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Original poster

Best book you’ve ever read...

140 replies

Beautyschooldropin · 09/07/2021 11:57

Wanting ideas for summer reading really. What’s the best book you’ve ever read? Do you have a book that you go back to and read again and again? Do you listen to audiobooks? Would you recommend them?
TIA!!!📚

OP posts:
SleepingStandingUp · 10/07/2021 12:18

Not sure on best ever.

I really enjoyed Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and it's one I've read a few times.

Jasper Ffordes Wednesday Next series (Eyre Affair etc) is definitely enjoyable and good summer reading. I brought the entire series after reading the first few of an ex's

Loved James Herbert's Once

AnyFucker · 10/07/2021 12:16

I know it’s topical at the moment but I read The Handmaids Tale in the 1980’s and it stayed with me ever since, tv series aside

Truly a masterpiece

WhoNeedsaManOfTheWorld · 10/07/2021 12:14

I would agree with anything by Maggie O'Farrel
Or
Heft
The misremembered man
The poisonwood Bible, this is a hefty read

Original poster
Beautyschooldropin · 10/07/2021 12:13

Some great suggestions here! Thank you 😊 a friend has recommended A Gentleman in Moscow - so will definitely give that a go!

OP posts:
EarringsandLipstick · 10/07/2021 12:10

[quote chorusline79]@EarringsandLipstick can you recommend any of Maggie's other books? I have only read Hamnet so far
( sorry to hijack thread slightly OP) [/quote]
Oh yes!

Favourites include:

  • The Hand That First Held Mine
  • After You'd Gone (I actually want to read this again now I've typed it!)
  • The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
  • Instructions for a Heatwave

I also loved her memoir (sort of memoir) I Am, I Am, I Am

I've actually never not enjoyed anything she's written. I found Hamnet a slow starter but then loved it.

I find her books so readable, with always a satisfying story/resolution but also well-written.

Tittyfilarious81 · 10/07/2021 10:39

Stephen king's The Green Mile

IsolaPribby · 10/07/2021 10:26

Just seen that you asked about audio books also. I absolutely love them, but with the caveat that the narrator will make or break it! Always listen to the sample first.
Books which I have found brilliant in audio recently have been the first two installments in The Book of Dust trilogy by Philip Pullman, exquisitely read by Martin Sheen. And also The Binding by Bridget Collins, narrated by Carl Prekopp.

MoppaSprings · 10/07/2021 06:20

The Stand by Stephen King

chorusline79 · 10/07/2021 06:12

@EarringsandLipstick can you recommend any of Maggie's other books? I have only read Hamnet so far
( sorry to hijack thread slightly OP)

EarringsandLipstick · 09/07/2021 23:36

Books I read over and over:

Anything by Maeve Binchy, but especially Light a Penny Candle & Echoes. (I hate the narrative that these are easy reads / chick lit - mind you hate that phrase anyway - her writing is so well-observed, and in an Irish context, subtly subversive in terms of themes & choices made by the characters)

The William books

Jeeves & Wooster.

EarringsandLipstick · 09/07/2021 23:32

@chorusline79

Hamnet by Maggie o Farrell is a fantastic book - one of the best books I have ever read. Such a talented writer.
Definitely. It was more of a slow burner than her others. But a beautiful treatise on grief & its resonance.
WhatsTheEffingPoint · 09/07/2021 23:23

Another Harry Potter fan here, so much better then the films, humour that adults pick up on etc. I've tried them on audio book but can't seem to get on with them.

I also love Goodnight Mr Tom, made to read it in school and it's a book that's stuck with me over 20yrs later.

I also like 'easy, fluff' books, Marian Keynes, Jenny Colgan, etc

DramaAlpaca · 09/07/2021 23:01

My favourite book ever is Katherine by Anya Seton. I re-read it every few years. Great literature it isn't but for some reason it touches my heart.

purpleme12 · 09/07/2021 22:58

Best book ever is The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
By miles

chorusline79 · 09/07/2021 22:52

Hamnet by Maggie o Farrell is a fantastic book - one of the best books I have ever read. Such a talented writer.

Strokethefurrywall · 09/07/2021 22:50

If you like thrillers with an amusing/witty protagonist, my favorite book ever was Gone For Good by Harlen Coben. It’s a standalone novel outside of his Myron Bolitar series and was the only book I’ve read that made sit up and say “holy fuck” when I got to the plot twist at the end.

Easy reading but sincerely enjoyable!

EarringsandLipstick · 09/07/2021 22:48

Hard to think of 'ever' either but I really really loved Eleanor Oliphant.

So much so I sometimes go into a reverie thinking of where the character is now.

I also really love almost everything Maggie O'Farrell writes. Also Wally Lamb, bar hus most recent, which I'm just picking up to try yet again, as I'm convinced I have to love it, I just can't get into it.

EarringsandLipstick · 09/07/2021 22:45

@AdaColeman

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, without doubt one of the great books of recent times.
I remember reading this 27 years ago when travelling around Europe after working for the summer during university.

Dear God. I hated it. This huge book that felt interminable. Every city we got to, I was still reading it 😂

I remember one of our group, a very gorgeous boy, reading the title, and asking me 'have you found one yet?' (Not sadly as a come-on, and I could think of no witty riposte, so just smiled gormlessly)

It's funny how different people's opinions on books can be.

Booboodog · 09/07/2021 22:45

Lanark by Alasdair Gray

DeRigueurMortis · 09/07/2021 22:42

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.

Sp1ke3 · 09/07/2021 22:41

I’ve really enjoyed both Stuart Turton books “The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” and the recent “The Devil and the dark water”. My favourite audiobook this year is “Blood and Sugar” by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, read by Ben Onwukwe.

I’ve also loved A Gentleman in Moscow

LovelyGirlCompetition · 09/07/2021 22:27

Don't know about ever but I read a lot of Jenny Eclair's books last year. Excellent summer reading. Was surprised at how good they were.

LynnABenfield · 09/07/2021 22:26

The book thief! Such a good unique book! I also recommend anything by Jasper fforde or Jeffery deaver!

marmaladehound · 09/07/2021 22:26

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Just beautiful!

AgentProvocateur · 09/07/2021 22:25

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, but it’s a terribly sad book.

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