A Desperate Romance: Literary Listography Love

'Maybe it's not about the happy ending. Maybe it's about the story.'

'Only love, only love even if it's not enough.'

'I want to be your favourite hello and your hardest goodbye.'

It should be a truth universally acknowledged that I have an eternal and passionate romance with books. I am caught up in a tempest of ink on paper, formulated to create meaning and mystery. Not only is the notion of owning books romantic to me, but so is the idea of what a book is. Held between two pieces of paper is a microcosmic world of wonder and knowledge. Language is a beautiful thing when the spoken words are wise and meaningful. When language is written it can take on a new life, it's possible meaning isn't static, it is mediated by the reader. There is a great quote which states that, 'no two persons ever read the same book.' For me reading is about escapism that doesn't just have to come from fictional novels. On the contrary my love for books mainly lies in the historical or dare I say academic realm. Works by Stephen Hawking can provide just as much escapism as Tolkien or Dickens.

Let me introduce to you 'Literary Listography'. It is a beautifully designed and made book by Lisa Nola. Inside you'll find various pre-made lists ready for you to fill in. Lisa Nola has made various listography books and the next one on my list is; Travel Listography. I think they are great ways to preserve certain  memories about things that you like. Thousands of years from now I'm sure historians would love to come across these fascinating personal artifacts. As it is the season to be 'in love' and my lacking of any 'love' I thought I'd make a post for book-worm lovers all around the world. Using the listography book as a basis I want to share a few of my favourites. Feel free to copy this structure and post your own literary romances.  If you can't cuddle up to the person you love on this commercial day then cuddle up with your favourite authors instead.

'If I had my life to live again, I'd find you sooner.' - Kobi Yamada

MY FAVOURITE CLASSICS

(these are all classics to me)

- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

- Henry IV (Parts 1&2) by William Shakespeare

- Henry V by William Shakespeare

- Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

- Anderson's Fairy Tales

- Black Beauty by Anna  Sewell

- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

- Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell

- The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K Dick

- Bacchae and Other Plays by Euripides

- The Iliad by Homer

- The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

MY FAVOURITE NONFICTIONish BOOKS

- The Consolation of Philosophy by Alain de Botton

- Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

- The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

- Holocaust Poetry

- Why Does E=mc2 by Brian Cox

- Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

- The Art of the Pre Raphaelites by Elizabeth Prettejohn

- Mapping the Universe by Paul Murdin

- Alfred the West Saxon by Dugald Macfadyen

- The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking

MY TOP PICKS FOR EACH GENRE

The Arts - Modern Painters by John Ruskin

Biographies/Memoirs - John by Cynthia Lennon

Children's - Rose Meets Mr. Wintergarten by Bob Graham

Comics/Graphic Novels - Fear Itself by Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker, Stuart Immonen and Scot George Eaton

Fiction/Play - Henry IV (Parts 1&2) and Henry V by William Shakespeare

History - Universal History of the World Vol. 4

Non Fiction - A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Romance - Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Fantasy - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

Self-Help - Paradiso by Gillian Rose

Spirituality - The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

Young Adult - The Giver by Lois Lowry

Travel - Tropic of Capricorn by Simon Reeve

BOOKS THAT HAD A PHILOSOPHICAL IMPACT ON ME

- Beauty by Scruton

- Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit

- Faust by Goethe

- Theaetetus by Plato

- The Pleasure of Finding Things Out by Richard Feynman

- Nothing (New Scientist)

- Everything is Connected by Daniel Barenboim

- The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

- The Life and Death of Socrates by Plato

SPECIAL BOOKSTORES

- Winchester Antiquarian Books in Winchester, Hampshire

- The Bookshop Experience in Southend-on-sea, Essex

- Charing Cross Road (Opposite China Town Market) in Central London

- Free Book Shops - (see if there is one near you!)

- Leigh Gallery Books in Leigh-on-sea, Essex

- Treasure Chest Books in Felixstowe, Suffolk

- Charity Shops in Maldon, Essex

- Winchester Cathedral Bookshop in Winchester, Hampshire

TO READ:

- Wild by Cheryl Strayed

- On the Road by Jack Kerouac

-  A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

- Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

- Mortality by Christopher Hitchens

Suggest any good reads?

- Happy Valentines Day -

*Photography by Kerry Snode - This is NOT a sponsored post