10 nostalgic novels

Memory and the pull of the past run through these books: a photograph you wish you could step into, a party thrown for one person, a hometown that still has a hold on you. «Το μαγικό φωτογραφείο του κύριου Χιρασάκα» and The Great Gatsby sit at opposite ends of that feeling, one quiet and fantastical, the other bright and restless, and both leave you thinking about what people keep and what they can't get back.

1.Το μαγικό φωτογραφείο του κύριου Χιρασάκα

Χιιραγκι Σανακα, 2020

A quiet, fantastical story about photographs, memory and the moments we wish we could visit once more.

Αλήθεια, όμως, ποιος ήταν αυτός ο άνθρωπος; Μέχρι τώρα, ακόμα κι όταν τη χαιρετούσε αναπάντεχα κάποιος στον δρόμο, αμέσως τον αναγνώριζε λέγοντας: «Είσαι ο τάδε, σωστά;» – γεγονός που πάντα χαροποιούσε τον άλλον. Πίστευε πως ήταν πραγματικά άσχημο να γερνάς και να σκουριάζει το μυαλό σου. «Καλώς ήρθατε. Σας περίμενα» της είπε ο άντρας.

Excerpt from Το μαγικό φωτογραφείο του κύριου Χιρασάκα, Χιιραγκι Σανακα, Ικαρος 2020. Quoted for discovery. Source Rights & removals
2.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

J. K. Rowling, 2003

Harry's fifth year: a Ministry appointee takes over Hogwarts, the press calls him a liar, and the only defence is a room full of stubborn students.
3.The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925

A short, dazzling novel about a summer of parties on Long Island and the man who throws them for one reason. Every sentence is built to be reread, and the ending is hard to shake.
4.It

Stephen King, 1986

A Maine town, a childhood summer, and the shape-shifting thing that hunts its children — a horror novel about memory as much as monsters.
5.Malibu Rising

Taylor Jenkins Reid, 2021

One family, one legendary Malibu party, and the marriage that made them: famous parents, and the children left holding the house.

The story of June and Mick Riva seemed like a tragedy to their oldest child, Nina. It felt like a comedy of errors to their first son, Jay. It was an origin story for their second son, Hud. And a mystery to the baby of the family, Kit. To Mick himself it was just a chapter of his memoir.

Excerpt from Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books 2021. Quoted for discovery. Source Rights & removals
6.Curtain

Agatha Christie, 1975

An ageing Poirot returns to Styles, the scene of his first case, to hunt a murderer who leaves no trace and seems always one step ahead.
7.Peter Pan

J. M. Barrie, 1911

A boy who refuses to grow up flies three children to an island of pirates, fairies and mermaids—and shows how much childhood costs.
8.Memoirs of a Geisha

Arthur Golden, 1997

A fisherman's daughter in 1930s Japan is sold into a geisha house and learns to survive by turning memory, manners and performance into art.
9.Bleachers

John Grisham, 2003

A star quarterback returns to the town that worshipped him and the coach who made him, to reckon with old glory and old wounds.
10.The Wind in the Willows

Kenneth Grahame, 1908

A mole leaves his burrow for the river, and a year of picnics, snug burrows, mad motor-cars and one strange dawn unfolds. It is the most comforting book about friendship and home.