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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask what are your top ten favourite books?

304 replies

Theda13 · 31/01/2026 17:32

I’m looking for recommendations, and thought this thread may be of some help to others too.

Mine are:

  1. The Life of Rebecca Jones by Angharad Price
  2. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  3. The Book Thief by Markus Kusak
  4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  5. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
  6. Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
  7. The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
  8. 1984 by George Orwell
  9. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
  10. Carol by Patricia Highsmith
OP posts:
Tonissister · 02/02/2026 10:40

How could I forget The Colour Purple? Not read it in years, it may be very dated but it was such a huge influence on me when it first came out.

ThatWasMyLastFatFreeFrush · 02/02/2026 15:37

I need to add more!!

National Velvet, Enid Bagnold
Wifey, Judy Blume
I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
All the Jill books, Ruby Ferguson
Dream of Fair Horses, Patricia Leitch

MrsDuskTilldawn · 02/02/2026 18:34

Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe - Fannie Flag

Saturn Run - John Sandford and Ctein

The Farseer Trilogy (Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin’s Quest) - Robin Hobb

The Matthew Scudder series starting with The Sins of the Fathers - Lawrence Block

The Complete Tales and Poems - Edgar Allen Poe

Hot Mess - Jaine Diamond

Three Sisters Trilogy (Dance Upon the Air, Heaven and Earth, Face the Fire) - Nora Roberts

Freedom’s Landing - Anne McCaffrey

Fairy Tale - Stephen King

…that was hard. I have so many more. 😂

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 18:37

The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
The Tendrils of the Vine by Colette

I could definitely list ten but too tired tonight...that's what comes to mind ...

Ladygodalmighty · 02/02/2026 19:08

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab
Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
The Midnight Library - Matt Haig
Blood Orange - Harriet Tyce
The Godfather - Mario Puzo
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Corset - Laura Purcell
Poor Things - Alasdair Gray
The Lost Bookshop - Evie Woods
None of This is True - Lisa Jewel

So good I read them twice 👌

tsmainsqueeze · 02/02/2026 19:09

MrsDuskTilldawn · 02/02/2026 18:34

Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe - Fannie Flag

Saturn Run - John Sandford and Ctein

The Farseer Trilogy (Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin’s Quest) - Robin Hobb

The Matthew Scudder series starting with The Sins of the Fathers - Lawrence Block

The Complete Tales and Poems - Edgar Allen Poe

Hot Mess - Jaine Diamond

Three Sisters Trilogy (Dance Upon the Air, Heaven and Earth, Face the Fire) - Nora Roberts

Freedom’s Landing - Anne McCaffrey

Fairy Tale - Stephen King

…that was hard. I have so many more. 😂

I loved FGTATWS cafe and her other books too , Fairy tale is another good one.
This is a great thread, I love the eclectic mixes of peoples favourites.

Mithral · 02/02/2026 19:11

I'm so surprised that Keep the Aspidistra Flying has popped up so much. It's one of those books you don't hear that much about but I love it.

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:28

Mithral · 02/02/2026 19:11

I'm so surprised that Keep the Aspidistra Flying has popped up so much. It's one of those books you don't hear that much about but I love it.

I'm surprised too, and glad : George Orwell wrote so many good books aside from the most famous 2.

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:29

RustyBear · 01/02/2026 19:12

What Could Possibly Go Wrong, Chronicles of St Mary’s Jodi Taylor (These could actually be my top 15 books, but WCPGW is my favourite)
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
Emma Jane Austen
Leave it to Psmith PG Wodehouse
The Domestic Revolution Ruth Goodman
Don’t Mr Disraeli Caryl Brahms & SJ Simon
Murder Must Advertise or The Nine Tailors (can’t choose) Dorothy L Sayers
The Cricket Term Antonia Forest
The Night of the Twelfth Michael Gilbert
The Trouble with Lichen John Wyndham

I finished my list and realised I hadn’t included any Terry Pratchett, but I probably wouldn’t have been able to choose just one anyway.

Caryl Brahms & SJ Simon are unsung treasures. If only there were more comic historical novels like that...

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:31

FajitaQueen · 02/02/2026 07:24

The Handmaid’s Tale was new when I was at university (OK - it was more than 30 years ago!) and felt like an instant classic.
Yes, Martin Amis was well-regarded at the time but you don’t hear so much about his books now.
I wonder which authors of today will still be read in 100 years time?

I think Martin Amis will endure, at least some of his books. His journalism was good too. I think he was an awful person (as was Kingsley) but he was definitely talented.

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:37

FajitaQueen · 01/02/2026 20:02

As an English Literature student 30 years ago, there was quite a lot of discussion about which modern authors would be the Classics of tomorrow. The same discussion probably still continues today.
John Le Carre was seen as a potential contender. My A Level English Literature teacher didn’t like his style but she thought that Graham Greene would be a contender. If I could add another book to my list it would be The End of the Affair. The premise is brilliant: please God, save him (her affair partner), and I*ll give him up forever. And then he survives…

Were Graham Greene seen as a 'modern author' in 1996? I suppose I was thinking that 'modern' then would have been 70s and 80s authors. Though I myself automatically seen anything 19th century as 'old' and anything newer as 'modern' 🤣

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:39

Pineapples123 · 01/02/2026 19:18

A thousand splendid suns- khaled hosseini
migrations - Charlotte Mcconaghy
the goldfinch- Donna tartt
the great gatsby - f Scott Fitzgerald
kala - Colin walsh
Never let me go- Ishiguro
Where the crawdads sing
Water- John boyne

also love the Washington Poe series but they’re more of a quick enjoyable read than a profound love

Never Let Me Go is definitely one of mine...

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:43

Southwestten · 01/02/2026 15:47

@schnubbins
Five Quarters of the Orange Joanne Harris

I loved that book as well. I thought the huge pike and the wish was so clever.
Another one for my list:
The Believers by Zoe Heller.
Zoe Heller is like Donna Tartt in that there are long gaps between her books. Maybe she has run out of ideas, but I wish she’d publish another book soon.

Yes, it's really good. Joanne Harris is mainly known for Chocolat (probably partly because of the film) which is a shame because she has a lot of other good ones.

Middlemarch123 · 02/02/2026 22:45

Number 1, my username is a clue, Middlemarch, George Elliott
2, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
3, The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
4.Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
5.Germinal, Emile Zola
6.Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
7.The Stand, Stephen King
8.It, Stephen King
9.Emma, Jane Austen
10.Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:47

BeaAndBen · 31/01/2026 23:39

It's post apocalyptic. There is a scene with a marauding band with a pregnant women dragged along with them.

Not long after, we see the the same band. The pregnant woman is missing and there's a small body being roasted on a spit to feed them all.

Urgh, Cormac Mccarthy is a great author but I have to skip a lot of his books. Blood Meridian is another great but extremely disturbing one, where skipping the gruesome scalp-hunting scenes (it's set in the early American West) means skipping quite a lot

At least All The Pretty Horses is a more bearable read.

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:51

Also virtually anything by Rumer Godden would be on my list.

Skinnysaluki · 02/02/2026 22:53

The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole- Sue Townsend
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe- C.S. Lewis
Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen
Lord of the Flies- William Golding
Wolf Hall trilogy- Hilary Mantel
The Great Gatsby- F Scott Fitzgerald
Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
It’s not ten but I can’t think of any more that I think are perfect and would go back to again and again

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:53

busybusybusy2015 · 31/01/2026 20:54

Anyone else on this thread struggled to think like an adult and not just list the children's books they've never forgotten? I saw Black Beauty turn up earlier 😍- I really should have owned up to A Little Princess and What Katy Did. Tbh they probably knock Dickens off my list 🙄

Yes, half my list would probably be Anne Fine, CS Lewis, & a lot of other animal stories. It's a shame those aren't written as much for adults though there are some good ones.

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:54

NotDarkGothicMama · 31/01/2026 19:44

  1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
  2. Regency Buck, Georgette Heyer
  3. The Shadow of the Sun, Ryszard Kapuściński
  4. Shooting History, Jon Snow
  5. Where Children Sleep, James Mollison
  6. New Spring, Robert Jordan
  7. Dauntless Path, Intisar Khanani
  8. A Court of Frost and Starlight, Sarah J. Maas
  9. The Queen's Thief, Megan Wheeler Turner
10. Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik

Ryszard Kapuscinski is so good. His book about the last Shah & the coming of Khomeini also feels quite relevant now...

BeaAndBen · 02/02/2026 23:14

Carla786 · 02/02/2026 22:47

Urgh, Cormac Mccarthy is a great author but I have to skip a lot of his books. Blood Meridian is another great but extremely disturbing one, where skipping the gruesome scalp-hunting scenes (it's set in the early American West) means skipping quite a lot

At least All The Pretty Horses is a more bearable read.

I had nightmares for weeks after reading that section of The Road.

I had similar nightmares after We Need To Talk About Kevin and the little wee sister and the bleach.

I do NOT appreciate horrific acts.

NotVWoolf · 02/02/2026 23:20

The Map that Came to Life, unknown
A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf
Diana, R.F. Delderfield
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Mrs Miniver, Jan Struther
Elizabeth and her German Garden, Elizabeth von Arnim
Utopia for Realists, Rutger Bregman
Katherine, Anya Seton
Francesca’s Party, Patricia Scanlan
Devil’s Cub, Georgette Heyer

Rhaenys · 03/02/2026 00:56

Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Stargirl - Jerry Spinelli
Fall of Giants - Ken Follett
Scythe - Neal Shusterman
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
A Game of Thrones - George RR Martin
Wild Swans - Jung Chang
The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman

Theda13 · 03/02/2026 12:32

Coldcoffeekindamorning · 31/01/2026 18:27

A farewell to arms - Ernest Hemmingway
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood
The Neapolitan Novels - Elena Ferrante
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
Sweet Thursday - John Steinbeck
The pursuit of love/love in a cold climate - Nancy Mitford
Down and out in London and Paris - George Orwell
To kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Also just reading Hamnet for the first time and I love it (but haven't read the ending so can't put it on the list yet!)

Edited

I’ve ordered Down and Out in London and Paris because of your list (and also because I loved 1984 and Animal Farm) - thank you!

OP posts:
Sartre · 03/02/2026 13:02

Find it difficult to narrow down but I’ll try.

Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
The Outsider by Albert Camus
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Trees by Percival Everett

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Professors House by Willa Cather

Many more, it is difficult for me to do this at the expense of others I also love. Everett is my favourite 21st century writer thus far and Bukowski my favourite 20th. I’m an American Lit lecturer for reference so dedicated my career to this!

Sartre · 03/02/2026 13:03

Theda13 · 03/02/2026 12:32

I’ve ordered Down and Out in London and Paris because of your list (and also because I loved 1984 and Animal Farm) - thank you!

If you like Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier is brilliant. Down and Out is good too though and Coming Up for Air. I love Orwell.