Please recommend me a great or your favourite book!

[msrisotto]

I'm looking forward to having time to actually read on holiday soon!
I don't fancy too much gore or too much twee romance. Classics or modern are good.
My favourite to date is "I know this much is true" by Wally Lamb. I liked Atonement and I have 1984 next on my list (and the much trashier but lovely Jemima J by Jane Green). Wrong section for nonfiction but I like stuff like 127 hours and Touching the void too. Any ideas?

[ladymariner]

The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher......absolutely love this book

[JeanPaget]

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice. It's set in the 50s and although it has a very 'chick lit' cover, it's absolutely fantastic.

Also A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute - it's my favourite book of all time (hence my MN name!)

[spex11]

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

[SorrelForbes]

at JeanPaget ATLA is one of my favourites too. I've been a NS fan since my teens (now in my 40s). None of my friends have heard of him.

[ChloeR32]

Snow Child - set in Alaska, very pretty writing.
To Kill a Mockingbird - favourite classic.
Bring up the bodies - just brilliant - have to get used to writing style though.

I finished Tallulahs Got A Shopping Trolley last night. It has one of the best endings I have read and I cried for about 30 minutes one of those books that I wanted to tell the world. Not at what you think it will be and I now have to read it again.

Getting ready to read Why Love Matters - not fiction but looks insightful.

[AmandaPayneAteTooMuchChocolate]

Loving all the Margaret Atwood recommendations. As you can tell if you've read her books, I agree. Particularly The Year of the Flood and the Handmaid's Tale.

Also agree on Rebecca. Wuthering Heights if you haven't read it.

Of the stuff I have read in the last year or so. Bel Canto, or really most by Ann Patchett, although they are all quite different. I enjoyed Night Waking by Sarah Moss and am currently reading, and enjoying, Tell the Wolves I'm home by Carol Rifka Brunt.

[JeanPaget]

Sorrel , I know! I think he's really under appreciated. Another one of his which I really like is The Far Country.

[SorrelForbes]

Oh yes, The Far Country, Rainbow and The Rose, No Highway. In The Wet is a bit odd.

[SorrelForbes]

JeanPaget Have you visited this site?

[JeanPaget]

No! It looks fab! I foresee an unproductive afternoon

[SorrelForbes]

Sorry, what was that? You're reading another NS review?

[JeanPaget]

Sorry I meant that I hadn't seen the site you've linked to, but it looks fab and I've had a v. enjoyable lunch break having a glance through it

[SorrelForbes]

Oops, no I was trying to be funny as in "Sorry? What? You disturbed me as I was engrossed in that site"

[JeanPaget]

[YouDontWinFriendsWithSalad]

Norwegian Wood. Like stepping into someone's fantasy world. One of the most engrossing books I've ever read.

Rated R for sex and death.

[tinypolkadot]

time travellers wife - always moves me

we need to talk about Kevin - nature vs nurture

the red tent - woman's inner strength

a crack in forever - an amazing love story, battling against illness

the book thief - poetic, beautiful and moving, a child's account in Germany www2 narrated by death himself

shantaram - an adventure I never wanted to end, loosely based on real life, a rather thick book but great on kindle

if you like true life survival stories then try Alive - the story of a plane crash and survival in the Andes, shocking but a great read!

[fragglemama]

The Gone series by Michael Grant is brill. They are aimed at older teens but I couldn't put them down, I read all 6 books in just over a week. The beginning of the book sees everyone over the age of 15 disappear and follows the children left behind.

The newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant is good too, set in a post zombie apocalyptic world where blogging is the primary news outlet. It's not gorey even though it has zombies in it.

[ohnonotanotherone]

Flight behaviour and Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - both brilliant

[JackieTheFart]

If you liked Atonement, you'd probably like The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. I love it, and am re-reading right now.

Couldn't get into The Poisonwood Bible.

[NotAnotherPackedLunch]

Another roadside attraction - by Tom Robbins

[Fiddlestickler]

No time to read thread so don't know if these have been suggested, but Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon) and The Book Thief (Markus somebody) are both fantastic.

[aoife24]

Re Shantaram, there's very funny (and to my mind, entirely spot on) one star review on Amazon via this link: www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0349117543/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21.

But everyone to their own.

[MrsRickyMartin]

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.
The red and the Black by Stendhal.
Pere Goriot by Balzac.

[LadyDamerel]

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

[VivaLeBeaver]

Oryx and crake is fantastic.

All the pretty horses by Cormac McCarthy also fab.