Best book you've ever read?

[MonsteraCheeseplant]

I loved My Sister's Keeper, though not any of Jodie Picoult's other books as I soon realised the formula.

When Breath Becomes Air is a beauty

I am pilgrim too! Glad to see others have enjoyed it so much to call it their favourite read too! Must dig it out again.

Sunset Song, by Lewis Grassic Gibbon. It's the first part of the Scots Quair trilogy and the best, in my opinion. The most read book on my bookcase, I love it, it's so well written.

The Nightingale. By Kristin Hannah is the best book I've read in a long time.

I'd agree that lots of the books mentioned here are amazing.

And also, almost anything written by John Updike ( but especially Villages- perfect, highbrow filth).
Tales of the City.
Not a whole book, but the chapter in Calypso when David Sedaris writes about his sister's suicide.

But for me, The Secret History is the closest thing I've read to a perfect novel. It's sublime.

Ooh! Sunset Song should be more famous. A real reader's book!

Remains of the Day is also pretty special.

And, being food-obsessed, Nigella Lawson's how to eat and pretty much all of Elizabeth David.

Oh or Dear Lupin by Roger Mortimer. DH stomped off to spare room as bed was vibrating with my laughter and I kept snorting, apparently.

@theorchidkiller - I love A Country Child too. I reread the December chapter every Christmas, it is so evocative.

One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I read it again during lockdown. It’s beautiful.
Down Among The Women by Faye Weldon. I read this whilst I was in labour with DD1. Hilarious and angry in equal measure.

Pillars of the Earth- Ken Follett
All three in the trilogy are excellent

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Husseini.

The Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy.

Recent read and adored home going by yaa gyasi then a few months later listened to the audiobook.

Alice Walker the second life of grange Copeland

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist.

In terms of gripping-ness, also I am Pilgrim.

We need to talk about Kevin, for ambiguity.

Maybe the Female Eunuch or I Know why the Caged Bird Sings, in terms of opening my eyes to the power of words.

@TheOrchidKiller
Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson (it was dramatised on TV about 17 years ago, then I read the book. It's sad & shocking in parts, but it starts, "This is a love story," & it is).

I studied this book at Uni - I had no idea it had been dramatized! Must look it up and reread the book. Thank you!

I have two, Tin Drum by Gunther Grass and Nights At the Circus by Angela Carter.
Each blows me away every time I reread them.

Oh how could I have forgotten Remains of the day? Beautifully written book, [spoiler alert, absolutely nothing happens] but it just makes me want to get a huge mug of tea, a big plateful of buttered toast, and settle down for a damn good read. Well reminded booglemcgroogle!

The Goldfinch
When Breath Becomes Air
The God of Small Things
Human Acts

Too difficult to pick just one!

A Tree grows in Brooklyn

Half a Yellow Sun

Wuthering Heights is my favourite but I also loved
An Evil Cradling
Atonement
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Secret Life of Bees
Pride and Prejudice

The last one that really blew me away was Galway Bay. It's about an Irish family surviving the potato famine and then immigrating to America. The chapters detailing the famine and how hungry they were stayed with me for a long time.

The green mile by Steven king

Oh yes @NeedToKnow101 - We Need to Talk About Kevin was awesome in a harrowing kind of way.

I thought of another - Never Let Me Go

The Crimson Petal and the White, Michel Faber