CW Gortner's Books of a lifetime

It’s almost impossible to highlight two or three books out of the hundreds that have both touched me as a reader and influenced me as a writer. I’ve been a hopeless bibliophile all of my life; books clutter my writing study and sit in sealed plastic containers in my basement, having traveled with me wherever I go. Some have had to be replaced over time, from sheer wear-and-tear; others remain as pristine as the day I bought them (I have this OCD thing about cracking book spines, and try my utmost never to do it).


For this post, I decided to open one of my older containers and take a look at the books that have obstinately stayed with me through my numerous moves, some even international. Here they are:

I first read REPORT TO GRECO by Nikos Kazantakis in my troubled adolescence and have re-read it several times since. While Kazantakis is most famous for writing the exuberant Zorba the Greek, in this semi-autobiographical confession that remains defiantly unfettered by that genre’s restrictions, he details his complex journey to discover his relationship with himself and with his shared humanity. It is a rich testament to every person’s quest to know the inner workings of our soul.

IMMORTAL QUEEN by Elizabeth Byrd was a gift from my mother, who encouraged my burgeoning passion for history by giving me historical fiction to read. You can blame this book for starting my 16th century obsession; I fell madly in love with its eloquent account of the doomed Mary of Scots. Though my lifelong fatal attraction for powerful ladies in history has expanded to encompass many others since then, this is the novel which sparked my proverbial tinder.





I read HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS by Isabel Allende several years after my family had returned to the US after living in Spain. I was nineteen, struggling to assimilate US culture; a struggle that, for me, has never completely resolved. This novel, steeped in allegory and eccentricity, captured my imagination, reminding me both of the continent I’d left and the one I had yet to explore; it also spurred me for the first time to start writing a novel in earnest, even as I despaired of ever producing anything as gorgeously inventive as this.

Lastly, MY COUSIN RACHEL by Daphne Du Maurier is, for me, that rare jewel— the perfect book. From its haunting opening line to the final, heart-shattering dénouement, this tale of a young man haunted by doubt and enamored of an older, enigmatic woman who might be a murderer transcends its Gothic underpinnings in every way. It is, in my opinion, a classic: timeless, elegant, and unforgettable.

C.W. Gortner’s latest release is THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI in trade paperback. He is also the author of THE LAST QUEEN and THE TUDOR SECRET. Visit him at http://www.cwgortner.com/.

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This guest post is part of the blog tour for The Confessions of Catherine de Medici being run by Historical Fiction Virtual Blog Tours. You can follow the blog tour by visiting the tour schedule here.

We currently have a paperback copy of The Confessions of Catherine de Medici available to win! Read my review of the book, and enter the giveaway by commenting on the review post!