To ask what the best book you've ever read is?

[AtlasShrugged]

As above really. Inspired by the worst book thread running at the moment. What's the best book you've ever read? And why?

@JaneJeffer isnt it lovely?

I’ve got a kindle version I can email you if you have a kindle account? PM me if you want it!

Not sure if it's the best I've ever read ever, but I've just finished An Evil Mind by Chris Carter. Its reviews mention that it was as addictive as a thriller box set and I wholeheartedly agree. I could not put it down. I read nearly exclusively crime and thriller books and this one did not disappoint.

It’s very difficult to choose, but some of the best books I’ve read are:

The Grapes of Wrath
Love in the Time of Cholera
The Kiterunner
The God of Small Things
The Book Thief
Animal Farm

Forgot to mention the book I’ve reread far more than any other, and which was made into a film that was also excellent (usually I’m disappointed by film versions of books I’ve enjoyed):

A Room with a View

From my long and diverse reading experience I nominate-

This Body of Death- Elizabeth George
A Place of Execution- Val McDermid
Lady of Hay- Barbara Erskine
Doomsday Book- Connie Willis
Robert Goddard- most of his
Harlan Coben- most of his.

Thanks very much Diana I will PM you shortly as can't do it on app

Jacaranda A Room With A View is my favourite book. It is so lovely, and the film is indeed glorious.

We went to Florence for our first wedding anniversary because of the book. I was crushed that Santa Croce was behind scaffolding, though we could still go inside.

Katharine by Anya Seton
Harry Potter

Picking one is impossible!

Some favourites:

Blindness - Jose Saramago
A Town Like Alice - Neville Shute
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
The Warlord Chronicles - Bernard Cornwall
Back Home - Michelle Magorian
Homecoming - Cynthia Voight
For Whom The Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemmingway
The Realm of the Elderlings series - Robin Hobb

John Steinbeck The Grapes Of Wrath
Kate Atkinson Life After Life
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

www.goodreads.com/book/show/41219.Possession

www.goodreads.com/book/show/343.Perfume?from_search=true

The Dearth of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
The Real Charlotte b Somerville & Ross

Freedomland by Richard Price .
Fantastic book , have read it so many times

1. The Grapes of Wrath, definitely. It's hard work in the beginning, but it pays off. Apparently Steinbeck was not a particularly good man, at least not a good husband, but his writing is so full of compassion.
2. Wuthering Heights is so darkly beautiful. The obsessive love between the two main characters is scary.
3. A Farewell to Arms was also amazing. Romance, war, death... It's all there.

I'm a big fan of dystopian / apocalyptic books...

The Passage Trilogy - Justin Cronin
Swan Song - Robert McCammon
Lucifer's Hammer - Jerry Pournelle / Larry Niven
The Stand - Stephen King

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

and The Chronicles of St Mary's series by Jodi Taylor

So hard to choose one! Some of my absolute favourites that I have read over and over again are:
A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
The Stand - Stephen King
A River Sutra - Gita Mehta

I am pilgrim

Total bookworm

Anything by Phillipa Gregory or Alison weir for historical fiction

Martina Cole for crime and gangland

Just finished the game of thrones books

Lighthearted and not serious has to be Katie fforde books

I do love a bit of dystopian too. So hunger games, maze runner and divergent.

So so many more

Lincoln in the Bardo is my most recent favourite. Of all time, probably In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

Nella Last books
Mitford books
The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society
A confederacy of dunces
Vera Brittain books
Love epistolary books!

If nobody speaks of remarkable things

I just love the way it's written, and the descriptions and how the stories weave together.

Cat's Eye by Atwood. I love all her stuff but this one is just so good about controlling female relationships. Also The Tulip Touch for this! Kidsbook.
Solomon Gursky was here by Mordecai Richler. Wonderful historical romp from a Jewish perspective.
The Lies of Locke Lamora. Epic fantasy.
Consider Phlebas: Iain M Banks. Sci fi.
Charlotte Sometimes. Still love it.
Carter beats the Devil. The book i most want to be a good film.
Flowers for Algernon. Heartbreaking sci fi.
The Eyes of Karen Connors: teen fiction but i've never forgotten it!
The Quincunx : epic dickensian type fiction
All of MR James.
And The Turn of the Screw.
Not many classics but I do re-read David Copperfield and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall a lot. And Anne of Green Gables!

And Hangover Square! I stayed on the bus to finish it and burst into tears. Harrowing.