favorite.
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Thanks for those suggestions, Arlene. I don’t ever remembering reading a Danielle Steele book, but she is a very successful author.
Best wishes, Pete.
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There were only two books of her that I read. One is another fiction called Remembrance.
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For the military I’ve got, “Drop Zone” by Michael Salazar – then there’s my other side – “Dreamcatcher” by Stephen King and “Desiree” by Annemarie Selinko. I love that you’re doing books, Pete – it’s more up my alley.
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Happy to hear that, GP. Thanks for all your picks. (I like Stephen King books too)
Best wishes, Pete.
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Hi Pete. Can I suggest Dirt Music by Tim Winton, an Aussie novelist who’s taken over from Peter Carey in my affections (despite his inability to write happy endings).
Also Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler was a chilling look at totalitarianism, and The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham was diverting sci-fi.
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I have read the Wyndham book, but didn’t know of the Australian novelist, so thanks for that.
What’s so good about series like these is the discovery of something I would never have found otherwise.
Best wishes, Pete.
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“Das Kapital” by Marx ……”Democracy In America” by de Tocqueville…..now for some coffee….LOL chuq
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I left off ‘Das Kapital’ and hoped someone would add it. So thanks for that!
Best wishes, Pete.
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