The best book you’ve ever read?

[ICECream821]

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

I would have to say Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I find it so moving and amazing. The audiobook on audible narrated by Juanita McMahon is incredible too.

However I also agree with:

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (very close second as my fave book ever)
The Hearts Invisible Furies
the Narnia books
Shantaram - listened to the audiobook of this - amazing. I think there is actually a sequel of sorts, I think I ever own it but haven't read it yet. Shantaram really stayed with me for a long time.

A book I recently loved is The Push by Ashley Audrain - it is so dak, but amazing and I already want to read it again.

I don't read many fiction books because I'm more of a nonfiction reader and prefer biographies and autobiographical books.

I only own one fiction book (and two non-fiction) right now and I will probably always keep it. It is "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenedis. I originally purchased the book around 2002/2003 but it's one I keep rereading throughout the years. To me, it's the best fiction book I've ever read.

The other books (they're biographical and autobiographical) are: "Eleni" and "A Place for Us" both by Nicholas Gage. I've owned those two books for over 30 years.

Dracula - Bram Stoker

A picture of Dorian Gray or Persuasion. Only really just started getting into reading the classics this years but these are the two that stand out the most for me.

@Thirtyrock39 I read Blood Sugar too and loved it. Also Venus Flaring by the same author. I'm about the same age as the main characters in Blood Sugar so maybe it resonated a lot with me.

@LagneyandCasey

I preferred The Goldfinch to Secret History.

Rebecca is a book I can easily turn to over and over again.

The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Sun's have stuck with me many years after reading them.

I also love Marianne Dreams as mentioned above.

Books from childhood that are firm favourites are The Secret Garden and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

It's very hard to pick a favourite. However I would go with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I still have my first copy given to me when I was 12 and will always cherish it.

We have very similar taste in books!

I loved The Girl on the Train, of all the books I have read that one always stands out as a personal favourite

Well thank you very much everyone... I have just spent £30 on my kindle! Seriously though I love threads like this because it’s really interesting to see other people’s recommendations. I am starting with Middlesex.

Is there anyone who hasn’t loved the heart’s invisible furies?
I just think it ticks every box

A Fine Balance.
Breathtaking book. I read it over 6 years ago and it’s still with me .

I also loved Shantaram! I’ve just realised I loaned my copy out and never got it back. I’ll add that to the list.

The Bridge by Iain Banks
Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

I've just finished The Secret History and loved it. Also loved The Goldfinch, so I've just ordered The Little Friend.

Summer Sisters by Judy Blume is probably my favourite book. It's one of the few adult books she's written.

@LaProcureure

I agree with *@Sssloou* I was coming on to say Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I really enjoyed the sequel too - Olive Again. So well written. Books that make me want to be a better person.

I absolutely loved Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore too. Also all the Gilead books by Marilynne Robinson.

Delighted to see Ann Patchett mentioned because she’s my cousin!

Wow that's amazing LaProcureure!

I've been an Ann Patchett fan since I discovered her by chance at Hay on Wye about ten years ago. I had a gap in my plans for that day and went along to her author event; I thought she was funny, intelligent and a really engaging speaker.

I had a quick chat with her at the signing afterwards and she was so nice (and said she liked my coat so that clinched it ) Have since read all her books and recommended them to lots of people.

We are all completely beside ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler

I saw a man - Owen Sheers

@Kindlethefourth

A Little Life was the only book I have ever set an alarm to get up early to read. Tully by Paulina Simons is one I reread every decade and I understood her choices more as I got older

We might be the same person!

I also love We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Time Traveller's Wife. How to Stop Time by Matt Haig too.

I forgot The Light between Oceans which I LOVED. The film did not do justice to the book (do they ever?)

Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles

A couple more to add:

The Hare with Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal
The Museum of Innocence - Orhan Pamuk

both very detailed and thoughtful, descriptive rather than action if that's your kind of thing.

Also the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante - the story of two women's intertwined lives from childhood onwards. Beautifully observed and so evocative of time, place and relationships.

I am going to have to make notes and look up all these other recommendations, I've recently found time to read again (after too many too busy/tired years) and it is so restorative; I cannot wait to have a little pile of books waiting for my attention

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters.
It's set in world war 2 and it reads backwards (as in it tells the story of the characters going back through the years iyswim, I'm not great with the explanations 😂)
I couldn't put it down or stop thinking about it!!

Another vote for The Secret History here! Also pretty much everything by Sarah Waters but I absolutely looooved Fingersmith and The Little Stranger.

I agree with the poster who said I Capture the Castle.. such a fab book.

I have also read as a teen and found myself enjoying:

Puberty Blues by Kathy Lette
Keeping The Moon (or known as Last Chance Cafe) by Sarah Dessen
Old Magic by Marianne Curley
The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan

Lincoln In The Bardo - George Saunders. One of the few books I've read more than once.