The biggest prize of all...

We've highlighted books that have won awards, and books that have had films made out of them in our last two posts, and we thought we'd round that out with books that have won the biggest prize of all - the Nobel Prize for Literature - one of which has been made into a TV series to boot (which also gives us an excuse to post a gratuitous picture of Benedict Cumberbatch :-) ). Yes, folks, that's 3 Nobel Prize winners sitting right there in the Little Library waiting for you..!

The oldest of the three is Hermann Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game" - a deeply thought-through and perceptive meditation on the relationship between the mental and physical, and the proper role of academics, aesthetes and intellectuals in the 'real' world. The Observer said "A massive novel set out to explore the positive side of human nature, the fullness of man's capacity as a thinker and as a prober into scared mysteries...Touching and impressive".

Next up is William Golding's "Rites of Passage" - the first part of his "To the Ends of the Earth" trilogy, which was made into a TV mini-series starring Benedict Cumberbatch by the BBC. To be perfectly honest I haven't read this one myself yet, so I'm just going to steal the Goodreads synopsis: "In the cabin of an ancient, stinking warship bound for Australia, a man writes a journal to entertain his godfather back in England. With wit and disdain he records mounting tensions on board, as an obsequious clergyman attracts the animosity of the tyrannical captain and surly crew."

And finally the most recent of the three - "My Name is Red", by Orhan Pamuk - part historic novel (set in 16th Century Istanbul); part murder mystery (a colleague has disappeared and the main character's own life depends on solving the mystery); and part exploration into the purpose and value of art (the main protagonists are the painters of miniatures). What more could you want?

Amazon review of "The Glass Bead Game" by Hermann Hesse (3.9 stars out of 5)
Goodreads review of "The Glass Bead Game" by Hermann Hesse (4.1 stars out of 5)

Amazon review of "Rites of Passage" by William Golding  (4.4 stars out of 5)
Goodreads review of "Rites of Passage" by William Golding  (3.6 stars out of 5)

Amazon review of "My Name is Red" by Orhan Pamuk (3.5 stars out of 5)
Goodreads review of "My Name is Red" by Orhan Pamuk (3.8 stars out of 5)