5 ONLY books that MUST be read.

[Hullygully]

Any era, any genre.

No crap.

Go.

[Hullygully]

[NutellaStraightFromTheJar]

His Dark Materials - because Lyra leaving Pantalaimon to go into the world of the dead still makes me sob like no other book ever has.
Lolita - because it is beautifully written.
Jane Eyre - because it was the first 'grown up' book I ever read, and 'Reader I married him' remains incredibly powerful.
Harry Potter - because although jk may not be the best writer in the world, she has created a whole alternate universe which millions have fallen in love with, and that takes some doing.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - because it encourages counting, healthy eating and a knowledge of life cycles.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Urgh. I find these things so hard.

Lord of the Flies - because it is beautiful, and heart breaking, and terrifying but ultimately there is some redemption: it is glorious and astonishing and...and...and.

A Clockwork Orange - because it should help us to remember what we do not wish to become. Should be compulsory reading at GCSE.


Pride and Prejudice - because it shows what a woman with a fairly confined life can see, and think and imagine: I think that Jane Austen is a fine example of how being a voracious reader and clever thinker can (only sometimes) combine to create an amazing writer. She is so quick, and funny and clever. I love her.

Lolita - Because it is horribly compelling, and very funny, and because you will inevitably be wrong in your judgment of it, if you have never read it

The Dark Tower series - because there is Roland. That is all.

[taffleee]

somedizzy will (reluctantly!) read on your recommendation xx

Nutella I totally loved reading 'His Dark Materials' - really brilliantly written, I hate it's classed as 'teen reading' x

[hairymonkey]

Right,
Anne of green gables- because I loved it soo much as a child.

Jane Eyre- because it's just lovely.

Catcher in the rye- for me it sums up completely what it was to be a teenager, and felt timeless while evoking a really strong sense of New York at that time too if that makes sense.

Vernon god little- it's just ace.

A prayer for Owen Meaney- just loved the whole book, a brilliant story.

Got loads I want to add!

[GiraffesAndButterflies]

Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal by Jeannette Winterson. A mature woman's confessional and partner piece to 'Oranges'. This was an unexpected joy of an impulse buy. I want her to be my friend. We'd fall out soon enough. But it would be worth it.

Except for the impulse buy I could have written all this! Oranges very nearly made my cut.

I stand by my six five but with the new rule (kuh!) about reasons being what they bring to us...

LotR because it is pure, fantastic escapism as it has never been done before or since. So if you want a break from life on the way through, here it is.

The Road and Never Let Me Go because they are beautifully written warnings of inhumanity and what the human race could do to itself. Mad scientists who are tinkering with lumps of DNA and trying to breed X-men should read these as cautionary tales.

Room because I have never read a book that so movingly portrays parenthood as this. The mother is an Everymum figure. If I wanted to give a book to someone to explain how having children makes you feel, this would be it.

Jane Eyre was nearly Pride and Prejudice. But I think on balance, Jane is a better picture of what England was once like. Plus she is more powerful than wonderful Lizzie.

And last but most essential, Wodehouse should need no explanation

There we go Hully, six books but five reasons

[BloominNora]

Time Travellers Wife - because it is a truly beautiful love story with a (relatively) original premise (and it is my favourite book ever)

Pride and Prejudice - because it is a classic and is a reflection of today as much as it was then.

His Dark Materials - wonderful, fantasitical, commentary on what it means to have a soul and the dangers of organised religion.

I Am Legend - because of all of the apocalyptic novels out there this is the only one that says, well actually, humanity as we know it is not necessarily the only way, particularly as we are likely to cause our own destruction. It also reads like it was written today despite being written in 1954.

The Wasp Factory - It introduced me to Iain Banks, is original and despite its disturbing story full of the most wonderful black humour and the characters brilliantly brought to life.

I enjoyed all of these, however, if I had to I would swap The Wasp Factory for 1984 which I didn't particularly enjoy reading but is disturbing warning of what a dystopian society would be like and it's imagery is prevalent throughout our popular culture (Room 101, thought police etc)

[joanofarchitrave]

The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard. Tells you all you need to know about consumerism and (by implication) why the world is doomed, while being a terrific entertaining read.

Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt. A quiet, intelligent examination of why we can never assume we would NOT take part in evil. With odd, unexpected shafts of light threaded through it.

Making Sense of the Troubles by David McKittrick and David McVea. Perhaps only for my generation and the ones immediately before? But the sense of understanding it brought me was so precious.

Against Our Will by Susan Brownmuller. This IMO is the one of the 2nd wave feminist classics that will last. How she can write, how she persuades!

The Noonday Demon; an atlas of depression by Andrew Solomon. Mesmerising, enlightening.

Well, what a cheerful bunch. But that's what IMO humans need to do with depressing stuff - face it head on and write the fear out of it.

[Lizzylou]

Ummm,

What Katy Did Susan Coolidge, because I think that was the first ever book that made me really think. Showed me that things can go wrong,

Decline and Fall Evelyn Waugh, could have picked Scoop but that is but more whimsical. Fabulously witty insight into pre war England and the class system, before England changed forever. Laugh out loud funny social satire.

Complicity Ian Banks, so well written, great slice of the 90s, mystery plus comment on society/ politics.

The Plague Albert Camus, so many hidden meanings, very tightly written.

Really unsure about no, 5, unless it is TKAMB or LOTF......

[magimedi]

I am struggling with which Doris Lessing novel I would nominate - I still can't decise, but I know that at least one of her books has to be there.

[magimedi]

*decide - silly fat fingers.

[MaryZygon]

No, retiredgoth.

I was the headmistress

[hairymonkey]

Heart burn Nora ephron. I don't care if it's against the rules. Her writing makes me laugh.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

A handful of Dust would have been my number six, had I been allowed one - because it is both deeply cynical and mean, and joyously funny, and so is the world.

[Beachcomber]

In no particular order.

1984 by Orwell. Because it puts the fear of god into readers as to how humans can be and makes us want to be careful.

Right-Wing Women by Andrea Dworkin. Because it describes female oppression and doesn't pull any punches (and is searing in its clarity and provides lightbulb moment after lightbulb moment).

The Women's Room by Marilyn French. Because it is a classic and much underrated.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Because it makes you think.

Many contenders for number 5 but Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill probably tops the list.

All a bit political, and I like to read pretty well anything and everything as long as not total crap, but the specification was "MUST" be read .

[homeworkmakesmemad]

1. The Bible - Not just because I believe it contains the truth that leads to fullness of life, but also because it has had such a huge effect on our world, our society, our language etc... regardless of whether you believe it to be true.

1. The Shadow of the Wind - It is genuinely gripping - whether you actually like it or not (some people I know have found it too dark) it will not fail to draw you in - genuinely a book to get lost in

1. Animal Farm - Because it raises so many questions about humanity and society whether you read it as a teenager or as an adult

1. Encyclopaedia - Don't really care which one, but I firmly believe in stretching our minds with more knowledge - we always have more to learn

1. Life of Pi - It will grip you and it will leave you questioning how to respond to stories and truth and fantasy and so much more

[taffleee]

Will people stop mentioning the bible!! I've read, so depressing and really unbelievable - and I guessed the ending - (eeek, comebacks!)

[LifeHuh]

War and Peace - epic - history and human relationships both.
To Kill a Mockingbird -
Little Women - because it shows real girls/women trying to be good people.
Thud - my absolute favorite Pratchett book.Funny but manages to be serious about prejudice and difference too.

And being a bit more flippant and relevant to the time of year - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,Barbara Robinson,which my DSis told me about -love it,re-read it most years,funny and touching.

[LifeHuh]

"what does it bring to humankind's lonely dark trudge and solitary wrestling with this thing we call life en route to the yawning grave?"

Love this,by the way! It is a question I shall be sure to ask myself when choosing my next read

[taffleee]

Life yeah, agree 'war and peace' had meaning, but arrrgghhh, what a read!!!!!

Like all the rest tho.

Pratchett books do take a bit of 'getting used' to tho, what Pratchett book would you suggest a newcomer to his style starts with?? It's difficult to know where to begin with him??

[Missmodular]

Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell) - because it's SO ambitious, it spans generations, it uses loads of different narrative voices, it's part science fiction... I could go on, it's extraordinary

Bleak House - again, because it's so ambitious, it attempts to paint the whole of London Victorian society from the most lowly to the aristocracy

1984 (Orwell)- because it's so shocking and yet so plausible

Dubliners (James Joyce)- because it really captures the yearnings of the human soul through the struggles of everyday life

Jane Eyre - it's flawed, but Jane and Rochester are such great characters

Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)- because it questions the very nature of authorship and the relationship between an artistic work and the artist

Oops, that's six

[TheSydenhamSet]

Gone with the wind

Jane eyre

Sense and sensibility

Great expectations

The tenant of wildfell hall

[Bigbadgladioli]

Carter Beats the Devil because it champion's kindness and intelligence and is just a great read.

The Overcoat by Gogol because it's just so tragic, dark and true.

Three Men in a Boat - because it can be read over and over no matter one's mood and there's always something wonderful there.

An Inspector Calls, has stuck with me since school. Everyone must read this book because it shows all of us how our petty little egos and actions can destroy the lives of others.

Anything by PG Wodehouse to counteract angst. I think I'll go with "Very Good, Jeeves"

Excellent idea for a thread, thank you Hully. I'm going to look out my copy of Three Men in a Boat. Kept me going through a really shitty pregnancy.

[PepeLePew]

Have been thinking about this all day, to the detriment of my work...

1984 - still relevant, still horrifying and a salutary warning to us all

A Town Like Alice - it's about war and love and redemption and guts and rebuilding your life, and it's beautiful


Hangover Square - I think this is one of the most overlooked books of all time. It's sensitive, heart wrenching and is awful and gentle and incredible. I love it so much I would never recommend it to anyone IRL. If they didn't like it I would have real doubts about them!

The Stand - it's such a well told story and you have no idea it is as long as it is. It shows what happens when good people stand up to evil.

Anne of Green Gables - I couldn't decide between this, What Katy Did and Little Women but I think Anne edges it by being slightly less goody goody and a slightly more endearing character. But I've read all of them to 9yo dd and have been struck by how much she has taken from them about what it means to grow up, take responsibility, love people and (sometimes) lose them.

[TheSydenhamSet]

Three men in a boat - I proper laughed out loud at some of that! Totally unexpected from such an 'old' novel . Classic humour