to ask what book you've read that you'll never forget?

[sunshineNdaisies]

I'm looking for new books to read and I'm trying to find something similar to those I've read over the years that have stuck with me. I'll start:

Of mice and men, the rats of nimh, persuasion, pride and prejudice, nicholas nickleby, oliver twist, little house on the prairie, the help, 12 years a slave, the color purple, the red pony, sunset song, memoirs of a geisha, little women, all the harry potter books, the prime of miss jean brodie,

I'm sure I'll remember more

Please recommend a book that will stick with me! Nothing scary though, I don't like scary. Also I hated Wuthering Heights so that stuck with me for the wrong reasons!

Oh my God, and a Tale of Two Cities!!! I cried on the bus reading the end of that - amazing book! There's a reason it's one of the biggest sellers of all time!

PPs have recommended 'Rebecca'. It was my favorite book in my teens. (Much) older now, the lead character just makes me want to give her a good kick up the backside.

However - no one describes food quite like Daphne du Maurier. All the ''floury scone and piping hot crumpet'' goings on at Manderley made me salivate!

I second so many on this list.

One that's not been mentioned: The Famished Road by Ben Okri. At the end I cried that anyone could write so beautifully.

Also, the Rabbit books by John Updike.

A childrens book but i read it as a teen Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence.

Woman on the edge of time, Marge pierce
News from nowhere, William morris

Jean De Florette/Manon des Sources. Breathtakingly brilliant writing and story.

Noughts and crosses, or anything by Mallory blackman

A Suitable Boy
Buddha of Suburbia both by Vikram Seth

The lovely bones made me cry until my neck was soaking wet. It’s very moving and haunting.

Wolff Hall
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Birdsong
The Laguna - Barbara Kingsolver

I never understood the fuss about the Book Thief - I found it predictable, boring and not that well-written. Never read Boy in the Striped Pyjamas after the Holocaust Education Trust pointed out that any child in that kind of camp would have been sent to be killed the moment they arrived. They don't like it, and that's put me off.

Me before you, I cried on public transport reading thus!

Thousand splendid suns

First last kiss, I was heavily pregnant and stayed up till 3am to finish this one and sobbed!

The Poisonwood Bible
A God in Ruins
A Little Life
The Goldfinch
Beloved
The Secret Life of Bees
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Blind Assassin
Never Let Me Go

Stephen Donaldson’s Mordants need duo, The Mirror of Her Dreams and A man rides through, they are fantasy books set in another world, but I loved them.

The Endless Steppe, I read it when I was 12/13 and 20 years later, I can still recall a lot of it

The red tent
1984
Hand maids tale
the tempest
Angela's Ashes
cormac Mccarthy the road
Lord of the flies

Bugger. Forgot

Atonement
Restless - William Boyd

The subtle art of not giving a fu*k
Memories of a Geisha
Harry potter and the chamber of secrets- I was 10 and stayed up reading it at night.
Chinese cinderella.
A child called it.

A little princess
My sisters keeper

Sobbed at both of those ones. I generally love Sophie kinsella (the standalone ones rather than the series stuff) but her last one was crap.

I did enjoy "you let me in" though which came up as a suggestion on kindle and had me totally hooked.

Empty Cradles by Margaret Humpreys has left a lasting impression on me, very moving & very sad ☹️

The Piano Tuner
The Miniaturist ….

I love Precious Bane by Mary Webb, I have read it again and again just for the pleasure of it, and Persuasion.

Steinbeck is probably my favourite author, I love his descriptions of everyday and feel utterly transported by him, so any of his! The Grapes of Wrath is the obvious one if you liked Of Mice and Men, but for me The Winter of Our Discontent is the one I return to.

I know it's already been mentioned but The God of Small Things is possibly the most beautiful book I've ever read.

And also previously mentioned, I think you'll like If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things because it also has brilliant descriptions of the everyday. In all the books I've recommended there's a thread of not much action, but so much beautiful writing and description it works: think meandering down a lazy river style of reading rather than riding the rapids! That's a common thread I picked up from your list, hope I'm not mistaken!

Ode to billy jo