To ask what are your top ten favourite books?

Theda13 · 2026-01-31T17:32:53+00:00

I’m looking for recommendations, and thought this thread may be of some help to others too. Mine are: 1. The Life of Rebecca Jones by Angharad Price 1. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 1. The Book Thief by Markus Kusak 1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 1. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo 1. Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian 1. The Colour Purple by Alice Walker 1. 1984 by George Orwell 1. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 1. Carol by Patricia Highsmith

HopeSpringsInfernal · 07/08/2026 19:59

What a great thread! It's giving me a lot of suggestions for future reading.
My list -
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
Cider with Rosie - Laurie Lee
Slow Horses - Mick Herron
Terry Pratchett's Withches trilogy from Discworld
Raising Hare - Chloe Dalton
1984 - George Orwell
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishigou
Delia Smith's Christmas
Alice in Wonderland- Lewis Carroll
Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson

Onefairfish · 07/08/2026 12:21

Some great suggestions from everybody. I chose mine on the basis that I have read them all more than once, and may return to them. In no particular order:

The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr
The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Middlemarch - George Eliot
Persuasion - Jane Austen
A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Tonissister · 07/08/2026 11:08

PartyPlanner7 · 06/08/2026 22:36

I sobbed buckets recently reading The Silver Sword to my kids. Such a good book. My 10 are:

1 To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
2 The Unicorn Road, Martin Davies
3 Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
4 The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
5 All The Light We Cannot See
6 The Bride’s Farewell by Meg Cabot
7 Tess of the D’Urbevilles by Thomas Hardy
8 Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
9 Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor
10 A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens

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The Silver Sword was one of my favourite books as a child. I reread it to DC and they liked it but not as much as I had.

Top 10 favourites of all time today:

The Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Stevenson
Pride and Prejudice - Austen
The Kite Runner - Hosseini
Demon Copperhead - Kingsolver
The End of the Affair - Greene
Blackhearts in Battersea (from the Wolves of Willoghby Chase Series) - Aitken
Old Filth - Gardam
The Snail and the Whale - Donaldson
The Interpreter of Maladies - Lahiri

But tomorrow it might be a different list.

PartyPlanner7 · 06/08/2026 22:36

BobbieTables · 31/01/2026 18:31

Hmmm I don't know if I could say but here are some contenders (after looking at my shelf):
The poisonwood Bible by Barbara kingsolver
The summer book by Tove Jansen
On the road Jack keruac
The humans Matt Haig
Stoner by john Williams
American gods, Neil gaimen
Good omens terry Pratchett and Neil gaimen
The ocean at the end of the lane Neil gaimen
Life after life by Kate Atkinson
The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir
Warlight by Micheal ondaatje
The cats table by Michael ondaatje
The lion and the unicorn by George orwell
The memory police
The silver sword by Ian seralier
The fifth child
When God was a rabbit by Sarah winman
Day of the triffids john Wyndham
My family and other animals by Gerald Durrell
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

I sobbed buckets recently reading The Silver Sword to my kids. Such a good book. My 10 are:

1 To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
2 The Unicorn Road, Martin Davies
3 Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
4 The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
5 All The Light We Cannot See
6 The Bride’s Farewell by Meg Cabot
7 Tess of the D’Urbevilles by Thomas Hardy
8 Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
9 Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor
10 A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens

Tarahumara · 07/02/2026 12:52

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
The Tsar of Love and Techno - Anthony Marra
The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Tess - Thomas Hardy
The Power and The Glory - Graham Greene
The Waves - Virginia Woolf
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Milkman - Anna Burns

Worrywort23 · 05/02/2026 01:43

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Emma - Jane Austen
The Kite Runner - Khalen Hosseini
1000 Splendid suns - Khaled Hosseini
Secret Smile - Nikki French
Bridget Jones Diary - Helen Fielding
Chocolat - Joanne Harris (and the rest of the series)
The Dead Zone - Stephen King (and most of his earlier works)
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Last Chance Saloon - Marian Keyes
Gillespie and I - Jane Harris
Big Little Lies - Leanne Moriarty
What was Lost - Catherine O'Flynn
The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Fifteen First Lives of Harry August - Claire North
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
All of His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
The Girl with the Louding Voice - Abi Dare
Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

Yes, I know there's 20+ there but I really couldn't decide what to remove 😆

Purplebunnie · 04/02/2026 20:57

@Gorgeouslygorgeous The Silver Brumby books, loved these. There is another thread regarding chlldren's books

Carla786 · 03/02/2026 18:49

Sartre · 03/02/2026 13:02

Find it difficult to narrow down but I’ll try.

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
The Outsider by Albert Camus
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Trees by Percival Everett

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Professors House by Willa Cather

Many more, it is difficult for me to do this at the expense of others I also love. Everett is my favourite 21st century writer thus far and Bukowski my favourite 20th. I’m an American Lit lecturer for reference so dedicated my career to this!

Edited

Ceremony is great.

Sartre · 03/02/2026 13:03

Theda13 · 03/02/2026 12:32

I’ve ordered Down and Out in London and Paris because of your list (and also because I loved 1984 and Animal Farm) - thank you!

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If you like Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier is brilliant. Down and Out is good too though and Coming Up for Air. I love Orwell.

Sartre · 03/02/2026 13:02

Find it difficult to narrow down but I’ll try.

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
The Outsider by Albert Camus
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Trees by Percival Everett

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Professors House by Willa Cather

Many more, it is difficult for me to do this at the expense of others I also love. Everett is my favourite 21st century writer thus far and Bukowski my favourite 20th. I’m an American Lit lecturer for reference so dedicated my career to this!

Original poster

Theda13 · 03/02/2026 12:32

Coldcoffeekindamorning · 31/01/2026 18:27

A farewell to arms - Ernest Hemmingway
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood
The Neapolitan Novels - Elena Ferrante
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
Sweet Thursday - John Steinbeck
The pursuit of love/love in a cold climate - Nancy Mitford
Down and out in London and Paris - George Orwell
To kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Also just reading Hamnet for the first time and I love it (but haven't read the ending so can't put it on the list yet!)

Edited

I’ve ordered Down and Out in London and Paris because of your list (and also because I loved 1984 and Animal Farm) - thank you!

OP posts:

Rhaenys · 03/02/2026 00:56

Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Stargirl - Jerry Spinelli
Fall of Giants - Ken Follett
Scythe - Neal Shusterman
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
A Game of Thrones - George RR Martin
Wild Swans - Jung Chang
The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman

NotVWoolf · 02/02/2026 23:20

The Map that Came to Life, unknown
A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf
Diana, R.F. Delderfield
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Mrs Miniver, Jan Struther
Elizabeth and her German Garden, Elizabeth von Arnim
Utopia for Realists, Rutger Bregman
Katherine, Anya Seton
Francesca’s Party, Patricia Scanlan
Devil’s Cub, Georgette Heyer

BeaAndBen · 02/02/2026 23:14

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:47

Urgh, Cormac Mccarthy is a great author but I have to skip a lot of his books. Blood Meridian is another great but extremely disturbing one, where skipping the gruesome scalp-hunting scenes (it's set in the early American West) means skipping quite a lot

At least All The Pretty Horses is a more bearable read.

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I had nightmares for weeks after reading that section of The Road.

I had similar nightmares after We Need To Talk About Kevin and the little wee sister and the bleach.

I do NOT appreciate horrific acts.

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:54

NotDarkGothicMama · 31/01/2026 19:44

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
Regency Buck, Georgette Heyer
The Shadow of the Sun, Ryszard Kapuściński
Shooting History, Jon Snow
Where Children Sleep, James Mollison
New Spring, Robert Jordan
Dauntless Path, Intisar Khanani
A Court of Frost and Starlight, Sarah J. Maas
The Queen's Thief, Megan Wheeler Turner

10. Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik

Ryszard Kapuscinski is so good. His book about the last Shah & the coming of Khomeini also feels quite relevant now...

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:53

busybusybusy2015 · 31/01/2026 20:54

Anyone else on this thread struggled to think like an adult and not just list the children's books they've never forgotten? I saw Black Beauty turn up earlier 😍- I really should have owned up to A Little Princess and What Katy Did. Tbh they probably knock Dickens off my list 🙄

Yes, half my list would probably be Anne Fine, CS Lewis, & a lot of other animal stories. It's a shame those aren't written as much for adults though there are some good ones.

Skinnysaluki · 02/02/2026 22:53

The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole- Sue Townsend
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe- C.S. Lewis
Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen
Lord of the Flies- William Golding
Wolf Hall trilogy- Hilary Mantel
The Great Gatsby- F Scott Fitzgerald
Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
It’s not ten but I can’t think of any more that I think are perfect and would go back to again and again

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:51

Also virtually anything by Rumer Godden would be on my list.

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:47

BeaAndBen · 31/01/2026 23:39

It's post apocalyptic. There is a scene with a marauding band with a pregnant women dragged along with them.

Not long after, we see the the same band. The pregnant woman is missing and there's a small body being roasted on a spit to feed them all.

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Urgh, Cormac Mccarthy is a great author but I have to skip a lot of his books. Blood Meridian is another great but extremely disturbing one, where skipping the gruesome scalp-hunting scenes (it's set in the early American West) means skipping quite a lot

At least All The Pretty Horses is a more bearable read.

Middlemarch123 · 02/02/2026 22:45

Number 1, my username is a clue, Middlemarch, George Elliott
2, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
3, The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
4.Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
5.Germinal, Emile Zola
6.Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
7.The Stand, Stephen King
8.It, Stephen King
9.Emma, Jane Austen
10.Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:43

Southwestten · 01/02/2026 15:47

@schnubbins
Five Quarters of the Orange Joanne Harris

I loved that book as well. I thought the huge pike and the wish was so clever.
Another one for my list:
The Believers by Zoe Heller.
Zoe Heller is like Donna Tartt in that there are long gaps between her books. Maybe she has run out of ideas, but I wish she’d publish another book soon.

Yes, it's really good. Joanne Harris is mainly known for Chocolat (probably partly because of the film) which is a shame because she has a lot of other good ones.

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:39

Pineapples123 · 01/02/2026 19:18

A thousand splendid suns- khaled hosseini
migrations - Charlotte Mcconaghy
the goldfinch- Donna tartt
the great gatsby - f Scott Fitzgerald
kala - Colin walsh
Never let me go- Ishiguro
Where the crawdads sing
Water- John boyne

also love the Washington Poe series but they’re more of a quick enjoyable read than a profound love

Never Let Me Go is definitely one of mine...

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:37

FajitaQueen · 01/02/2026 20:02

As an English Literature student 30 years ago, there was quite a lot of discussion about which modern authors would be the Classics of tomorrow. The same discussion probably still continues today.
John Le Carre was seen as a potential contender. My A Level English Literature teacher didn’t like his style but she thought that Graham Greene would be a contender. If I could add another book to my list it would be The End of the Affair. The premise is brilliant: please God, save him (her affair partner), and I*ll give him up forever. And then he survives…

Were Graham Greene seen as a 'modern author' in 1996? I suppose I was thinking that 'modern' then would have been 70s and 80s authors. Though I myself automatically seen anything 19th century as 'old' and anything newer as 'modern' 🤣

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:31

FajitaQueen · 02/02/2026 07:24

The Handmaid’s Tale was new when I was at university (OK - it was more than 30 years ago!) and felt like an instant classic.
Yes, Martin Amis was well-regarded at the time but you don’t hear so much about his books now.
I wonder which authors of today will still be read in 100 years time?

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I think Martin Amis will endure, at least some of his books. His journalism was good too. I think he was an awful person (as was Kingsley) but he was definitely talented.

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:29

RustyBear · 01/02/2026 19:12

What Could Possibly Go Wrong, Chronicles of St Mary’s Jodi Taylor (These could actually be my top 15 books, but WCPGW is my favourite)
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
Emma Jane Austen
Leave it to Psmith PG Wodehouse
The Domestic Revolution Ruth Goodman
Don’t Mr Disraeli Caryl Brahms & SJ Simon
Murder Must Advertise or The Nine Tailors (can’t choose) Dorothy L Sayers
The Cricket Term Antonia Forest
The Night of the Twelfth Michael Gilbert
The Trouble with Lichen John Wyndham

I finished my list and realised I hadn’t included any Terry Pratchett, but I probably wouldn’t have been able to choose just one anyway.

Caryl Brahms & SJ Simon are unsung treasures. If only there were more comic historical novels like that...