Paul D Rudman

Favourite novels

• Possession (A.S. Byatt) - A brilliant book. Two parallel stories, set in contemporary and Victorian times. A young scholar finds a mysterious romantic letter penned in the 1850s by a famous poet to a woman other than his wife. Enlisting the help of a fellow scholar they set out on their own adventure to uncover the missing story from the poet's life.
  
• Earth's Children series (Jean M Auel) - a superb piece of pre-history escapism. The first book - Clan of the Cave Bear - begins with a five year old girl losing her family in an earthquake. Except that it's the last ice-age, and there's no-one else for miles. Oh, and her rescuers are not exactly human... There is a film, but since most of the dialogue consists of grunting (!) it's not really worth tracking it down.
  
• Empire of the Sun (J.G. Ballard) - fascinating, but depressing after the first half. Better than the film.
• Memoirs of a Geisha (Alfred A. Knopf) - really interesting, but shock and disappointment at the end on discovering that it's fiction! They've since made a film, but alas while it's 'oriental', I don't think it properly captures the spirit of Japan.
• Miss Smilla's feeling for snow (Peter Hoeg) - having seen the film, I would recommend this to the book - much less work!
• Wild Swans (Jung Chang) - three generations of women in China, from a concubine with bound feet - read the book! - to an independent woman in the West, and their trials and tribulations living through a period of social and political upheaval.