Grown-up books

I was also a fan of dennis wheatley books, my aunt introduced me to them, i still have a few and also find it difficult to find them in charity shopsetc. I was an avid reader and also loved neville shute and always worried the scenario from his novel on the beach would really happen!
At the other end of the scale i still read elinor m brent dyers chalet school series

We read Tom Sawyer at school, as soon as we finished I got Huckleberry Finn out of the library, had my nose is a book ever since.

Mills and Boon. i've moved on a lot since then.

I had read all of the suitable books in the junior library by ten and so the librarians let me have an adult ticket. I started with the Scarlet Pimpernel books by Baroness Orczy(?) and then moved onto Georgette Heyer and finally Jane Austen. I used to get 4 books out on Saturday and hope that they lasted until the Tuesday when the library reopened .

My mother borrowed Jane Ayre from the library for me when I was confined to my room with jaundice when I was 10.
I used to climb into a cupboard and read my Dad's book club collection. I read Campbell's Kingdom and The Darling Buds of May at about the same age.

I was given Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice for Christmas when I was about 12. Loved them both. I also enjoyed JB Priestley books, very out of fashion now and read all of George Orwell.

Charles Dickens, Pickwick Papers as my father gave it to me.

I devoured all John Buchan's books, from my parents' book case, followed by Hammond Innes's novels. I preferred my dad's adventurous tastes to my mum's romantic fiction.

PS Heinrich Harrer's Seven Years in Tibet caught my imagination in a big way and I've always enjoyed reading about exotic locations.

When I outgrew the children’s downstairs library in my hometown and before I was allowed upstairs to the grown-up books I was reading my mother’s Hollywood, home, gardening, cooking magazines, along with Life and Look magazines.

Then for some reason I remember holding a James Michener novel - Hawaii (which came out in 1959.) Ever since then I’ve been a voracious reader. I prefer non-fiction books but a good novel is always thrilling too.

Read to your kids/grandchildren every day!
USA Gundy

All of Graham Greene's novels are excellent. He clearly draws on his life experiences. Just saw The Quiet American film on Prime: worth watching for the early stages of the Vietnam conflict and the personal relationships.