There’s no time like the present to catch up on all those tasks and unfinished business – inclusive of great novels you’ve always wanted to read but never had the time. Here are three books recommended by Philip Blackwell, Karma Group’s Literary Luminary! Time is on your side…
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Vast and crowded with life and rich in both irony and suspense, Middlemarch is richer still in its minute inspection of character. This classic centres on the lives of the residents of Middlemarch, a fictitious Midlands town, in the years, preceding the 1832 Reform Act. The narrative consists of two main plots that follow the life of Dorothea Brooke and the career of Tertius Lydgate. A real must-read.
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Regarded widely as the world’s first modern novel, Don Quixote is one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written. The famous adventure story chronicles knight-errant Don Quixote de La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain. A real classic that deserves all the attention it gets.
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
In Italy during the time of the Black Death, a group of seven young women and three young men flee from plague-ridden Florence to a deserted villa in the countryside of Fiesole for two weeks. To pass the evenings, each member of the party tells a story each night, resulting in ten nights of storytelling over the course of two weeks, by the end of the two weeks they have told 100 stories. Written in vernacular Italian and acting as a major influence on The Canterbury Tales, this is a masterpiece of epic, tragic and comedic proportions.
Thank you for providing us some mind fodder during our time in isolation.
Much appreciated.
Hi Sue, glad that you like the recommended reads. Do share with us your personal book recommendations as well. Cheers
Thank you for those reminders. Very true always intended to read but easily forgotten but now will get each them for my shelves and reading, looking forward to it.
Hi Patricia, these unprecedented times have given us the opportunity to reflect and enjoy our hobbies and passions that we miss out on in busy routines. Enjoy the reads! Cheers