Penguin's Book A Day for December Conversations

I just came across this conversation piece from Penguin on A Guy's Moleskin Diary Blog.  As I love all things Penguin and December is a hectic month to read I thought I might have a bit of a go. It will also kick start my blog ideas in my head for 2015.  I don't have a clear direction yet but it is forming. I won't attempt to catch up from Day 1 but as today is Saturday the 6th of December I will treat this as a bit of a late start advent calendar.

Day 6- December :  Everyone Should Read

Middlemarch by George Elliot. I know - I love American Lit the best as I guess it feels the most comfortable. This English book really needs to be read more than once to get everything in it but I have only read it once and loved it. It must be one of my favourite books. Loved the comfort of the location and the community, was interested in the characters and wanted so much for them. It didn't always happen but is a great book and would love to read it again.

My other recommendation for must read has got to be John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. I have read this book more than once and I always get more out of it. A real cross section of America in the 1930's during the depression. I felt their hunger, had dust on my face and got to know the inhabitants of this wonderful story.

And as for an Australian classic of the highest order (in my opinion) has to be Tim Winton's Cloudstreet. The first time I attempted Cloudstreet I had not lived in Australia very long and I could not get the nuances. But having read it again during the last couple of years I enjoyed it much more and understood the Australian culture much more. It is a wonderful story of two families sharing the same home in Western Australia and life around them as it happened day to day. Loved the people, felt their struggles and enjoyed the humour.  I guess those three books would be my choices for three continents.