The best book you’ve ever read?

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There we go! Sorry if there is a thread like this…but what’s the best book you’ve ever read? Or I guess the book that left you thinking about it for days after?

For me I would say The Kite Runner

Loved The Kite Runner and other booked by Khaled Hosseini. And all Donna Tartt. And Shantaram. But for me it has to be A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Such a brilliant book.

The last lecture by Randy Pauche, wish I’d have met him, he sounds like an amazing man. Each time I read it it’s like it shares another life lesson and gives me more to ponder on.

Hard to narrow it down ... maybe
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
A Suitable Boy

The woman's room .. fantastic for just everything women go through, everyday lives.
The poison wood bible.. beautiful
Pillars of the earth. Inspiring

I've not long finished Pillars of the Earth and it was absolutely epic.

Eleanor Oliphant is absolutely fine

The Flowers / Seeds of Hiroshima by Edita Morris. I have had this since I was 14.
It's a faithful companion though my teens and into adult hood.

I do not understand the appeal of A Secret History in the slightest. Barely remember the plot. Posh school and piffle?

Can one of its many fans enlighten me on what I missed?

The book theif

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is immense.
I loved Life of Pi - it’s great if you can get past the first 90 pages rattling on about religion.

Oh yes a Fine Balance!

Girl A, so much better then the BBC documentary did. I cried at the book ....

Behind the Scenes at the Museum was wonderful. One of the few books to have made me laugh and cry. Such a rich novel.

Another Secret History fan, too! Looks like it's popular.

The Thomas Cromwell trilogy by Hilary Mantel. Spellbinding.

Also - less highbrow perhaps - The Silence of the Lambs and Good Omens are books I return to again and again.

What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt. I was just blown away when I read it, I loved it so much.

Donna Tartt - The Little Friend
Elizabeth Strout - Olive Kitterage

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. So clever.

I loved The Kite Runner but for me it would have to be All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, it's one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read.

I’m panicking trying to remember books I love the most, but if I must choose then East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

Cats eye -Margaret Atwood I've read it every year for the last 20 years.
Beloved Toni Morrison
All Anne Tyler's books
Also yes to Goldfinch, Birdsong, Shantaram, Wolf Hall Trilogy and also All The Light We Cannot See.
And all the moomin books!! Sorry few more than one!

Everything brave is forgiven
Behind the scenes at the museum
Red wall-obsessed with this series as a teen.
I have to say the first of the rivers of London series was epic.
For a comfort read I return to lucy Dillon books over and over.

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe

@ExhaustedGrinch I read that this year and stopped several times to exclaim aloud to DP just how good and beautiful the language was! Loved the story too.

I Claudius and Claudius the God. I'd love to find something that like them.
The Stand by Stephen King.

So many of these being added to my To Read list!

Another vote for All The Light We Cannot See

The Heart's Invisible Furies

Wuthering Heights sparked my interest in studying literature.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. Just beautiful.