Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

What a great book - it actually makes it into my Top 10 Books of All Time list.  I bought it in Taiwan.  In fact this book made the cut from Taipei to Jo'burg  and then again from Jo'burg to Auckland.    I arrived in Taiwan in summer, succumbed to culture shock and jumped at a chance to visit to a bookstore which had a few English books.  I didn't have a lot of money; they didn't have a lot of choice. But the Penguin Popular classics were cheap so I bought Vanity Fair.  I read it twice. In a row.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_Fair_(novel)

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

The Go Between by LP Hartley

Another random choice.  I didn't buy this book, it was one of  my sister's setwork books which never got returned.  The name in the front cover is Janine Hopkins 9c.  A classic "coming of age" story where a young Leo Colston gets caught up in adult games with tragic consequences.  It takes me back to high school.  Battered wooden desks that had inkwells even though we wrote with ballpoint pens.  Ugly green school uniforms that we all shortened and loosened.  Rules that taught you how to follow rules. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Go_Between

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies

I closed my eyes and picked a book.  It was the first Robertson Davies series I ever read.  Three tales complete with saints, sinners, automata, magicians, psychologists and a monkey woman.   I must admit all the times I re-read it,  I skipped the second novel.  Maybe it is too deep.  Maybe it is too murky.  Maybe it is too introspective. Maybe it is time to visit Deptford again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deptford_Trilogy

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.