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Original poster

What are your "must read" books?

116 replies

kunoichi · 30/01/2013 11:41

Having read through the BBC and Guardian top 100 books lists, I must admit that I find some of them boring or difficult to read. Many seem to be books people feel should be read, rather than those we may want to read because they are so enjoyable.

This year I'm taking part in the 50 books challenge and I'd love to know which books Mumsnetters would most heartily recommend across all genres, both contemporary and historical.

Some of my own all-time favourites are:

Shadow of the Wind
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Time Travellers Wife
The Lovely Bones
A Little Princess

I'll probably read The Snow Child next, but would welcome any suggestions for what I should put on my Kindle to read this year!

OP posts:
MarianForrester · 30/01/2013 12:47

Watching this for ideas!

Mine are:

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather. Just so well written

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

The Great Gatsby

A Laodicean by Thomas Hardy

First Love by Turgenev

Madame Bovary

Anna Karenina

RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief · 30/01/2013 12:31

the whinging If you think The Road is bleak, try Blood Meridian. Jesus. That is one depressing book.

I love "Any Human Heart", "A Fine Balance" and "House of Sand and Fog"

Absy · 30/01/2013 12:29

I HATE that BBc list. It's so inconsistent e.g. "Hamlet" and "the Complete Works of Shakespeare" - if someone's read the second, they've read the first AND the complete works of Shakespeare is not A book. It's a lot of books, and plays, and poems. And there's too much Jane Austen.

I would recommend:

  • The Plague (Albert Camus)
  • Anna Karenina
  • Disgrace (JM Coetzee)
  • Beloved (Toni Morrison)
  • Count of Monte Cristo (Dumas)

For historical, I would highly recommend the Pianist by Wladislaw Szpilman (which the movie was based on). It was written just after the war, and is very immediate.

Kyrptonite · 30/01/2013 12:19

Oh and the kite runner and a thousand splendid suns

Kyrptonite · 30/01/2013 12:18

The Shadow of The Wind
Room
The Book Thief
The one Alison weir wrote about Jane grey
Goodnight Mister Tom Blush

HokeyCokeyPigInAPokey · 30/01/2013 12:15

Thanks Novia

I'll get it first then.

FaceLikeAPickledOnion · 30/01/2013 12:15

Mitch Albom - Tuesdays with Morrie, The five people you meet in heaven

Novia · 30/01/2013 12:07

HokeyCokeyPigInAPokey - I don't think it's obligatory, but it's probably better to read Wolfhall first if you can as Bring Up The Bodies is the second in a planned 3-part series... I think I'd have been a little confused about Cromwell without the background of the first book.

HokeyCokeyPigInAPokey · 30/01/2013 12:03

I haven't read Wolfhall but i think i need to read Bring Up The Bodies, it won another award last night!

HokeyCokeyPigInAPokey · 30/01/2013 12:02

I like all of Philippa Gregory's Tudor books.

Novia · 30/01/2013 12:01

Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel was excellent - far better than Wolfhall IMHO!

Thewhingingdefective · 30/01/2013 12:01

Most things already mentioned :)

A thousand splendid suns - Khaled Hosseini
Rebecca - Du Maurier
The Road - Cormac McCarthy (bleak as heck)
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. - Mark Haddon

growyourown77 · 30/01/2013 11:57

I love a list....

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
God of Small things, by Arundhati Roy
Intimacy, by Hanif Kureshi
The book of Dave, by Will Self
Outliers or What the dog saw, by Malcolm Gladwell

HokeyCokeyPigInAPokey · 30/01/2013 11:56

My favourite book is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

I liked The Lovely Bones
I couldn't get into The Time Travellers Wife
I have Memoirs of a Geisha on my bookcase to read

I think i need to buy Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel now though.

Novia · 30/01/2013 11:54

Just finished The Snow Child - I quite enjoyed it actually, it wasn't what I expected.

I have some firm favourites which I've read over and over again. My must reads would be:

The Poisonwood Bible
The Red Tent
Captain Correlli's Mandolin
The Eyre Affair (and all the sequels)
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Cloud Atlas
The Other Boleyn Girl
To Kill a Mockingbird
Memoirs of a Geisha
Sense and Sensibility

I shall follow this thread with interest to see if I can get some other tips...!

fl0b0t · 30/01/2013 11:48

Oooh I've read some great books recently. Anything my Patrick Gale, Johnathan Tropper or Lionel Schriver goes down well with me!