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Original poster

Please recommend me a great or your favourite book!

79 replies

msrisotto · 21/04/2013 19:35

I'm looking forward to having time to actually read on holiday soon!
I don't fancy too much gore or too much twee romance. Classics or modern are good.
My favourite to date is "I know this much is true" by Wally Lamb. I liked Atonement and I have 1984 next on my list (and the much trashier but lovely Jemima J by Jane Green). Wrong section for nonfiction but I like stuff like 127 hours and Touching the void too. Any ideas?

OP posts:
SorrelForbes · 30/04/2013 10:06

at JeanPaget ATLA is one of my favourites too. I've been a NS fan since my teens (now in my 40s). None of my friends have heard of him.

spex11 · 30/04/2013 10:06

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

JeanPaget · 30/04/2013 01:05

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice. It's set in the 50s and although it has a very 'chick lit' cover, it's absolutely fantastic.

Also A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute - it's my favourite book of all time (hence my MN name!)

ladymariner · 30/04/2013 00:34

The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher......absolutely love this book

HoveringKestrel · 30/04/2013 00:32

LOVE this thred. I've waited for ages to discuss books.

The best book I have read recently is 'The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time', about a guy, who narrates, who is autistic, and the way he thinks about things.

But the build up is good.....then the ending is rushed.

I would also say 'A Long Way Down' by Nick Hornby, its SOOO good, about four strangers who want to commit suicide on the same night and find sollace in each other. A lot more entertaining and deep than it sounds.

ClartyCarol · 30/04/2013 00:24

Also Going Gently by David Nobbs; have read and re-read this many times. It's really very good.

ClartyCarol · 30/04/2013 00:21

So pleased to see other people mention The Crow Road, a fabulous book. Also The Rotters' Club and The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe, or What A Carve Up. Have bought Gone Girl but I'm saving it for a weekend away coming soon.

I would also thoroughly recommend One Day by David Nicholls - not going to win the Booker but such a good read. I cried buckets. Same with Birdsong.

You should also try the Jackson Brodie books by Kate Atkinson, or indeed any of her novels.

VivMac · 30/04/2013 00:05

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is my most recent favourite read to be shared, it is a little whimsical but once you've been there in your head you will always be wondering when the circus might come to your town...

SorrelForbes · 29/04/2013 23:43

We Speak No Treason
Requiem For A Wren
On Green Dolphin Street
That Summer

wiltingfast · 29/04/2013 23:21

Would second the Daphne du Maurier books

Also The Secret History by Donna Tartt

And The Stand

Also Day of the Jackel is an excellent read.

I personally love Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten but they are not everyone's cup of tea.

MorvahRising · 29/04/2013 23:02

Behind the Scenes at the Museum is brilliant.

The Autobiography of Henry Vlll by Margaret George is one I read over and over again.

Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard.

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome always cracks me up too.

smugmumofboys · 28/04/2013 22:47

For a holiday I'd go for the Millennium Trilogy by Stig Larsson. I thoroughly enjoyed them and devoured them one after the other.

For something completely different, I love Wilkie Collins' Woman in White.

Rhienne · 28/04/2013 22:42

If you like Jane Green, you might like the one I'm reading. Rosie Hopkins Sweet Shop of Dreams, by Jenny Colgan. Never going to win any prizes for fabulous writing, but a nice, feel good, chiclit.

SlightlyJaded · 28/04/2013 22:39

The Poisinwood Bible
The Blind Assassin
The Secret History
Year of Wonder
House of Spirits
Behind the Scenes at the Museum

All great reads

PacificDogwood · 28/04/2013 22:31

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - amazing and stayed with me for a long time. Well, still staying with me...

Or Ghostwritten by the same author.

I am just rereading PD James - love her way with words.

Branleuse · 28/04/2013 22:31

Kafka on the shore - haruki murakami

mrspaddy · 28/04/2013 22:30

My favourite books are true stories or true to life stories.

A Light in the Window
Forget you had a daughter
An Evil Cradling
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Help

maxpower · 28/04/2013 22:28

Shantaram
A thousand splendid suns

Floralnomad · 28/04/2013 22:27

My favourite book ever is A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh .

BrokenBananaTantrum · 28/04/2013 22:24

I heard the owl call my name by Margaret Craven is brilliant. My favourite book of the last 20 years.

Thewhingingdefective · 28/04/2013 22:20

She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
I Heard The Owl Call My Name - Margaret Craven
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
The Pearl - John Steinbeck
The Summer Book - Tove Jansson

raisah · 28/04/2013 21:56

I have just finished Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn which is dark, twisted & brilliant. Nit ptedictable at all, I was kept guessing until the end.

I also read The Innocents by Francesca Segal which I enjoyed because there were a lot of similarities with my own upbringing I could recognise in the book.

I would recommend both books for a holiday read.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 28/04/2013 15:36

Other than obvious classics such as Austen and Waugh and a couple of others already mentioned, the books I most like to recommend are:

This Thing Of Darkness by Harry Thompson
A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
The Worst Journey In The World by Aspley Cherry Garrard
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Stand by Stephen King and also King's Dark Tower series

You might also really like Mountains of the Mind by Robert Macfarlane.

LadyFlumpalot · 27/04/2013 13:45

Alias Grace by Margaret Attwood. Brilliant!

DuchessofMalfi · 27/04/2013 13:39

Another couple of Daphne Du Maurier's novels - Jamaica Inn, and My Cousin Rachel. Both great reads.