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Original poster

What is the best book you have ever read?

140 replies

KatyDidItAgain · 28/08/2013 20:49

What was it, and why was it so good?

Mine is Nevil Shute's Trustee from the toolroom for his wonderful portrayal of the main character, Keith.

OP posts:
AmericasTorturedBrow · 30/08/2013 00:13

Nooooooo we can't do plays as well, I'll be here forever and ever!!!

AmericasTorturedBrow · 30/08/2013 00:13

Veronica Decides to Die is Paulo Coelho....I'm a bit meh about some of his books but loved this and The Devil and Miss Prim

PixelAteMyFace · 30/08/2013 00:00

For me, the best book is The Grapes of Wrath. I read it when I was about 14/15 and I have never forgotten it, a powerful story, heart-breaking and lyrical. It still haunts me, and it is still relevant in these times of mass economic migration Sad

Favourite books? So many, and of different kinds according to the mood I`m in at the time of reading. A selection of ones that spring to mind:

A Room with a View
Down and Out in Paris and London
The Kite Runner
Bleak House
Emma (all Jane Austen, in fact)
Anything by Bill Bryson
The Lacuna
The Death of Vishnu
A Suitable Boy
The God of Small Things
Animal Farm

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 29/08/2013 23:49

Ooh if we're having plays, can I chuck some Ibsen in?

Mintyy · 29/08/2013 23:47

I could probably do a Top 10 and that would certainly include Experience (his memoir) by Martin Amis.

Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd

Restoration by Rose Tremain

The Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle

Can I throw in the collected plays of Joe Orton too?

beachavendrea · 29/08/2013 23:43

Also isn't the kindle one of the worlds greatest inventions! My life changed the day I got that thing

beachavendrea · 29/08/2013 23:42

A fine balance moved me in such a subtle way and is the best book I ever read, ever! Actually just thinking about it makes me cry!
Mister pip made me cry spontaneously on the bus
The great gatsby is my favourite of all time

BushCricket · 29/08/2013 23:40

Best book ever - Anna Karenina
Followed by the Rabbit series by John Updike

Then heart of darkness.

Morvern callar is a great book and I love Alice Munro short stories.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 29/08/2013 23:30

Never heard of that 'Veronica' one - looking it up immediately! :)

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 29/08/2013 23:29

'A Fine Balance' didn't work for me at all.

AmericasTorturedBrow · 29/08/2013 23:27

Ok fine - if best I'll prob make it A Fine Balance and The Handmaids Tale

But all of the above still stand

AmericasTorturedBrow · 29/08/2013 23:24

I'm going to stop posting but start writing down all your other suggestions

after I sneak in The Great Gatsby and Tipping The Velvet

and Lady Chatterly's Lover and Frenchman's Creek

AmericasTorturedBrow · 29/08/2013 23:20

Oh my god yes!

To Kill a Mockingbird
I Capture the Castle
A Child in Time
Matilda
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
A Secret History

AmericasTorturedBrow · 29/08/2013 23:19

One?! ONE?!?!?

Not possible

But at the top along with I'm sure many others:
Handmaids Tale
A Fine Balance
God of Small Things
Bell Jar
Purple Hibiscus
His Dark Materials Trilogy
Pillars of Earth
100Years of Solitude
Veronica Decides to Die
Time's Arrow
Oryx and Crake
1984
Down and Out in Paris and London
A Tale of Two Cities

I'm so boringly classic aren't I?!

Waaaaaay more. I can't choose Confused

ArgyMargy · 29/08/2013 23:14

And For Whom The Bell Tolls was a revelation.

ArgyMargy · 29/08/2013 23:12

Midnights Children is the one I've read several times and plan to read several times more.
The Time Travellers Wife is the one that made me cry & cry.
The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe is the one I love reading aloud.
Down & Out In Paris & London is the one that shocked me to the core.
Oh, there are so many, for so many different reasons!!

mmack · 29/08/2013 23:05

Best is Sophie's Choice or Brideshead Revisited. Favourite is Gone with the Wind. But honestly and promisedly Charlie and Lola are my favourite and my best.

lotsofdirections · 29/08/2013 19:08

Graham Greene's 'Brighton Rock' is unforgettable and I have to say I relish 'Catch 22' more every time I read it. 'The Great Gatsby' is pure pleasure.

aladdinsane · 29/08/2013 16:20

I dont know about 'best' and i have already listed my 'favourites' but the misremembered man is a beautifully written gentle book

Goodwordguide · 29/08/2013 00:09

Yes, yes, yes to A Fine Balance - could not stop thinking about it, so beautifully written, changed my perspective on just about everything.

Also love Primo Levi.

When I was younger it was Foucalt's Pendulum, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Cold Comfort Farm and Wuthering Heights.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 28/08/2013 23:55

The Grapes of Wrath is incredible - but I don't think I will ever be able to re-read it.

NicholasTeakozy · 28/08/2013 23:52

The best? East Of Eden by Steinbeck. It's beautifully written.

As for favourite, I just can't choose one. Sorry.

lilibet · 28/08/2013 23:49

I have yet to find a book better than The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, and in second place it's a tie between:-

Watership Down
A Tale of Two Cities
A Prayer for Owen Meaney
The Book Thief
Year of the King
Persuasion

MoominMammasHandbag · 28/08/2013 23:48

I love The God of Small Things
Persuasion
Possession
Bone People

moondog · 28/08/2013 23:45

Upton sinclair's the jungle had a similar effect on md several years ago.

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