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Original poster

TOP 5 BOOKS EVER.............?

155 replies

enprovence · 09/08/2009 14:36

Desperate for some new reading matter, what are you TOP 5 BOOKS EVER?

Will rack my brains and add mine too..........

OP posts:
mumtoxii · 17/04/2010 07:53

Oh, I forgot, Cross stitch by Diana Gabaldon!

brightyoungthing · 16/04/2010 20:15

This is too hard but books that come to mind at the moment are

Papillon (?)
The bronze horseman-Paulina Simmons
The road-Cormac McCarthy
The good earth-Pearl S Buck
His dark materials trilogy-Phillip Pullman

JeanLouiseFinch · 16/04/2010 20:07

The Grapes of Wrath

mumtoxii · 16/04/2010 20:05

Oh, this thread is soooo hard!

Jane Eyre
Cazelet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Little House on the Prairie ( have read the whole series every year for the past 35 years!)
September by Rosamunde Pilcher
The Darling Buds of May

jurisfictionoperative · 14/04/2010 23:47

pride and prejudice
rebecca
gone with the wind
lord of the rings (the whole set)
anne rice (the vampire chronicles/mayfair witches)
anything by jasper fforde
i know thats actually about 28 books, but i cant possibly narrow it down any more!!

scottishmummy · 30/01/2010 23:24

1984
Frankenstein
rebecca
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
the divine comedy

AgentProvocateur · 30/01/2010 23:23

Prayer for Owen Meany
Poisonwood Bible
The Corrections
The Gift of Rain
Behind the Scenes at the Museum

scottishmummy · 30/01/2010 23:13

some right ole shite mentioned here.we so disagree...

jodi picoult isnt for arse wiping

nomorecake · 30/01/2010 23:09

i cant believe A Fine Balance has been mentioned several times. its probably one of my least favourite books of all time.

SkaterGrrrrl · 29/01/2010 16:19

Lots of "Catcher" fans here .. cant believe J D Salinger is dead!

LouMacca · 27/01/2010 13:35

5 off the top of my head

To Kill a Mockingbird
Catcher in the Rye
The Kite Runner
A Christmas Carol
The Thorn Birds

Sure I can think of many more..........

SkaterGrrrrl · 27/01/2010 13:32

Gah

Now I've read the whole thread I want to add

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Secret History
Brave New World and
The Amber Spyglass

to my list

Tess of the D'Urbervilles is the most gutting read, just when you think it can't go worse for the poor girl, it does.

SkaterGrrrrl · 27/01/2010 13:23

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchel

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

All the Persephone books - hard to pick one. If I had to, Miss Ranskill Comes Home by Barbara Euphan Todd.

misspollysdolly · 27/01/2010 13:15

Five is not enough!! But my top list would definitely include:

Beloved - Toni Morrison
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Falling Angels - Tracey Chevalier
I know this much is true - Wally Lamb
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

...but there are lots more that I would want to include! MPD

troublewithtalk · 26/01/2010 21:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tumbleturn · 26/01/2010 11:53

Love in the time of Cholera
The Time Traveller's Wife
The Mother's Tale
The World According to Garp
Atonement

bibbitybobbityhat · 22/01/2010 11:57

Hawkesmoor by Peter Ackroyd
The Van by Roddy Doyle
Restoration by Rose Tremain
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
The Return Of The Native by Thomas Hardy

mixedmamameansbusiness · 22/01/2010 11:54

Oh my goodness.... Goodnight Mr Tom... makes me cry every single time.... I have easily read it 100 times.

mixedmamameansbusiness · 22/01/2010 11:52

I have only just developed my love of Jane Austen but for me goes without saying that I love her books so thats why I left them off.

And, Time Travellers Wife... I want to put it on my list I really do but then it will be six

mixedmamameansbusiness · 22/01/2010 11:47

Birds Without Wings
Memoirs of a Geisha
Wild Swans
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Book Thief

Toppy · 21/01/2010 21:32

One Hundred Years of Solitude
Memoirs of a Geisha
Lovely Bones
The Book Theif
To Kill a Mockingbird

ruhavingalarf · 19/01/2010 13:03

The Cleft by Doris Lessing. Blew me away. I read it having had a very difficult DS and a new born DD that was at one with the world.

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 19/01/2010 13:02

Persuasion
Middlemarch
William Trevor's collected short stories
As Music and Splendour (Kate O'Brien)
The Alexander trilogy - Mary Renault (OK I know it's three books, but you can get one volume editions)

Fibilou · 19/01/2010 12:58

Oh, forgot Madame Bovary by Flaubert. I will replace Emma with that, please

Fibilou · 19/01/2010 12:57
  1. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
  2. Lord of the Rings, Tolkien
  3. Fairy stories by George Macdonald
  4. Emma by Jane Austen
  5. Any of the "Jennings" series by Anthony Buckeridge