WBD Survey 7

More recommendations from the World Book Day 2011 survey.

Ms Smith: Death and Nightingales by Eugene McCabe
This isn't strictly my favourite book - but a book I think anyone who is familiar with the Irish landscape should read. Its story startles and moves, and the characters are simply unforgettable: I have the feeling that they're lurking low in the ditches of Fermanagh right now.

Neil : Old School, by Tobias Wolff
This novel is a book about the joys of reading and writing, the story it tells is simple yet profound, and its spare style means that it seems there is a not a word in it that is wasted.

@NL_84 : The Silver Linings Playbook, by Matthew Quick
The most "different" book I've read in quite a while! It's not too often that a book grabs me and refuses to let go, but that's what happened with this delightful novel. Get it, read it, you won't be disappointed.

healigan: Beowulf
Perfect, intoxicating, authentic, powerful. Just one of my all-time favorite stories. I want to BE Beowulf. I love that he does not waste time talking, and he is confident without being arrogant. He is not afraid, NOT AFRAID, ever. He never hesitates. He know what needs to be done and does it. Life is never that simple now. He is sure, loyal, and invincible: and he uses his gifts to protect and serve others. If ever the world needed an example of what it means to be a hero, this is the time.  And Beowulf is the hero.