Best book you've ever read

[JulieYS]

Sorry, slight diversion from book of the month.
But I'd really be interested in finding out what was one of the best books you've ever read.

Particularly:

• What you loved about it
• What was the hook that kept you reading at every spare moment
• What characters you fell in love with, and why.

If, like me, you find it hard to pick the absolute best, then any book that you really enjoyed.

One of the books that I really enjoyed was The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck - which I read twice. I was amazed that the author's actually American, yet her writing was so beautiful and descriptive that it instantly transported me to another time, another place. She obviously lived in China for a while, which is why she was so familiar with the culture.
I couldn't help greatly admiring the protagonist, O-Lan, who, despite being born into disadvantage (a female slave), worked hard, with great resilience and fortitude, to better her life both for herself and her family. Their struggles through the Great Famine were heart-breaking. The interplay between her, and her husband, gave much food for thought. And the impossible life decisions she had to make were excruciatingly painful to read. And such a bitter-sweet ending.

I'm hoping to read more of Buck's novels, though because this book was so heart-rending, I'm guessing they're going to be emotional rollercoasters...

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. It’s a story of a man hiding his sexuality and all those he hurts around him especially himself. It’s beautifully written and heartbreaking

Wuthering Heights no book has transported me to being there as this book has, it took me about five attempts to finally get into the story but once I did I was absolutely hooked. Reading it as an adult I have a very different take on it as I did as a teenager

The Kite Runner it’s so beautifully written

Same:

"A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I loved everything about it, the characters, the storyline, the writing... just perfect and my all-time favourite read."

Just read A Thousand Splendid Suns this year - completely agree that it is a special book. The emotional rollercoaster it puts you through... Will look up some of your other recommendations - already have Hamnet on a (rather large) stack of books to read. Would recommend The Map of Love by Adhaf Souief - another good one at recreating a different culture alongside a gripping story.

My favourite is :
Shamelessly, collating, compiling, surveys, census, (I thought it was just me)

is this blatant merching actually allowed

@ThelmaBorden , yes people are allowed to post links to things they recommend.

This is mine too. I read it when I was 12 on holiday in Greece. I’ve since read it many times . I have been to the zoo when he was still alive and also visited the house Laurence Durrell lived in with his wife. I just love it .

i read this book Milkman by Anna Burns and American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Regards: academic writing help

Les Miserables - Victor Hugo.

It was so incredible when I finally finished it I felt like I owed someone a huge amount of money for the experience, it was so intense. I felt like a thief for getting to experience such an epic for the 5 pounds I spent on a second hand paperback copy.

Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
This Much I Know Is True by Wally Lamb

You have 2 of my favourites there, so based on your list I'm just about to order the Ng ❤️
Have you read David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks? If not I'd thoroughly advise based on your faves.

The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed. Tells the true story of an innocent Somali man living in Cardiff - Tiger Bay, who was hanged for a murder he never committed back in the 1950s. It swings between describing his childhood in Somali and his adult life in Tiger Bay and all the countries he visited as a seaman. It describes how the SW police fitted him up for the murder based on very flimsy evidence. The ending broke my heart. Close to my heart as I was raised very close to Cardiff docklands. His family had to push for justice and they paid an awful price for what was done to him

Impossible! But a few of my faves …
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
The Great Gatsby
Pride and Prejudice

and recently A Man Called Ove and The Heart’s Invisible Furies.

The sevens husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Took me a long long time to finally take the plunge and read it as it had outstanding reviews. Can't believe I waited SO long. It's so beautifully written and the plot twist makes it.

One Hundred Years of Solitude I love magical realism as it relates very well to how I experience the world in layers of meaning.
Dead Souls by Gogol for his prescience
The City and the City by China Mieville for the astute observation of duality

Incidentally if you like the Good Earth you might like Babbit and Main Street by Sinclair Lewis (if you haven’t read them already). Very different subject matter but similar mindset of showing the limitations of certain attitudes

Totally agree. Especially White Gold Wielder.

Just read The Bee Sting - great writing - almost won the Booker.

@ThisisAnita I came on to say the same! It has lingered with me since I read it. Yesterday an extract came up in the English comprehension in the Irish Higher Level Leaving cert paper 1 (equivalent of A levels). It was a section from the beginning describing the friendship between the two girls and I thought to myself how wonderful this is, 1000s of young people have now heard of this book and some will read it. I'm in local book club and it keeps coming up. Imelda seems to be the character that interests everyone most. I just couldn't put her in a box.

@LaMaG which book are you talking about? Not Bee Sting. Thanks. Imelda?

@Peverellshire yes the Bee Sting. Imelda is the mother in the family. I suddenly doubted myself and googled it there, it's Imelda alright.

@LaMaG ah, thanks so much. Realised your exam must have been recent! Thought you meant historically took exam in past ergo different book.

No sorry. It was on Wednesday and not me, I'm about 30 years older! It was mentioned on the news and a friend sent a screenshot of the paper that her daughter sat as she knew I loved the book.