Top 10 must read books

[Username666]

New years resolution to start reading more. I'm starting with To Kill a Mocking Bird. What are your top 10 must read books? Thanks

What a time to be alone - one you can read over and over. So empowering. Not a novel though

Pride and Prejudice is a book i read every few years.

In the words of Sheldon Cooper 'it's a flawless masterpiece'.

Here's 3 for starters:
A Clockwork Orange
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
All Quiet on the Western Front

Not to kill a mockingbird- it perpetuates rape myths!

The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck)

1984 (Orwell)

@Sarahandduck18

Not to kill a mockingbird- it perpetuates rape myths!

No it doesn’t. It deals with race. Even recently we have seen an example of a white woman threatening a black man with threats of the police ( the Central Park video). Life is more complex than and so is literature.

I recommend The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. It was recommended to me years ago and is a book I have passed to others. It’s an often overlooked classic and quite original.

To Kill a Mockingbird is also based on several real examples of trials of black men. Men who were hung based on proven false accusations.

Catch 22

Hamnet
Year of Wonders
The Color Purple
The Handmaid's Tale (& sequel The Testaments)
The Song of Achilles
Circe
The Heart's Invisible Furies
Pillars of the Earth (and the rest of the series)
Saving Noah

1984

Fahrenheit 451

The Hobbit
Sense and Sensibility (the Joanne Trollope modernisation is good too)
Green Mile (best Stephen King book by far)
Of Mice and Men (really enjoyed reading this when I studied it at GCSE, go back to it every couple of years)
Caraval, Legendary, and Finale (really enjoyed this series)

Sticking wit the dystopian theme .... The Handmaiden’s Tale.

Apologies - I didn’t realise this had already been suggested.

I really enjoyed “The Time Traveller’s Wife”, although it seems to have received mixed reviews on the internet.

Philip K Dick has written some amazing short stories if you like science fiction.

I know it is controversial but my favourite is Gone with the Wind

Also love anything by Donna Tart - The Secret History or The Goldfinch particularly

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier .

Recently read 11.22.63 and The Stand by Stephen King which i loved.

oooh and the Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantell are fantastically well written.

Pride and prejudice - Jane Austen

1984 and/or animal farm - George Orwell

The body in the library and/or the mysterious affair at styles - Agatha Christie

How the world works - Noam Chomsky

A is for alibi - sue grafton

Rachel's holiday - Marian Keyes

Affluenza - John De graaf

I know why the caged bird sings - maya angelou

A modest proposal - Jonathan swift (a mere short story/essay though this one)

Feel the fear and do it anyway - Susan Jeffers

I think that's a good mix of fact and fiction, pleasure and knowledge?

Some authors I enjoy reading are Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L Sayers, P.G Wodehouse, Miss Read, Margery Allingham, Mary Stewart. Also thoroughly recommend trying some classic kids books too. Arthur Ransome and Richmal Crompton for starters.

Agree with The Grapes of Wrath, loved it.

I had a 'list' of books too; it mostly consisted of American literature as that's generally what I enjoy most. My advice would be don't persevere with a book that just feels like a battle, even if 100 people tell you you HAVE to read it - life is too short!

I gave up on The Great Gatsby, it just wasn't for me.

Also 'Invisible Man' by Ralph Ellison, another important book regarding race relations in the US, brilliant.

The Collector, John Fowles.

Watership Down, Richard Adams.

Definitely Pride and Prejudice and The Handmaid's Tale.

Anything by Bill Bryson if you want a good laugh!

I second ‘Rachel’s holiday’ by Marian Keyes. Brilliant.

The Jilly Cooper trilogy - Riders, Rivals, Polo. Wonderful

These are my top 5, in no particular order, which sit on a special shelf in my library. I think they are all special and important in their own way.

All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
Cry the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
Riddley Walker - Russell Hoban
An Ordinary Man - Paul Rusesabagina
Sidonia the Sorceress - Wilhelm Meinhold (though it's fairly difficult to find)