What's your favourite book? The nzgirl team try to pick out their best reads of all time...
Clea, Books Editor Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson is one of my all-time favourite books. This tale of sordid family secrets keeps you hooked until the very end…seemingly unimportant scenes hold vital clues to the story's conclusion. It’s a real 'jigsaw puzzle' of a book that you'll want to read all over again. Jenene, Managing Director There are too many books that have shaped my thinking for me to only pick one! I can’t decide between The Lovely Bones, which made me cry and laugh and generally disrupted my life while I devoured it, and Five People You Meet on the Way to Heaven, which really made me think about the impact that we all have on people who come and go from our lives. I highly recommend both of them!
Gemma, Editor Since Jenene got in first with The Lovely Bones (I starting reading that book sitting at a very uncomfortable dinning table and literally didn’t move until I’d finished it about three hours later! It still haunts me) I’ll have to say one of my other favourites… Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I’ve read this book so many times and I never get sick of it. To borrow an Austen-ism, it makes me swoon! I also love Wild Swans by Jung Chang, which depicts the lives of three generations of Chinese women. If you love history it’s a must read. Eve, Sub-editor Picking the ‘best book I’ve ever read’ is near impossible. It’s like trying to ask a mother to name her favourite child. So all I can offer are some my favourites. First is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, an incredibly memorable book, which I couldn’t stop thinking about for long after I read it. And for a book that’s guaranteed to bring on the waterworks, My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult is a heartwrenching story with such real characters that I cried into my pillow all night after finishing it!
Sheena, Store Manager One of the best books I have ever read is called Smoke Jumpers by Nicholas Evans. Set in the mountains of Montana it is a story of three friends, two are Missoula smoke jumpers who brave the smoke and flames to stop bush fires and both men fall in love with the same women. It's fabulous.
Sarah, Art Director It’s so hard to choose just one book, but Redeeming Love by Fancine Rivers is definitely one of my favourites. It was lent to me by my sister back when I hardly ever used to read (now I read all the time!). I found it quite full-on and startling at first and I contemplated putting it down, but as I got into it, it became addictive. It’s the biblical love story of Gomer and Hosea, retold against the backdrop of the California gold rush. The characters are so strong and real, and the spirit of the woman’s character is so inspiring that I couldn’t put it down!
their best reads of all time...
Sarah, Art Director