30 Day Book Challenge // Day 18: Your Favourite 'Standalone' Novel

Day 18: Your Favourite 'Standalone' Novel

Today we're talking about standalone novels.

When looking at my shelves, I had to realise that most of my favourite books were actually part of longer series, so I didn't have as much choice for a standalone book that I loved.

However, there were two that I really wanted to highlight that I absolutely loved, and that my mind goes back to regularly: The Book Thief and If We Were Villains.

For those who haven't read the books, here's a little blurb of The Book Thief:

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

Blurb taken from Goodreads.

I first read The Book Thief many years ago now, and thought the story was beautiful. The history student in me loves historical fiction, and this really captured World War I. It's really interesting in that the book is narrated by death, and we follow the characters through the trials of the war. It's been a while since I read it, and I'm keen to do so again. It's a surprisingly easy book to read, and sends a lot of really important messages about humanity.

And then we have If We Were Villains:

Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail - for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he's released, he's greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.

As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.

Blurb taken from Goodreads.

I read this first on holiday a couple of years ago, and surprised myself by how much I enjoyed it. It reminded me very much of Donna Tartt's The Secret History, but to be honest I loved this more. I loved the way Shakespeare formed the centre of the narrative, and thought the way everything else was built around this was fantastic. I loved it so much, and I would definitely recommend it.