Right-I'm sick of Booker shortlist fiction-so help me, post your all time favourite work of classic fiction

I agree with so many of these.

Tale of Two Cities probably my all time favourite (I only have to think about Sydney Carton at the end.... "It's a far far better thing...." etc to start weeping, but then I'm pregnant and hormonal!)

Otherwise, in no particular order: Middlemarch; P&P; Jane Eyre; Brideshead; Gatsby; Vanity Fair; Anna Karenina are all up there.

Collette, Nancy Mitford and Stella Gibons bring back late teenage happy memories - must re-read them!

Not sure anyone has mentioned Brave New World (Huxley), or Cat's Eye (Atwood), but I loved those.

I'm not generally a massive Hardy fan but Far from the Madding Crowd is a masterpiece (Tess is a bit much for me though).

But my FAVOURITE, can't live without book: the best ever must read KATHERINE, by Anya Seaton!! I know it's probably trash and unashamedly romantic etc etc, but what's not to love!

Cluttered - I loved 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' have you tried reading Flannery O'Conner too if you like McCullers - her short stories ('A Good Man Is Hard to Find' - particularly the one of that name) are amazing i think.

Also the Heart is a lonely hunter by Carson Macuthers, has anyone else read this? She also wrote Member of the Wedding

Haven't read rest of thread but have just finished Door into summer (Robert Heinlin i think..gone back to library now!) superb book, think i will try Madame Bovary based on the suggestions on this page.
Also Hated, Hated, The Gathering but was in minority at book club so each to their own!

I second 3 men in a boat, Jerome K Jermone

To Kill a Mockingbird
Cold Comfort Farm
Wide Sargasso Sea (but you have to have read Jane Eyre first otherwise it is not so compelling)or in fact anything by Jean Rhys
Wuthering Heights
Silas Marner (I love George Eliot but this is the only feelgood novel of hers I think)
Jamaica Inn
Goodbye to All That
Ararat (DM Thomas, largely forgotten now but still fab)
On the Road

Me too for Jude the Obscure, was just about to suggest that but Bettymum beat me to it. It is very depressing though!

I know it's not supposed to be anything modern, but has anyone read The Road by Cormac McCarthy? I still can't get certain scenes from that from my mind!

Wow fiona, I just clicked on this, and I have been reading middlesex all day at work! It is quiet in retail these days I am about half way through and I love it! I would also suggest House Of The Spirits by Isabel Allende.

How about George Orwell? Not a word needing to be pruned and he's actually got something to say. '1984' blew me away but 'A Clergyman's Daughter' wasn't half bad either.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - really unusual storyline. Funny and sad and easy to read. Also love The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. It's very short and just when you think you know how you feel about the characters you change your mind. I remember being spellbound by The Collector by John Fowles.

Jude the Obscure - my dad bought it for me when I was eight , think I managed about four pages at that stage. I don't know how many times I have read it, and yes it's depressing but beautiful. Tess of the D'Urbervilles is also wonderful, a tale of hardship, love, terrible sadness and perfect happiness. It makes me cry every time I reach the end.
Not sure why I like these sad books as I'm a very happy person . But I LOVE Thomas Hardy and have every one of his novels, short stories and collections of poetry. Every time we go to Dorset I try and visit cottage, but DH somehow manages to drive us in the opposite direction . At least it means I still have unfulfilled ambitions!

Far From the Madding Crowd

I think Hardy is so underrated, I can read that book again and again for its insight into relationships between men and women

I would rather wear walk down the street in nothing but a crotchless red satin basque than read Owen Meany or anything by Irving again. Yuk!

Am with the Madame Bovary voters, also Anna Karenina

Plus Le Rouge et le Noir by Stendhal - I think that was Al Gore's favourite novel of all time but they made him keep schtum because it sounded too intellectual. But it's a bodice-ripping corker.

Recent fave reads are The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber and Life Class by Pat Barker. Both excellent reads and un-putdownable.

Am v surprised no-one has mentioned Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie - tho having said that don't think it's quite 20 years old yet so maybe that's why. In a similar category though a much "easier read" was A suitable Boy. Like watching Eastenders for 8 years, you get so attached to the characters you wonder what you're going to do in life without them when you finish it!
Also second War & Peace (never thought I'd get into it but couldn't put it down ) and Dostoyevsky.
I am with the Owen Meany fans despite possibly understanding where the critics are coming from, and loved Bonfire of the Vanities too.
And I think my first all-time favourite was Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country.

Have cheated (don't do this normally) and only read first post.

If you're enjoying Nana you must read Madame Bovary. I'm sure there have been plenty of other worthy suggestions, but this is the Best Book Ever Written.

I loved Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, and War & Peace by Tolstoy. Big books but well worth it.

Love love love Pride & Prejudice, am reading it AGAIN for the... erm... umpteenth time. Did I say I love it?

I really enjoyed the recent film version too > but just couldn't take to the BBC dramatisation with Colin Firth. Nothing to do with him (prefer Matthew MacFadyen's characterisation much more), but the characterisation of Mrs. Bennett was just too annoying. Yes I know, she's a daft bint of the highest order, but this was just too much.

I loved Great Expectations at school but since then, can never get past Pip bringing the food to Magwitch before I switch off .

1984 classic moral tale still if not more applicable today.happy to reread this any time

Everyone, please read "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt, excellent from the first page!

im slowly reading place called here. ive never got the time to read lately. but my mum read it and she said it was really good.

lovely bones is another good one.

have you tried Thomas Mann, darrel? I read the Confessions of Felix Krull recently, it was good.

I have just bought Mrs Darrowby, but not read it yet.

Evelyn Waugh is shallow, ignore him

I am the opposite - in my teens, I read nothing but light fiction, I think because I didnt know anything about life.
After I was 30, I started reading the classics - I still have not read all of Dickens, and havent read War and Peace yet, but I dont mind - they will come along eventually if I keep living long enough and it is so true that you appreciate them far better the older you get.

I liked 'PS I love you'

Anyone read 'A place called home' (same author)

I've got it but not read it yet

p.s ilove u and flowers in the attic

sorry, there are loads coming to me now.

Philip Pullman's

His Dark Materials

FANTASTIC!!

can't remember the author, but a REAL tear jerker

'A Crack in Forever'

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Grey

The Mumsnetter Classics list for February Book of the Month is up and running - I've taken 10 of the most mentioned titles from this thread, now its up to everyone to vote for the one we should do for our bookclub this month.

You can see the list here or join this thread - and you can cast your vote anytime from now till next Friday 1st February, polls close at 8pm.

Looking forward to seeing which one comes out top. My money is currently on Middlemarch...but I think I'm personally voting for Madame Bovary (never read it, feel I must).