5 ONLY books that MUST be read.

taffleee, as far as I can remember I read them in order (sadly I am old enough to have read most of them as TP wrote them!)

But while I thought The Colour of Magic was great at the time,the later books are just so much more. At the mo DS and I are reading them,and I won't suggest the early ones til we are stuck for what to read next. We have read a random assortment -Guards,Guards,the first two witches books,Interesting Times,Soul Music,Pyramids,The Lost Continent...if I asked him he would say read The Lost Continent!

Sorry,bit of a diversion from the thread there.

Loved The Various and sequels,and I've not met anyone who has read them in RL.

I've found the books made an impact on me on the lonely dark trudge and solitary wrestling haven't always been classics or great books in themselves,but just had something relevant when I read them,so it is hard to choose books everyone should read.

Wonders if I should read to kill a mockingbird?

The story of o harrowing reality of 50 shades shite

Crime and punishment - blew me away, made me question my owm morality

The psammead series because it enchanted me and enchants my dd.

The lion the witch and the wardrobe - cs lewis was a genius

great expectations I loved/loathed all the characters equally

rebecca its about love, innit x

day of the triffids we all love to be scared out of our wits

You're in for a treat, Ommmm. :)

skaen - Oh I LOVE the Ordinary Princess. It comes around and around for me - I read it every few years. She was my idol (the princess) as a child - that's definitely the kind of princess I am going to be when I grow up

LOTR are brilliant, they are just so epic It was the first book(s) I thought of when I saw this thread. I have read them from cover to cover twice.

One of my other suggestions was for Nansens Farthest North which was a real life epic adventure. It is basically the log book of Nansens ill fated 3 year adventure into the Arctic in the 1890's. It's mesmerising.

I guess I like a bit of epic'ness

lambbone ha! I dithered, I tell you, dithered over which DWJ to choose. I met her once you know. I was completely star struck. I We talked at length about how crucial happy endings and moral clarity are in fiction in order for it to be worth investing hours of our time in reading it. God, that bit at the end of Fire and Hemlock is heart breaking, isn't it

Do try the Steve Augarde books - trust me, it all comes out right in the end :)

I'm loving Freetchen's list - I was blown away by the Hunger Games trilogy. The Margaret Attwood ones are probably a bit dark though, aren't they?

And yes yes yes to everyone who said The Book Thief. Devastating but also uplifting in a way that the sodding boy in the sodding striped pyjamas simply wasn't.

And The Time TRaveller's wife - almost ruined by the movie, but one can imagine one hasn't watched it after all.

skaen wow, never heard of the MM Kaye book, will read x

lord of the rings
to kill a mockingbird
mila 18
the god of small things
shindlers ark

Ovid - metamorphoses. At first glance it looks like a collection of myths arranged pretty haphazardly but is also political commentary, funny and very precisely written.

Austen- pride and prejudice: my favourite Austen book. Always cheers me ip and lightens the gloomy trudge through this dark world!

Robertson Davies - the Cornish trilogy. I chose this one to fit with the very precise requirements! It is examining how someone finds the meaning of his life.

Bulgakov - the master and margarita. It reads like a surreal fantasy novel but covers soviet politics, Christianity, mental health and naked flying witches!

MM Kaye- the Ordinary Princess. This is a children's book but is lovely to read - the descriptions are beautiful, the characters are funny and the princess disguises herself as a maid to avoid an arranged marriage.

Ialways I have to agree about lord of the rings. My Dad was bought the 'tape set, read' about 25 years ago, and I listened to all the books from the age of 7, before reading them for myself - amazing and brilliant

Life see!?? Its so difficult to know where to begin with Pratchett, what did you read first??

Only just spotted that this is in adult fiction as I joined from most active discussions

Think I may have broken the rules.

The Lord of the Rings (the whole lot)
The Tin Drum - Gunter Grass
Nansens Furthest North A record of a voyage of exploration of the ship Fram, 1893-96, and of a fifteen months sleigh journey by Dr. Nansen and Lieut. Johansen
The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily - Dino Buzzati. I just don't understand why this book isn't more popular.

Illywhacker. Peter Carey

I tried to think of my books as quickly as possible, I would probably have 5 different books if you asked me in five minutes. I bet when I read everyone else's suggestions I will want to change my mind.

Perfect advice IMO Life!

I'd decide who you want to read about, taffleee,and start from there...not the latest ones,and not the first few either IMO as it takes a while for Discworld to take off.(So not The Colour of Magic,The Light Fantastic,Sourcery...)

Maybe Guards,Guards (first book about the Watch) or Wyrd Sisters (first book about the witches).Or Pyramids - stand alone. Or Reaper Man (about Death - the character)
What do other people think??

Three men in a boat - I proper laughed out loud at some of that! Totally unexpected from such an 'old' novel . Classic humour

Have been thinking about this all day, to the detriment of my work...

1984 - still relevant, still horrifying and a salutary warning to us all

A Town Like Alice - it's about war and love and redemption and guts and rebuilding your life, and it's beautiful

Hangover Square - I think this is one of the most overlooked books of all time. It's sensitive, heart wrenching and is awful and gentle and incredible. I love it so much I would never recommend it to anyone IRL. If they didn't like it I would have real doubts about them!

The Stand - it's such a well told story and you have no idea it is as long as it is. It shows what happens when good people stand up to evil.

Anne of Green Gables - I couldn't decide between this, What Katy Did and Little Women but I think Anne edges it by being slightly less goody goody and a slightly more endearing character. But I've read all of them to 9yo dd and have been struck by how much she has taken from them about what it means to grow up, take responsibility, love people and (sometimes) lose them.

Carter Beats the Devil because it champion's kindness and intelligence and is just a great read.

The Overcoat by Gogol because it's just so tragic, dark and true.

Three Men in a Boat - because it can be read over and over no matter one's mood and there's always something wonderful there.

An Inspector Calls, has stuck with me since school. Everyone must read this book because it shows all of us how our petty little egos and actions can destroy the lives of others.

Anything by PG Wodehouse to counteract angst. I think I'll go with "Very Good, Jeeves"

Excellent idea for a thread, thank you Hully. I'm going to look out my copy of Three Men in a Boat. Kept me going through a really shitty pregnancy.

Gone with the wind

Jane eyre

Sense and sensibility

Great expectations

The tenant of wildfell hall

Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell) - because it's SO ambitious, it spans generations, it uses loads of different narrative voices, it's part science fiction... I could go on, it's extraordinary

Bleak House - again, because it's so ambitious, it attempts to paint the whole of London Victorian society from the most lowly to the aristocracy

1984 (Orwell)- because it's so shocking and yet so plausible

Dubliners (James Joyce)- because it really captures the yearnings of the human soul through the struggles of everyday life

Jane Eyre - it's flawed, but Jane and Rochester are such great characters

Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)- because it questions the very nature of authorship and the relationship between an artistic work and the artist

Oops, that's six

Life yeah, agree 'war and peace' had meaning, but arrrgghhh, what a read!!!!!

Like all the rest tho.

Pratchett books do take a bit of 'getting used' to tho, what Pratchett book would you suggest a newcomer to his style starts with?? It's difficult to know where to begin with him??