Your best book ever....

[Zoeyclash]

I've got a very long car journey coming up and I'm looking for recommendations for a really good audiobook. AIBU to ask what's the best book you've ever read/listened to? I'm open to all types of genres except sci-fi. Thanks!

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Luiz Zafon. It blew me away (pardon the pun!).

Winter in Madrid by C J Sansom, It’s based on the Spanish civil war.

Oh yes that's a fabulous book.. I might re-visit that as an audio book, it's been a few years since I read it but I remember being swept away by it. Another great audiobook I've listened to recently was Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. Meryl Streep narrates it and she's SO good.

Lessons in Chemistry- Bonnie Garmus
Someone else's Shoes - JoJo Moyes
The Book Eaters - Sunyi Dean

All fun, easy to listen to and it doesn't matter if you miss a bit due to traffic!

I've just read the blurb on this... it sounds brilliant. Thanks for the recommendation!

@Zoeyclash Shadow of the Wind and the follow up The Angels Game deserve your full attention, not sure if it is suitable for driving....

I might save them for my next holiday then!

Sebastian faulks....bird song. Its one of those books I can read over and over and over.
The seventh son by him is another good one

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, by Peter Hoeg. A sort of crime thriller with a good twist. A good one for the cold weather as it is set partly in Greenland.

For a Christmas season, Ladies in Black is a delight, full of charm.

https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Ladies-in-Black-Audiobook/1489468927?eac_link=2VrcOBY8oEw5&ref=web_search_eac_asin_1&eac_selected_type=asin&eac_selected=1489468927&qid=TieYlae21T&eac_id=355-6686209-4445125_TieYlae21T&sr=1-1

Also on Amazon.

Claire Mackintosh - It's Not What You Think. Absolutely loved it.

There seems to be lots of love for The Shadow of the Wind! I also loved Lessons in Chemistry which someone else suggested.
I’m going to add everyone’s suggestions to my reading list.

Wuthering heights
The virgin suicides
We need to talk about Kevin
3 men in a boat
Little women
The shining

Picking a best book ever is very difficult!! But these are definitely up there for me -

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Bel Canto by Anne Patchett (this is very, very sad though so maybe not the best for driving)
North Woods by Daniel Mason
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

And if you’re looking for a classic, either Bleak House by Charles Dickens or Emma by Jane Austen.

Wool by Hugh Howey, the first book in the Silo trilogy. I listened to those on audiobook and it was honestly so gripping and immersive

Loving the recommendations above!

We have very similar tastes. I was going to recommend David Copperfield.

Probably Still Life by Sara Winman. Gorgeous book I didn’t want it to end

Not my favourite book of all time but a great audiobook - in fact the series changed me from someone who scoffed at audiobooks to a regular listener in the car:

The Searcher by Tana French

Ostensibly crime but in my opinion the crime is incidental to the setting, atmosphere, and relationships.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel.

Very different, but both really about life in all its glorious messiness, and what it means to be human.

The Irving is my favourite book of all time.

I have a few I keep going back too and have just added to the pile Matt Haig's How to stop time, if possible even better than Midnight Library!
highly recommended

North Winds by Daniel Mason, which has already been mentioned, is my all time favourite and I read a lot of books.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth - I have read it many times - and it’s very long!

Any and all of the Mick Herron Slough House books - especially if you read them before watching Slow Horses.

To Kill a Mocking Bird. Harper Lee

The God Father. Mario Pulzo

Dune. Frank Herbert Normally I hate si fi but this is magnificent...sadly the rest of his books are pretty poor in comparison

Great book.