Tell me your absolute number 1

[mrssunshinexxx]

Favourite book doesn't matter what genre ... 2018 resolution get off my phone and get my head in books again I used to love reading.... thanks in advance

A Room with a View
The Grapes of Wrath
The Book Thief

Lyra - me too, I loved Shadow of the Wind

I’d like to add Love in the Time of Cholera

Little Women...

Can't pick one!

100 Years Of Solitude
Memoirs Of A Geisha
Gone With The Wind
A Suitable Boy
David Copperfield
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Grapes Of Wrath
The Book Thief
Alone In Berlin

If forced, I'd pick A Suitable Boy

*@pallisers * That's wonderful! I went when I was 12 a million years ago Would love to go again some day, loved the red roads!

I have so many books I adore but I think my number one book is Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. I'm planning on giving it ANOTHER re-read this year too.

As a child Rebecca and Little women
then
Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor
recently
The Invention of Wings but my all time favourite is without a doubt Star of the Sea

and thank you @captainjackandjill - just downloaded the LMM book for my holidays . For another lovely/gentle read - have you tried Jan Karons Mitford series ?
Sorry for the derail OP!

@bookbook no I haven't come across that author before . Thank you!! I always love finding new authors.

Enjoy your LMM on your holiday.

Apologies OP!

More votes from me for The Secret History and I Capture The Castle.

I also adore The Crow Road.

Last year I read and loved Celine, by Peter Heller, and I think it might join the ranks of the other three much loved and re-read books I mentioned.

The Adrian Mole books and Stardust and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (not read his others yet).

Oryx and Crake

My all time best read was 'My Sisters Keeper' if anyone can suggest similar reads please let me know

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.

Me before you.

schnubbins, I posted a while back with a list. and my all time favourite is the same as yours Star of the Sea" Joseph O'Connor. I've passed this book on to a few people who have read it and feel the same about it, including one of my sons.

I can't choose just one, but these books have stayed with me:
Ballet Shoes ( and most Noel Streatfield)
Cold Comfort Farm
Rebecca
Jane Eyre
Cranford and North and South
Pride and Prejudice
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Possession
Mists of Avalon
Fingersmith
Recently, I've really enjoyed Sarah Moss's books.

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstein

Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes, it's funny and sad and so incredibly real, plus the Walsh family are hilarious!

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

and The Dark Is Rising Sequence.

I haven't read the thread yet and I'm scared to because I can see my wish list growing....

My contributions are:
An Equal Music - Vikram Seth
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson.

I will also give an honourable mention to The Shell Seekers. It is a book my gran loved, and because of the association with her, so do I. There are echoes of her story in that of the lead character, Penelope, and it also recalls snuggly Sunday afternoons watching the film with her.

Loads of others are in the top ten: Goodnight Mr Tom, Emily of New Moon, The Map of Love (Ahdaf Soueif), Jane Eyre, Rebecca....

The Crow Road
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Life after Life
To Kill a Mockingbird

All previously mentioned but books I go back to again and again. Surprised no one has mentioned the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard, I first heard of them on a MN thread and have now read them all twice. Also love Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie books. And more recently have really loved All the Light We Cannot See.

Burial Rites - Hannah Kent (can't believe I haven't seen it mentioned)
Mudbound, Hilary Jordan
Watership Down, Richard Adams
The Snow Child, Eolwyn Ivy

Head and shoulders above everything else, which would start with A God in Ruins, Kate Atkinson

Jane Eyre

Cat’s Eye
The Miniaturist
Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Love in a Cold Climate