What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

[lostinthoughts]

Holidays coming up and I’m fed up of starting books and not finishing them as they just don’t grip me. Give me your best ever books that have had you hooked….

Lessons in Chemistry Bonnie Garmus.

Difficult question, probably books I’d happily reread, so notes from a small island, Bill Bryson, funny, informative, Reaper man Terry Pratchett( most of his books really) and nonfiction, Finest hour, Phil Craig and Tim Clayton

My favourite holiday read of all time is to re read Tom's Midnight Garden. Yes it is strange sitting on a beach reading about ice skating on a frozen river, but I love the book and read it on summer hols every now and then.

I read Wise Children by Angela Carter on holiday. A quirky and fun read. She wrote very well.

Last year I read The Camomile Lawn whilst on hols in Cornwall. Very dated on so many levels that I'd not necessarily recommend.

Non fiction -

Bad Blood by Lorna Sage is a great memoir of post WW2 childhood.

I picked up a copy of A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre. There is a tv series that covers part of its narrative but it includes made up characters and the book is much better. He also wrote Operation Mincemeat.

I wonder if Bill Bryson knows how many mumsnetters rate his books - especially "Notes from a small Island" - so highly!

Persuasion Jane Austen.

It really is perfect, isn’t it! “Half agony, half hope”

I have many favourites, but I’ll say a series of books by Matthew Harffy

The Bernicia Chronicles.

Fabulous books about a young farm boy becoming a great warrior and lord in the 7th century.

Eagerly awaiting book 11!

The Secret History is my favourite book of all time

I have just scanned my bookshelf. I will have definitely missed some of my favourites, but these are all books I would recommend without hesitation...

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver (also loved Poisonwood Bible)
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
Year of Wonder - Geraldine Brookes
11/22/63 - Stephen King
Restless - William Boyd
1984 - George Orwell
The Binding - Bridget Collins
A Town Like Alice - Neville Shute
Burial Rites - Hannah Kent
Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell
The Family Upstairs - Lisa Jewell
The Goldfinch - Donna Tart
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson

I need something for a weekend away and have bought The Goldfinch off the back of this thread, so fingers crossed I like it.

There are some great books mentioned that I haven't read. Thank you.
I have really loved and now consider favourites;
Fifteen Wild Decembers by Karen Powell
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
You are here by David Nicholls
Old Baggage by Lissa Evans
Hamnet
Lessons in Chemistry

I have already commented on this thread but have just finished a book that has shot into my list of favourites!
Precious Bane by Mary Webb. Written in 1924 and set in the early 1800s. Oh my days, the descriptions of the Shropshire countryside and a rural community within it are very, very beautiful. And it is a cracking (if dark) story with an unconventional 'heroine' you just fall in love with.
A bit like Thomas Hardy crossed with Mark Twain.

Seconding Circe and Katherine both great books. I also like Madonna of the Seven Hills by Jean Plaidy. Classics that are a good read - Emma, Cranford and Middlemarch.

Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Prince of Tides - Pat Conroy (WAY better than the film)

A Thousand Splendid Suns is hands down the best book I’ve ever read.

I also absolutely adored The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Pride and Prejudice – the genius and irony of Jane Austen make it my top choice.

Most of these have been mentioned already, but other memorable/unforgettable reads include:

Bill Bryson – Notes from a Small Island
Sebastian Faulks – Birdsong
War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
The Cost of Living – Deborah Levy
England, England – Julian Barnes
The Hare with Amber Eyes – Edmund de Waal
The Ginger Tree – Oswald Wynd

I’ve ordered lessons in chemistry as a result of this thread. Will report back!

Thanks for the people who mentioned Imajica. Read it many moons ago and was prompted to re-read. Fantastic book.

The ones that have stayed with me

As a child

Howl's moving castle (the novel, not graphic) - I loved it and read it over and over

As a teenager - Hitchhiker's Guide books
All the golden age crime novels - Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh PD James

Then

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Wolf Hall
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel (I think its her best)
The Siege and The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore (incredibly distressing but amazing books)
I like most William Boyd novels
For Whom the Bell Tolls
The hand that first held mine and Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

and lots more!

It's difficult because what I thought about a book I read 50 years ago might not be the same now. I very seldom re-read.

Some I might still rate;
The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien
The L Shaped room
The Magus - John Fowles
Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
Katherine by Anya Seaton
All the Leon Uris books

Some I definitely wouldn't enjoy now but adored at the time;
The Far Pavilions
The Thorn Birds

I have actually downloaded Katherine to read again. I first read it when I was about 17.
The Goldfinch was good but needed huge chunks editting out.
Also I think Edna O'Brien recently died? I haven't spotted a mention of her but it's easily 50 years since I read hers and I might re-read them.

Another vote for The Goldfinch.

I've ordered "A Place of Greater Safety" off the back of this thread. I was hoping to squeeze it I before my next book club in two weeks. No chance....It's absolutely bloody gigantic 😂

I've never really fancied Mantel's Tudor books. I'm not sure why. But I've always been keen to give her work a go. So hopefully this one will be the answer!

If favourite books are the ones that you have read multiple times (and will read again) mine would be - in no particular order -

Ferney - James Long
Precious Bane - Mary Webb
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

PS - Have also ordered A Place of Greater Safety, today.
Amazon Kindle edition is 99p for the next 3 hours 48 mins...

The ones that stayed with me are:
Anything by Barbara Kingsolver especially The Poisonwood Bible and anything by Maggie O' Farrell. They are my favourites.