To read something like this, interesting, useful, exciting. The most interesting books that everyone should read

Each of us has had a book in our lives that, throughout the entire reading, made us smile, giggle into our fists, choke with laughter, or, not caring about decency, laugh loudly right in public places!

Narine Abgaryan "Manyunya"

Anna, 23 years old, seller in a bookstore:

“Actually, I warmly recommend the entire trilogy about the girl Manyuna! And I’m just about to re-read it myself. This is a pure, unclouded adult nonsense like politics, psychology and some kind of expectations from life! The way everyone should have it, and from which such wonderful adults as the author, Narine Abgaryan, then grow up. This book is an excellent vaccination against everything superficial and a reminder that life is nothing if you treat it correctly!”

Favorite quotes:

“Who would dare refuse Ba’s help? No one! Everyone wanted to live.”

"How can I explain to you what they are giving away? stewed vegetables? Take a school apron, cut it into strips, fill it with chalk and a treble clef. Add D's in algebra and geometry. Simmer for a day in milk with foam. This is what stewed vegetables smell and look like."

"To enhance the aroma, Manka sprinkled us with air freshener" wild berry"The amber that we exuded could kill a completely combat-ready company of infantrymen."

Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov "Golden Calf"

Tatyana, 29 years old, teacher:

“A wonderful book: sparkling, radiant and comprehensive! In many ways superior to the first part of the stories about the “great schemer”. I read it with great pleasure and laughed to tears! The authors’ sense of humor is subtle, without vulgarity, so sincere and kind that you want to re-read the book repeatedly and advise everyone around!”

Favorite quotes:

"Don't hit your bald head on the parquet!"

“In Rio de Janeiro, for example, stolen cars are repainted in a different color. This is done for purely humane reasons - so that the previous owner would not be upset when he sees that a stranger is driving around in his car.”

“You are an interesting person! Everything is fine with you. It’s amazing, with such happiness - and in freedom.”

Douglas Adams "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

Ekaterina, 24 years old, engineer:

“This is my personal No. 1 in humorous literature. An absolutely brilliant work, quotes from which I often talk with friends. The content is impossible to retell, because these are not just space adventures of crazy heroes - in his book, Douglas Adams reflects on the Meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything Else ! Thin and smart book, pretending to be an entertaining, humorous bestseller, but with many deeper layers. An example of that legendary English humor (and one of its best incarnations, in my opinion)."

Favorite quotes:

“A man who has traveled the length and breadth of the Galaxy, gone through hunger, poverty and deprivation, and still has a towel with him - this is a man with whom you can do business.”

“The main difference between an object that can go bad and an object that can’t go bad is that an object that can’t go bad cannot be repaired if it does go bad.”

“The technology that makes something invisible is so infinitely complex that 999,999,999 times out of a billion it is much easier and more efficient to simply take it and run off with it to an unknown destination.”

And, of course, signature quotes (for those in the know): "Don't Panic!!!" and "42".

Helen Fielding "Bridget Jones's Diary"

Alexandra, 26 years old, technical writer:

“In general, I rarely read books that make you smile and lift your spirits, I prefer all sorts of adventures and gothic fantasy, and there’s no time for smiles... But at one time I was very amused by the book “Bridget Jones’s Diary”: in places I just laughed and read her already twice, including in English. What this book probably knows the whole world: about a not very lucky girl in her thirties, lonely, whose head and life are full of problems and awkward situations with men, parents, excess weight and etc., who one fine day decides to start a diary in order to somehow put her life in order. Well, she does!”

Favorite quotes:

“I realized that the secret to losing weight is not to weigh yourself.”

“Being a woman is even worse than being a farmer. There is so much that needs to be fertilized and cleaned up: waxing the hair on the legs; shaving the hair under the arms; plucking the eyebrows; scrubbing the heels with a pumice stone; tinting the regrown hair roots; cleansing the skin with a scrub and moisturizing with cream; acne disinfect with lotion; file your nails; massage your cellulite; strengthen your abdominal muscles with exercises. And this whole labor process should be perfectly organized - if you take a break from it for just a few days, all your efforts will be nullified.”

“The need to open your mouth while applying mascara to your eyelashes is a great and inexplicable mystery of nature.”

Sergey Dovlatov "Compromise"

Tatyana, 28 years old, sound engineer:

“From my rather extensive reading experience, almost all of Sergei Dovlatov’s works were and remain the most “smiling.” And first of all, precisely because this smile is not toothy: one, you know, that does not turn into laughter, but no less pleasant for this. Like him he himself said that among his characters there are no good or bad ones, each of them has a little bit of everything mixed in. And with each of them, like with each of us, such ordinary, everyday funny and sad joys happen “Compromise” (a series of short stories. from very different times), I can say without exaggeration, I know it almost by heart and re-read it every time I feel like I lack the spontaneity with which the heroes of these books look at life.”

Favorite quotes:

“A decent person is one who does nasty things without pleasure.”

“A boxing match was shown on Leningrad television. A Negro, black as wax, fought with a blond Pole. The announcer explained: “You can distinguish a Negro boxer by the light blue border on his shorts.”

- At least you wouldn’t lie! Who is this red-haired, fidgety big thing? I saw you from the bus this morning...

- This is not a red-haired, fidgety big thing. This is the metaphysical poet Vladimir Erl. He has this hairstyle...

Irina and Leonid Tyukhtyaev "Zoki and Bada: a guide for children on raising parents"

Tatyana, 35 years old, health worker:

“I first read this wonderful book “for everyone who has ever been a child” in electronic form about 10 years ago, and recently bought a paper one, with beautiful illustrations. It is very funny (based on a play on words), kind, easy to read and like not only for me, but also for my husband and my 12-year-old daughter, who actually doesn’t like to read at all. The idea of ​​the book is that adults learn to understand children better, and children learn to understand adults better, so I will re-read it. her more than once!"

Favorite quotes:

“I’m so tired of you,” Bada groaned, “it would be better if you weren’t here.”

“And there is no one better than us,” objected Mu-odov.

“So, bada, we were with you, are and will be there,” confirmed Mu-odov.

“Good dogs don’t lie on the road, they lie on the sofa.”

“Here you go,” said Bada, “he treated and treated... What, your headache didn’t go away?

“I guess not,” Myu-odov hesitated, “actually, I wanted to find out: here

did your head go away?

Slava Se "The plumber, his cat, his wife and other details"

Elena, 27 years old, journalist:

“Very, well, just very funny reading! And by the words “very funny” we should not mean “hee-hee” and “ha-ha”, but a wild guffaw that erupts completely uncontrollably! Therefore, at work, like me, you still read it’s not worth it... Slava Se is like Dovlatov (I’m not afraid of this surname), only closer, not so brilliantly unattainable, and also a little sad, but very lively and understandable. Besides, I don’t remember my father’s notes at all in our literature, especially about his daughters. , about little ones, and written so warmly and with such love. Seriously, a universal remedy for the blues and can be read from anywhere.”

Favorite quotes:

“Whoever throws away a Christmas tree in January is paranoid. And a pathetic slave of order. A determined owner dries the tree until it becomes crispy.”

“It’s easy to raise two girls. I know how to bark, “Come on, eat!” and “Come on, go to sleep!” I’m good at it. Lyalya is already sleeping at the thirteenth chapter. Masha - I don’t know, after the hundredth I fall asleep myself.

I know how to cook sausages, I know where the tights are (I don’t know whose). It’s just the hair... In the morning, you need to whip up compositions “like a princess” using them and elastic bands. I can only play "woman from Mars".

"We found a kitten. The color is metallic leopard print. Affectionate, with small child-sized velvet eggs on the back. Responds to the names Kuzya, Tobik, Lena, Petya and Where did you put the remote control? Funny, bites everyone's toes at night. Eats well, went potty three times , out of necessity and just out of interest. Smart as Feuchtwanger.

If this is your kitten and you care about his fate, add a comment here, and once a week I will post interesting stories about his personal growth."

Tibor Fischer "Philosophers from the Highway"

Olga, 26 years old, editor:

"The wittiest, kindest and very funny story about a fat and lazy loser philosopher and his disabled partner robbing banks. Moreover, it happens to them completely by accident, and often unexpectedly for them. Luxurious narration style - in the spirit of a philosophical treatise with subtitles like "A Series common places" and "The train as a way to cover your tracks." About love, friendship, sex, philosophy, logic and bandits: "This is a robbery! Everyone should read it!"

Favorite quotes:

“Themistocles riding around the agora in a chariot drawn by prostitutes... This picture has nothing to do with philosophy. But what is the thought!”

“Other details of the orphanage education are omitted: a priori it was assumed that if this was not hell itself, then one of its branches.”

"And then there's always the morning when you have to get up disgustingly early and go rob five banks in Montpellier."

Georgy Danelia "The toastee drinks to the dregs"

Irina, 36 years old, economist:

“These are the director’s memories - about his childhood, about his films (in particular, “Afonya”, “Mimino”, etc.), about the actors, about the oddities on the set, the history of creating scripts for our favorite comedies. The book cannot be called funny in the literal sense of this the words are rather ironic. But it definitely lifts the mood!”

Favorite quotes:

"This is not music, this is a tripper." - "Why clap?" - “Because it catches on quickly and is difficult to get rid of.”

“Once in Tashkent, I watched on TV Tatyana Lioznova’s film “Seventeen Moments of Spring,” dubbed into Uzbek. There, Bormann, when he entered the Fuhrer’s office, threw out his hand and exclaimed: “Salaam alaikum, Hitler-aha!”

“Meet, this is my mother,” I told my new friends. I stood up and offered to drink to her health. Mom said that if I drank less to her health, there would be more of it.”

Igor Guberman "Gariki for every day"

Inna, 29 years old, dentist:

"A collection of short, very apt and vital quatrains. The humor, of course, is more masculine, and this is confirmed by the profanity encountered, but most of the "gariks" are so truthful that, noticing the imperfections of existence, ourselves and the world around us, they invariably make us smile - they say, Yes, that’s exactly how it is! The book is as funny as it is sad - but I highly recommend reading it!”

Favorite quotes:

Yesterday I ran to get a tooth filled
and I laughed as I ran:
all my life I've been dragging around my future corpse
and cherish it zealously.

An era is upon us,
and in the corner there is a bed,
and when I feel bad with my woman,
I don't care about the era.

Sometimes you wake up like a bird,
winged spring on platoon,
and I want to live and work;
but by breakfast it goes away.

What books will you add to this list?

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Someone, taking a book off the shelf, just wants to have a good time reading, while someone is waiting for the work to touch the farthest strings of his soul, teach him something new, explain what a person for a long time I couldn’t understand without the help of this very book.

But how can you choose the best ones among such a variety? interesting books? After all, you always want to have at hand a work that can captivate you with its characters and unique atmosphere. Only the most interesting books of our time and, of course, immortal classics can do this. Let's figure out which of them are worthy of our attention.

And let's start with the fact that, according to the website libs.ru, the most interesting book of the year 2014 is “The Love for Three Zuckerbrins” by Viktor Pelevin. So this work is definitely worth spending time on.

In order for children to get excited about reading, it is necessary to choose a book that they will read with bated breath. The work should not only be interesting, but also educate the most important human qualities. How to choose the most interesting books for children? What works will open up the fabulous world of reading to them?

We offer the following top most interesting books.

Mikhail Bulgakov, "The Master and Margarita"

The rating of the most interesting books is headed by this immortal work of Mikhail Bulgakov. The novel was written over 11 years. The work continued, despite the author's illness, until his death. The rating of the most interesting books is often topped by the novel “The Master and Margarita”.

It is problematic to determine the genre of the work, since it can be attributed to many of them, for example, satire, farce, mysticism, fantasy, and philosophical parable. The novel, which tops the list of the most interesting books, has three main plot lines: mystical, which critics consider to be the main one in the work, historical and romantic.

Magic, transformations, a ball at Satan's, flying on boars, witches, murderers and, of course, true love- describes all this great Michael Bulgakov.

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

If we list the most interesting books of our time, then this work will certainly be included in the top ten. Fahrenheit 451 is a cult dystopian novel by American science fiction writer Ray Douglas Bradbury. It was published in 1953, and when asked which book is the most interesting, you can often hear its name.

The author paints a world of the future, where mass culture is the basis, and primitive consumer thinking is the principle of the existence of society. Complete literature, the most interesting books that are food for the mind, are under the strictest ban and must be immediately burned. The main character of the novel is a fireman, the one who directly burns literary masterpieces. Complete disappointment in ideals modern society forces him to commit many What happens to a person who goes against society?

Boris Vasiliev, “And the dawns here are quiet”

Many can say that the most interesting books are about the war years and about women in the war... Perhaps this work will be in the top ten, if not take first place. The author managed to create an image of the entire heroic generation of Russian people who defended their Motherland, and to embody it in one person.

Name greatest writer- Boris Vasilyev - does not require any introduction: it is familiar to everyone since school years. The most of which will be different for everyone, occupy a worthy place on the shelves, and among them should undoubtedly be Boris Vasiliev’s story “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet.”

This work is rightfully considered one of the most tragic and, at the same time, lyrical books about the war. Five young girls were not afraid to engage in battle with ten men trained to kill. They were all ready to die for each other and for victory. One of the author’s main thoughts is that there are no limits to human capabilities. They won, despite the fact that they died.

The bright images of female anti-aircraft gunners create a striking contrast with the inhumanity of war; their dreams and memories of loved ones are contrasted with real cruelty. The war did not spare them - loving, young, tender. But even after death they continue to represent life, love and mercy.

J. K. Rowling. Series of books about Harry Potter

These books are rightfully considered the best for children. By reading Rowling's works, children learn the value of true friendship. The most interesting books for children to read are, undoubtedly, the stories about Harry Potter.

The series chronicles the adventures of the young wizard Harry Potter and his two friends. Each book tells the story of how Harry spent another year studying at the school of witchcraft and wizardry.

Main storyline tells about the confrontation between the main character and the evil wizard, Lord Voldemort.

The first thing Harry Potter teaches children is friendship. True friendship. But this value is not given for free - it must be earned. And then work tirelessly, because in order to be friends, you need to hear your neighbor and, of course, appreciate him. A true friend will be able to sacrifice his life for you. A friend will remain by your side when everyone turns their back on you.

The second lesson that these books give to the young reader is love, which should not be shouted about everywhere, but which must be proven day after day by your actions. loving person capable of much. The book clearly shows the contrast between what is impermanent (fame, recognition, fame) and what is eternal (true friendship, love).

Alexander Volkov. Book series “The Wizard of the Emerald City”

“The Wizard of the Emerald City” is a fairy tale, included in the golden fund of Russian literature, and is a remake of the foreign fairy tale “The Wizard of Oz”. However, despite the fact that the fairy tale is a reworking, it has long been perceived by readers as a completely independent work. The remaining five books in the series were written by Alexander Volkov independently.

This book is interesting to people of all ages. What does she teach? Friendship, the desire to fulfill your dreams, faith in your strength, the courage to go towards your goal, not paying attention to obstacles, and also the knowledge that a lie will sooner or later be punished.

Perhaps one of the main lessons of this fairy tale is that the magic lies within us. This is well demonstrated by the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Brave Lion. Each of the heroes went with Ellie in the hope that magic would help him find what he wanted. But the first steps along the yellow brick road make them realize that they all already have what they want.

The series of books “The Wizard of the Emerald City” tells children about the most important things in a simple and accessible form, and allows adults to plunge back into the world of childhood.

William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare's immortal tragedy will not leave any reader indifferent. “There is no sadder story in the world...”

Love and beauty are what the artists and poets of the Renaissance sang. William Shakespeare sang a feeling that was above all family strife, even above death.

The two main characters, Romeo and Juliet, fell in love with each other. This feeling made them more mature, and the family war - insignificant. The heroes are ready to step over everything: break traditions, abandon loved ones and relatives, just to be close to each other. Mutual feelings change the characters' characters: timid and submissive Juliet becomes ready to go to the end, and Romeo, thinking that he is in love, suddenly finds himself captive of a real feeling. To whom? To your sworn enemy.

Anatoly Georgievich Aleksin, “Third in the Fifth Row”

All the stories of this writer first of all teach you to think and reflect. “The Third in the Fifth Row” is a short but heart-piercing story. The book is addressed to both adult readers and children.

The story is narrated from the perspective of former teacher. For her, time has stopped, because her granddaughter, the most important person in her life, is lying on the operating table. The only hope is Vanya Belov. The one who caused her the most trouble at school with his honesty, nobility, courage and desire for justice. Towards merciless justice. The boy did not spare himself for telling the truth, overshadowing even those for whom he disliked.

Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass"

The hearts of millions of children and adults are devoted to books. These works open the gates of paradox and absurdity to you. Both of them were written for the same girl - Alice, but the author did not even plan to gain worldwide popularity and did not think that his creations would be included in the list of the most interesting books for children's reading.

The genre of "Alice in Wonderland" can be defined as nonsense. The book is dominated by the cult of madness and childishness. But who will define what madness is? Perhaps it is the ability to see the world in a way that no adult sees it. Consequently, the two main themes of Alice in Wonderland are childhood and eccentricity. No matter how hard they tried to decipher this work of the writer: they looked for support in everything - both in the biography of the author himself, and in And what is your view of the work, which with each page becomes “more and more wonderful and wonderful”?

What is “Alice Through the Looking Glass” famous for? The young heroine finds herself behind the mirror, that is, the author sends her to the antisymmetrical world of the Looking Glass, where even time flows in reverse.

Diana Setterfield, "The Thirteenth Tale"

This work is not without reason included in the list of the most interesting books. Many people said that they had not encountered a book that was impossible to put down until they picked up The Thirteenth Tale. The author so skillfully involves the reader in the plot that, reading a book at night, it is simply impossible to put it down until the next day.

A detective novel in the neo-Gothic genre will not leave indifferent lovers of secrets and mysteries, which they will solve together with the main character.

Critics' opinions about this book, as about any worthwhile work, are very mixed. Some called it ordinary graphomania, and others called it the best of our time. What is your opinion?

Angel de Coitiers. Cycle “In Search of the Tablets”

Perhaps the plot of the books is a little weak, but the thoughts expressed by the author in the works make you think about what you live for. Perhaps these literary creations can provide clues for those who cannot make important choices. Reflecting on the important aspects human relations, Angel de Coitiers aims to show people typical situations from the outside.

What

Perhaps the main bestseller of the decade is a psychological thriller with more unexpected plot twists than even the most demanding reader could wish for.

Plot

On their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne's wife Amy goes missing under suspicious circumstances, leaving him the prime suspect in her possible murder.

Context

Critics have called Flynn's book a "novel of mirrors": nothing can be trusted here and on every page everything turns out to be not what it seems. It seems that the reader opens the book for this reason, so that he is thoroughly taken aback, but not only. Flynn writes, as it were, a fascinating read on the most favorite topic of a great novel - about family. She takes two absolutely glossy main characters, rips off all the covers from them, so what kind of marriage is there, it’s uncomfortable to stand next to such people, but at the same time it implies that this is such an impossible union unpleasant people and there is an ideal formula for a strong marriage.

Screen adaptation

Young, successful, beautiful and, most importantly, distinctly Hollywood protagonists are begging to be seen on the screen - it’s as if Flynn is writing a novel about the secret lives of American stars. In the novel, by the way, it is repeatedly emphasized how blonde they are - and it seems that the very choice of Ben Affleck for the main role hints that Fincher is up to something to spite the text. In any case, it will not be difficult for this film adaptation to become better than the original - there is nothing in the text except the plot, and Fincher is known for his ability to do beautiful things.

Tom McCarthy "When I Was Real"

What

An avant-garde novel, delightfully different from all other novels before and after it.

Plot

The main character, waking up in a hospital after an unnamed disaster, receives several million in compensation for damages and paranoid uncertainty about the reality of today - and spends a fortune on recreating the “real” pictures that lie dormant in his mind. It all starts with the construction of an entire house, in which a team of special people recreates the smell of fried liver, the sounds of music from a pianist from above, and cats walking on the roof. But it doesn’t end there - behind the house the scene of a street robbery is recreated, and then something worse.

Context

Tom McCarthy came to literature from contemporary art, and his novel is not about the state of modern society, but rather about the state of modern art. Like an attempt to find out how far the art of actionism can go in its pursuit of reality. That is, what is important here is not only the fantasies of the hero, who suffers from the inability to light a cigarette with the ease of De Niro in “Mean Streets,” but also the fact that a whole army of professionals helps him fulfill any whim: from casting to literally choosing wallpaper. This alienation of the process from the result is reminiscent of cinema - is it worth adding that it was this book that Charlie Kaufman was inspired by when writing “New York, New York”.

Screen adaptation

It is logical that the adaptation of the novel was also undertaken not by a director, but by an artist, and not the last one: video artist Omer Fast became famous precisely for his works that groped the line between art and reality - in “Spielberg’s List” (2003) he interviews the team of the film “Schindler’s List” On the site of a concentration camp built outside Krakow as a movie set, in "Casting" a soldier talking about serving in Iraq turns out to be an actor auditioning for the role of a soldier. The author of the book and the director wrote the script for the film together - and, it seems, understood each other: the film, where Tom Sturridge, with the help of artistic reconstructions, tries to reach his own forgotten past, Fast describes as the story of an artist devoid of talent.

Laura Hillenbrand "Unbroken"

What

One of the main non-fiction bestsellers of the decade, the 2010 Time magazine book of the year is about a man who survived.

Plot

The incredible biography of Louis Zamperini, a street boy who was raised to be an Olympic runner and sent to the Games in Berlin. Then he became a pilot during World War II, survived a plane crash, drifted on a raft in the ocean for a month - all to be captured by the Japanese.

Context

Incredible and absolutely true story, which was found by Laura Hillenbrand; our time needs heroes and, not finding them in the present, finds them in the recent past.

Screen adaptation

The script for Angelina Jolie's film, which we will see at the end of the year, was written by the Coen brothers, a photograph of her together with the main character, taken shortly before his death, went around the Internet, but it may turn out that the desire to make socially responsible films will play a bad joke on her: this It’s easy to kill an already pathetic story with brutal seriousness.

Jeannette Walls "The Glass Castle"

What

A wonderful book about a difficult childhood in a strange family.

Plot

Dad drinks, mom draws pictures, no one works, there is often no food at home and never money, the children don’t go to school, but dad can tell them the best fairy tale in the world, and mom can teach them to play the piano - and everyone is happy.

Context

In fact, “The Glass Castle” is almost the best thing that happened to young adults literature this decade: instead of the fictional suffering of teenagers from dystopias, here is a real complex childhood, where the bohemian life of parents is not always a joy for their four children.

Screen adaptation

The main name of the upcoming film adaptation is already known - this is Jennifer Lawrence, for whom this book will be a chance to finally get out of the swamp of The Hunger Games somewhere closer to the arthouse. With all the love for Lawrence, a lot depends on her in this film adaptation: the whole book is built on very subtle details, and this should turn out well as “Tideland,” and not just another teenage thriller.

Colm Toibin "Brooklyn"

What

Irishman Colm Toibin, one of the most serious modern authors, tragically (for us) not translated into Russian, and his novel, which received the Costa Prize in 2009.

Plot

A young Irish woman leaves her home village for America for a better life - and although she already has a difficult time in Brooklyn, everything becomes even more difficult when tragic events in her homeland force her to return home.

Context

Colm Tóibín is one of the few authors capable of writing long, slow, unhurried texts and following his characters with close attention and exceptional sympathy, who have been forgotten by world literature for more than a hundred years. His novel, however, can be read more simply - as a novel about emigrants in reverse, where America becomes a place from which it is necessary to leave.

Screen adaptation

Saoirse Ronan, the apprentice pastry chef from The Grand Budapest Hotel, will play the lead role in John Crowley's upcoming - very Irish - film adaptation: it looks like the heroine's inability to take life into her own hands will be the main plot here.

Kevin Powers "The Yellow Birds"

What

A novel about returning from war, written by an Iraq war veteran, has become for Americans something like All Quiet on the Western Front in the 21st century.

Plot

Private John Bartle went to Iraq with his school friend Murph. At the beginning of the war, they swear to each other not to die - but the hero returns alone. Surviving is only half the battle: adapting back to peaceful life It turns out to be completely impossible.

Context

Kevin Powers' novel filled the empty niche of the Great Novel about Iraq; here, for the first time in literature, all soldiers’ injuries are fully described - both in the fields and after the fields: why they leave, what they experience and how they return.

Screen adaptation

Benedict Cumberbatch, who has been cast in the lead role in David Lowery's upcoming film, says too much about the upcoming film adaptation: he doesn't look much like an Iraqi mercenary, which means that in a text that is half poetry and the other half the call of blood, it has been decided only poetry was left.

Sebastian Barry "Tables of Fate"

What

A century of Irish history in notes from a madhouse.

Plot

A hundred-year-old woman, sitting in a madhouse, keeps a diary in which the tragedy of her own life is inseparable from tragic story Ireland, - and her attending physician sits around the corner and also keeps a diary, a little simpler. Sooner or later they meet.

Context

The 2008 Costa Prize, the Man Booker Prize shortlist and a host of other awards prove, if not the importance, then the literary excellence of the text, authored by one of the best living Irish writers and playwrights.

Screen adaptation

It’s a rare case when already at the stage of preparation of the film it is clear that it will pay tribute to the original: Jim Sheridan in the directors, in the roles of the patient and her doctor Vanessa Redgrave and Eric Bana - and a whole sea of ​​famous names in flashbacks.

Elizabeth Strout "Olivia Kitteridge"

What

A collection of stories from the life of the American province, in which the main character manages to remain a minor character almost to the end.

Plot

13 stories from a small town in New England that gradually form an image main character- an awkward, overbearing, aging high school math teacher. We meet Olivia Kitteridge as a middle-aged woman, and see her off as an old one - in general, this is a story, if not about aging, then about the loneliness that inevitably accompanies it.

Context

2009 Pulitzer Prize - and a whole bunch of other awards: Elizabeth Strout managed not only to find a new hero, but also to complete the more difficult task of telling the story of an inconvenient heroine with empathy.

Screen adaptation

Frances McDormand, performer leading role in the HBO miniseries, which will be released this fall, Kitteridge is not very suitable for the role: in the novel we are repeatedly pointed out what a large, physically awkward body she has. By making the heroine miniature, television cut off the novel itself, turning it into a story about what happens to a marriage after children grow up - a line that turns out to be far from the main one in the novel.

Jojo Moyes "Me Before You"

What

A sad story of impossible love that sells very well.

Plot

A girl at a crossroads loses her job and gets a job as a nurse for a smart, handsome man who is completely paralyzed after an accident.

Context

The social rom-com genre, which Jojo Moyes invented with this novel and has since exploited with might and main, is an undoubted success. Here, in general, it’s the same Jane Austen plus the problems of the first world in the 21st century. That is, poor beautiful girls have nothing to pay for loans, Mr. Darcys also cry, in between - there are many details of the hard life of the working class, laughter through tears, but still more tears. This is not required reading, just a good girl's novel, but it proves that literature can be in in a good way left, even without being too smart.

Screen adaptation

Estimated release - August 2015. Sentimental prose of this kind, as a rule, in film adaptations becomes something moderately marginal: it reaches its strong one hundred million (three times the budget), after which everyone tries to forget it as an annoying misunderstanding. Without counting on anything in particular, the studio gave itself the freedom to play a little: it invited Thea Sharrock, who is known more for her theatrical work, to the director’s chair (this will be her debut in a feature film, but she, as they say, is widely known on Broadway, in particular to her we owe it to Daniel Radcliffe naked with a horse), and Emilia Clarke aka Khaleesi was called to play the main female role. And Sharrock seems determined not to knock tears out of the audience, but to show them the injustice of the British class system.

As a child best entertainment for me it was to go to the library and spend the whole day there, looking at books, reading them right there, and then take a stack home.

Fortunately, now you don’t need to run to the library to get stacks of books; there are convenient e-books, you can take it with you on vacation or read it on the go. And the public Internet has appeared, as a source of information it is indispensable and easy to obtain necessary information. Among other things, I study the blogs of people who read, track the winners of literary competitions, and these books form the basis of my lit list.

Summer time is coming, it’s time for vacations and good mood, when you really want to please yourself for hard and long winter, full of achievements and serious thoughts. I want to read something “for the soul”, get pleasure from it and get a little benefit from it.

1. Evgeny Chizhov “Translation from interlinear”

What would have happened if the USSR had not collapsed?

How often does this issue become the cause of disputes and quarrels.

The author built his own model of the USSR, created a miniature country in Central Asia- Koshtyrbastan. He placed the People's Leader on the throne and surrounded him with an entourage of “state” criminals, night “craters,” fear and universal worship.

But one wrong phrase... and our hero fell into the millstones of the system.

The country is fictional, but everything in it is so real that you begin to doubt whether it is fiction?

2. Augustus Brown “Why the Panda Stands on its Head and Other Amazing Animal Stories”

“Experiments have shown that a craving for the “green snake” also develops in hamsters, but their resistance to alcohol (in terms of unit weight) is 40 times higher than in humans. If a person had the stamina of a hamster, he could drink a box of wine every day - without any visible manifestations. But hamsters, like people, become aggressive from excessive doses of alcohol.”

You can open this wonderful book to any page and feel free to begin to be amazed. If you love amazing facts from the life of animals, then this book is just for you.

And sometimes you wonder whether we are so different from animals or are we still birds of a feather?

3. Herman Koch “Dinner”

The book was translated into 21 languages, and in 2013 it sold a million copies.

What's the secret? After all, she simply describes one family's dinner.

The younger brother is jealous of the older brother and is unable to control his aggression. The elder brother is a candidate for prime minister, an egoist and a tyrant. And children kill homeless people, post videos of it on the Internet, and then blackmail each other.

Is it okay family?

But they can sit at the table next to you in a restaurant or be your friends.

4. Valery Panyushkin “Revolt of Consumers”

Most of us remember the trains that traveled from Moscow and smelled of sausage; everyone stood in line and bought whatever they had to, just to buy it. So this book is about us.

Valery Panyushkin is a journalist, worked in such well-known publications as Vedomosti, Snob, and The New Times. For his column in Gazeta.ru he was awarded the Golden Pen of Russia. All this says a lot and, therefore, it will be a pleasure to read.

Why couldn’t it be returned a couple of decades ago? poor quality product, is it possible now? Why “to learn how to choose a president, you must first learn how to choose a refrigerator”? What is consumerism and isn’t it a dirty word?

If you are interested, then feel free to proceed and you will like it!

5. Maya Kucherskaya “Aunt Motya”

An amazing women's book. Written by a woman for women.

On the one hand, a standard ladies' romance - love, betrayal, passion, brief meetings in the car and at friends' apartments, and nightly tears. On the other hand, the level of text is significantly higher than a standard romance novel.

And if in ordinary such books the prince rides on a white horse, or at least rides in a white Mercedes, then here we see an ordinary life, an ordinary woman who is unhappy in her marriage, who has a child and has a beloved man who is also firmly married.

Maybe the secret is precisely in this similarity to all of us?

6. Neil Gaiman “Never (Behind the Door)”

Did you know that when you step into a London Underground carriage, you can get to a feast with the exuberant Earl? And that there is another world under London, full of magical creatures?

Didn't you know? And he is.

Richard Mayhew didn't know either, but one day he decided to help a stranger, and his life turned upside down...

Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita

A volume of Mikhail Bulgakov standing on a bookshelf testifies to the good taste of the reader. It is no coincidence that what this author wrote survived the death of Soviet literature without loss and today is read as a continuation of the golden fund of Russian classics of the 19th century. Fascinating stories (“fantasy, rooted in everyday life”), vivid images, moral problems, raised to a universal scale - all this makes you return to what you read again and again.

Marquez Garcia: One Hundred Years of Solitude

One of the greatest books of the twentieth century. A strange, poetic, whimsical story of the city of Macondo, lost in the jungle - from creation to decline. The story of the Buendia family - a family in which miracles are so everyday that they are not even noticed. The Buendia clan produces saints and sinners, revolutionaries, heroes and traitors, dashing adventurers - and women too beautiful for ordinary life. Extraordinary passions boil within it - and incredible events occur.

George Orwell: 1984. Animal Farm

“1984” A kind of antipode to the second great dystopia of the 20th century - “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. What, in essence, is more terrible: a “consumer society” taken to the point of absurdity, or a “society of ideas” taken to the absolute? According to Orwell, there is and cannot be anything more terrible than total lack of freedom... “Animal Farm” A parable full of humor and sarcasm. Can a humble farm become a symbol of a totalitarian society? Of course yes. But... how will this society be seen by its “citizens” - animals doomed to slaughter.

Herman Melville: Moby Dick, or the White Whale

Herman Melville is a writer and sailor, in whose work and fate the experience of a traveler and the mythopoetic worldview of the artist surprisingly organically melted. Awareness of the magnitude of Melville’s talent did not come immediately, and only a quarter of a century after the writer’s death did the outlines of the enormous contribution that he made to the treasury of world literature become visible. Melville's work - the grandiose "Moby Dick" - became one of the pinnacles of American literature.

Francis Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

“ The Great Gatsby" - most famous novel Francis Fitzgerald, who became a symbol of the “Jazz Age”. America, 1925, the time of Prohibition and gang wars, bright lights and vibrant life. But for Jay Gatsby the embodimentAmerican dreamturned into a real tragedy. And the path to the top, despite fame and wealth, led to total collapse. After all, each of us primarily strives not for material wealth, but for love, true and eternal...

Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment

“ Crime and Punishment” is a novel about one crime. A double murder committed by a poor student for money. It is difficult to find a simpler plot, but the intellectual and spiritual shock that the novel produces is indelible. And the question that main character I set myself to decide: “Am I a trembling creature or do I have the right?” - horrifies.Abyssthe writer explores falls in order to rise to the heights of the spirit.

Ray Bradbury: Dandelion Wine

“ Dandelion wine“Ray Bradbury is a classic work that is included in the golden fund of world literature.Enter the bright world of a twelve-year-old boy and live with him one summer, filled with joyful and sad, mysterious and alarming events; summer, when amazing discoveries are made every day, the main thing of which is that you are alive, you breathe, you feel!

Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon

This fantastic story has amazing psychological power and makes us think about universal questions of morality: do we have the right to experiment on each other, what results can this lead to, and what price are we willing to pay to become “the smartest.” What about the lonely?

Alexander Pushkin: Evgeny Onegin

Novel "Evgeny Onegin“ – “encyclopedia of Russian life” – presented in thisbookwith the famous comments by Yu.M. Lotman, allowing the reader to better understand the spirit and morals of the era and the novel, the heroes of which have been loved by readers for the third century. The book is illustrated with drawings by A.S. Pushkin, made by the poet on the handwritten pages of the novel.

Ernest Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea. Across the river, in the shade of the trees

The story “The Old Man and the Sea” is one of Hemingway’s most famous and beloved works by readers. It brought the author a Pulitzer Prize and also played an important role in awarding him the title Nobel laureate. This is a story about “tragic stoicism” and courage, about how, in the face of a ruthless fate and loneliness, a person, even losing, must maintain dignity.

Jonathan Swift: The Travels of Lemuel Gulliver

Gulliver's Travels is Jonathan Swift's most significant work. At first glance, similar to a funny fairy tale, “Gulliver’s Travels” is an allegory, a parable, the author of which is a ruthless and brilliant master of words, ridiculing human and social vices. Masterfully using all shades of the funny, from good-natured humor and gentle irony to angry sarcasm and poisonous ridicule, Swift created one of the greatest satirical books in world literature.

Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace

“War and Peace” by Tolstoy is a book for all times. It seems that it has always existed, the text seems so familiar, as soon as we open the first pages of the novel, many of its episodes are so memorable: the hunt and Christmastide, Natasha Rostova’s first ball, a moonlit night in Otradnoye, Prince Andrei at the battle of Austerlitz... Scenes of “peace” , family life are replaced by pictures that are significant for the course of all world history, but for Tolstoy they are equivalent, connected in a single stream of time.

Margaret Mitchell: Gone with the Wind

“Gone with the Wind” – the only novel Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949), for which she, a writer, emancipist and women's rights activist, received a Pulitzer Prize. This is a book about what makes us live and fight - no matter what is happening around us. For more than 70 years we have been reading this novel, for more than 70 years we have been admiring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in the film adaptation - and the story does not become outdated. Most likely, it is eternal.

Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

“ Lolita” was published in 1955. Having caused a scandal on both sides of the ocean, this book raisedauthorto the top of the literary Olympus and became one of the most famous and, without a doubt, the greatest works of the 20th century. Today, when the polemical passions around “Lolita” have long subsided, we can confidently say that this is a book about great love, which has overcome illness, death and time, love, open to infinity, “loveat first sight, from the last glance, from the eternal glance.”

Daniel Defoe: The Life and Amazing Adventures of the Sailor Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe's famous novel was published almost 300 years ago. But even now, after many, many decades, the exciting adventures of Robinson Crusoe still captivate readers. The life of a sailor who, by chance, found himself on desert island, full of amazing events. And how many difficulties befall him!

Alexandre Dumas: The Three Musketeers

Where can a poor Gascon nobleman go if all he has is courage, a noble heart and ambition? Well of course inParis! And of course, such a brave man belongs among the royal musketeers. However, the honor of being in this privileged regiment must still be earned, and the surest way... is to make powerful enemies and make friends. D'Artagnan in the shortest possible time succeeded brilliantly in both...

Ilf, Petrov: Twelve chairs

The famous feuilleton novel by Ilf and Petrov “Twelve chairs ” was first published in 1928. The story of two swindlers who set out in search of Madame Petukhova’s diamonds brought the authors unprecedented success. But few know that one of the most popular works of RussianliteratureThe twentieth century, which went through hundreds of successful reprints, was distorted by Soviet censorship: not only individual phrases and episodes, but also entire chapters were not allowed to be published.

Ray Bradbury: 451° Fahrenheit

“Fahrenheit 451” is a novel that brought the writer world fame. 451° Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper ignites and burns. Ray Bradbury's philosophical dystopia paints a hopeless picture of development post-industrial society; this is the world of the future, in which all written publications are mercilessly destroyed by a special detachment of firefighters, and the possession of books is prosecuted by law, interactive television successfully serves to fool everyone...

Charles Dickens: The Life of David Copperfield as Told by Himself

Great novel English writer has gained the love and recognition of readers all over the world. Largely autobiographical, this novel tells the story of a boy forced to fight alone against a cruel, bleak world inhabited by evil teachers, selfish factory owners and soulless servants of the law. In this war, David can only be saved by moral strength, purity of heart and talent that can turn a ragamuffin into the greatest writer in England.

Jules Verne: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

One of the most fascinating novels by J. Verne. Scientist biologist Pierre Aronnax and harpooner Ned Land go in search of strange fish, noticed by sailors in different parts Sveta. The mysterious creature turns out to be a submarine designed by the mysterious Captain Nemo.

Arthur Doyle: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The English writer and journalist Arthur Conan Doyle wrote historical, adventure, fantasy novels and works on spiritualism to Peru, but in world literature he entered as the creator of the Greatest Detective of all time - Sherlock Holmes. A noble and fearless fighter against Evil, possessing a sharp mind and extraordinary powers of observation, the detective uses his deductive method to solve the most intricate puzzles, often saving human lives.

The tale of the modern classic Leonid Filatov - best book for family reading, half of the text of which has already been parsed into aphorisms and anecdotes. Here is the first fully illustrated edition. Characteristic characters, witty mise-en-scène - one of the most striking books of the twentieth century is finally being published in a wonderful design.

Antoine Saint-Exupéry: The Little Prince

A touching, kind and philosophical work by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry with original drawings. A book addressed to children will accompany you throughout your life, each time revealing itself in a new way.

Strugatsky, Strugatsky: It's hard to be a god

Perhaps the most famous of the works of the Strugatsky brothers. One of the most famous stories of Russian science fiction. A fascinating, dramatic story of the life, love and adventures of “Don Rumata” from the kingdom of Arkanar on a distant planet - a knight with two swords, under whose name Anton, a resident from the planet Earth of the 22nd century, is hiding.

Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland