What are your top 10 favourite books of all time?

@Cooper77 : yes I loved the film of Room with a View. Agree I Claudius superb. I also loved A Passage to India film. Did the book for A level and had a wonderful wonderful teacher (to whom I am still eternally grateful) and thought the film was excellent.

Oh 2 more.

Lessons in chemistry : Bonnie Garmus

and

Simple Pleasures by Claire Chambers

I can't do ten!

But the four that have stayed with me are:

A suitable boy (didn't like the TV series though) : Vikram Seth

An evil cradling : Brian Keenan

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine : Gail honeyman

All at Sea : Decca Aitkinhead

.

These are fascinating lists. So many of my all time favourites.

I love this list. I’m not a Christian believer, but I still love the Narnia books. Lewis was a superb writer. Please tell me you’ve seen the film adaptation of A Room with a View as well. Very few adaptations are as good as the book. The only ones I can think of are the TV adaptations of Cranfield, I Claudius and Brideshead Revisited. In fact, I would say the BBC adaptation of I Claudius is better than the book.

Changes all the time but ... (in no particular order)

1. Remains of the Day
2. Thousand Splendid Suns
3. Kite Runner
4. To Kill a Mockingbird
5. Violeta
6. 1984
7. All the Light We Cannot See
8. Piranesi
9. The House on the Cerulean Sea
10. Of Mice and Men

Goodness so tough. Ask me tomorrow and you’d probably get 10 different answers!

1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (because even in my 50s I still check a wardrobe. Just in case….)
2. Bleak House (because I sobbed)
3. Remains of the Day (sheer simple perfection)
4. His Dark Materials (3 in one!)
5. Half of a Yellow Sun
6. A Gentleman in Moscow
7. Room with A View (can exchange with any EM Forster)
8. The Handmaid’s Tale (blown away as a teenager)
9. Far from the Madding Crowd (I know not his best but I did it for O Level and loved it)
10. The Woman in White

Close runners would be The Poisonwood Bible/Purple Hibiscus/ Emma/

Just coming back to the list after a whole year haha!

To say, I have only one book to add and that's The Count of Monte Cristo.

My list stays the same, I can see a few people thought theirs might change as time moves on.

@DailyMaui It would be interesting to re-read A God in Ruins. The ending completely undid me. Big snotty tears. Although it wouldn't be a shock this time, I suspect it would be even more poignant reading his story, knowing the ending. A different experience altogether.

I never re-read books. I know lots of people do, but I've never done that. I am always too panicked that there are so many books to read and so little time... but then I also waste time finishing every book I ever start - even if it's dire - with only a handful of exceptions in my entire life.

And never more than two books at a time - usually one. And only if one is on audible and one is a physical copy.

Funny how we might all be avid readers but 'read' very differently.

Placemarking for ideas

I agree, I also enjoyed Four Winds by her.

@SlightlyJaded - thanks for that. Will give it a try.

I've not seen the wonderful Rose Tremain mentioned (but I must confess I've not read every post, just a quick scan). I think she is a superb writer, especially Restoration. It was shortlisted for the Booker but don't let that put you off. It's very readable (I do find some of the prize winners a bit too "meaningful", iykwim.

I would agree

Reading everyone's lists has reminded me of so many books I've enjoyed. Here's my list, from childhood onwards.

I am David - Anne Holm
The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
Hotel Du Lac - Anita Brookner
Nice Work - David Lodge
Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood
Midnight's Children - Rushdie
Any Human Heart - William Boyd
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
Disgrace - J.M. Coetzee
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

I've just finished reading The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and it completely captivated me. Two sisters living in France during the occupation of WW2 - really good story. Would recommend

Brought this list up again as I am in need of a new book to kindle. Just finished the superb Yellowface by Rebecca Kuang. Prior to that I read three David Nicholls back to back - the latest one being You are Here, which I found weaker than the excellent Us and Sweet Sorrow of his.

What can I read next?

The Book Thief
the Poisonwood Bible
the Lord of the Rings
The God of Small things
Chocolat
The Secret History
Tess of the Durbervilles
The Handmaids Tale
The hunger games
The fault in our stars

Although if you asked me tomorrow the list might be different

@Hellohah Stoner was another one that almost made it into my list.

Loads of great books here. I'm placemarking for future reads!

Posted too soon :(

Not in any particular order:

Crime and Punishment
Stoner
The Remains of the Day
To Kill a Mockingbird
Rebecca
A Man Called Ove
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Pillars of the Earth
David Copperfield
The Complete Sherlock Holmes

Cloud Atlas,
Circe
Arcadia (Iain Pears)
Dream of Scipio
Station Eleven (though read that at a resonant time!)
The Bear and The Nightingale (trilogy)
The Secret Life of Addie La Rue
The Starless Sea
Babel
Ghost Written (David Mitchell)

I spent way too many years studying the classics and they just don’t get a look in for me! Also ran: Naomi Novak’s Spinning Silver and Uprooted

Not in any particular order:

Crime and Punishment, Dost

@Marsyas I love that someone else has Wise Children on their list too. It's on mine but no one in my circles has ever heard of it.

The others ...

1. Watership Down

1. Jayne Eyre
2. Rivals
3. A Town like Alice
4. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
5. Pride and Prejudice
6. Tender is the Night

Rebecca - du Maurier
East of Eden - Steinbeck
A Passage to India - E M Forster
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
No More Meadows - M Dickens
The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
The Catcher in the Rye - Salinger
The Greengage Summer - Rumer Godden
Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf