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Original poster

What is the best book you have ever read?

360 replies

damnedgrubble · 03/03/2017 22:34

I think mine has to be (at least at the moment) The House at the End of Hope Street because I grew up not far from there.

Which is your favourite book and why?

OP posts:
Patsy99 · 04/03/2017 01:13

Not outed eggshell- those are probably the two I'd pick as well. There may be a tribe of us.

BottomlyP0tts · 04/03/2017 01:11

EssentialHummus
Fuck that was a good book!

Lolita - Nabakov
The Border Trilogy - Cormac McCarthy
Frank Bascombe - not the title but the series with him as protagonist by Richard Ford
Life and Fate - Vassily Grossman

Brokenbiscuit · 04/03/2017 01:05

Oh gosh, I love so many of these books, can't just pick one!

RedastheRose · 04/03/2017 00:52

Too many to pick just one

Charmed Life - Diana Wynne-Jones my oldest favourite - read when a child and still a fantastic book.

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

I love all Terry Prachett books

I second the James Heriott books too

Dick Francis books

But my all time favourite is Rings of Ice by Piers Anthony

MagicalMrsMistoffelees · 04/03/2017 00:36

Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
After Leaving Mr Mackenzie - Jean Rhys
Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens
The Edible Woman - Margaret Atwood
A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
Most Martin Amis
All of David Mitchell's books - outstanding author
And the fantastic Mog books by the amazing Judith Kerr

offblackeggshell · 04/03/2017 00:30

Should DH ever see this I am completely outed -.but A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, and Anna Karenina. 😍

Ohyesiam · 04/03/2017 00:26

The night circus, by?

JustGiveMeTwoMinutes · 04/03/2017 00:25

So many but We are all completely beside ourselves is the most recent. To kill a mockingbird bird, Fludd.

drigon · 04/03/2017 00:19

Sorry, should be Faulkes!

drigon · 04/03/2017 00:19

Enderby by Sebastian Foukes is also outstanding.

seagazer · 04/03/2017 00:10

City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre, a book i'll never forget.

AIsForAndroid · 03/03/2017 23:51

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
What a carve up, Jonathan Coe
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
Atonement, Ian McEwan
Are the first ones that come to mind. I must get back into reading again!

ProfessorPickles · 03/03/2017 23:44

God Collar by Marcus Brigstocke, it makes me laugh out loud!

drigon · 03/03/2017 23:41

Read Lucky Jim several times and the 2 Kate Atkinsons, A God in Ruins and Life after Life were excellent.

annandale · 03/03/2017 23:36

It's impossible to pick one.

I know it's a cliche but War and Peace really is absolutely mindblowing - if you can get past the first chapter - i just read it as if it were supposed to be a joke, then kept going, then i couldn't stop.

Eragonsegg · 03/03/2017 23:35

Not sure of my ultimate but, the first five people you meet in heaven by mitch albom. Stayed with me for a long time

Brixhambelle · 03/03/2017 23:28

Kushiels Dart by Jacqueline Carey, an epic muti story line read, beautifully written love/ spy/ fantasy story, strong female lead.
Diana by RF Delderfield.
Polo by July Cooper.
The S,one Jumper by Nicholas Evans

AddToBasket · 03/03/2017 23:23

I loved Cider House Rules.

I Capture the Castle
Jamaica Inn
All Jane Austen
The Sun Also Rises

elephantoverthehill · 03/03/2017 23:22

I will be going to bed with Bill Bryson shortly Grin via my Kindle.

AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 03/03/2017 23:20

The Shellseekers - Rosamunde Pilcher
Phantom - Susan Kay
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Anything by Bill Bryson

RedBullBlood · 03/03/2017 23:19

Owen Meany will make you cry. Wonderful book. There was a movie made of it and it was shockingly bad!

minifingerz · 03/03/2017 23:16

The books which have poleaxed me in the past few years

  • 100 years of solitude
  • A Little Life (Hana Yanagihara)
  • Any Human Heart (William Boyd)
  • The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt)
  • A God In Ruins (Kate Atkinson)
  • The Line of Beauty (Alan Hollinghurst)

My lifetime favourites

  • War and Peace
  • Sense and Sensibility
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston)
  • Love in a Cold Climate
  • All of the Molly Keane novels
elephantoverthehill · 03/03/2017 23:16

A Thousand Splendid Suns and Wild Swans, but also Trainspotting, Pride and Prejudice, The Mayor of Casterbridge and Wuthering Heights. Too many I know and I've not got onto children's books I love

Original poster
damnedgrubble · 03/03/2017 23:13

I've ordered the Owen Meany book. Pillars of the Earth was amazing.

OP posts:
RedBullBlood · 03/03/2017 23:13

Maybe not my favourite (and I couldn't pick just one anyway) but Cormac Mccarthy's The Road is seared into my brain. Read it a few years ago and will never forget it. Very spare and very grim.