What are the best books you've ever read?

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 45
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For me it has to be:

Dracula - Bram Stoker
Emma - Jane Austen
The Dead Zone - Stephen King
Dead famous - Ben Elton
The earliest of Patricia Cornwell (hated it when she started writing in the present tense).
Latest favourite Gods Inc - Sarah King
Most of the early James Patterson
Currently reading The Lie of you by Jane Lythell and thoroughly enjoying it. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Lie-You-Will-Have-ebook/dp/B00DTWHTPA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1401014213&sr=1-1&keywords=the+lie+of+you
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  • ohglobbitsohglobbits Posts: 4,479
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    The Martha Quest series by Doris Lessing
    DH Lawrence's three novel arc: Sons and Lovers/The Rainbow/Women In Love
    Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
    Daphne Du Maurier - Rebecca
    Joseph Heller - Catch 22
    Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
    Ernest Hemingway - For Whom the Bell Tolls
    Norton Juster - The Phantom Tollbooth
    John Kennedy Toole - Confederacy of Dunces
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 45
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    ohglobbits wrote: »
    The Martha Quest series by Doris Lessing
    DH Lawrence's three novel arc: Sons and Lovers/The Rainbow/Women In Love
    Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
    Daphne Du Maurier - Rebecca
    Joseph Heller - Catch 22
    Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
    Ernest Hemingway - For Whom the Bell Tolls
    Norton Juster - The Phantom Tollbooth
    John Kennedy Toole - Confederacy of Dunces

    Ooh, the Phantom Tollbooth sounds interesting. Will go and look that one up. Thanks
  • ravensboroughravensborough Posts: 5,188
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    Persuasion - Jane Austen (one of the most moving books I've ever read)
    Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell (a book that wonderfully captures life in a provincial town in Victorian times)
    Atonement - Ian McEwan (so well-written and compelling - a twist I didn't see coming)
    Matilda - Roald Dahl (I read this when I was 10 and became a reader for life)
    Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (A book with so many layers - romance, horror, thriller and mystery - it's brilliant!)
  • d0lphind0lphin Posts: 25,327
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    Into the Blue by Robert Goddard
    The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  • TeddybleadsTeddybleads Posts: 6,814
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    Impossible question. It changes almost daily. Off the top of my head.

    Crime and Punishment.
    The count of Monte Cristo
    Down and out in Paris and London
    Portrait of a Lady
    Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides(sp?)

    I know I'm missing loads, A Tale Of Two Cities, an Outcast Of the Islands, the name of the rose, the general in his labyrinth, Germinal, euganie grandet...

    I'll stop now.
  • TeddybleadsTeddybleads Posts: 6,814
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    Withering heights, forgot that.
  • Sue_CSue_C Posts: 1,459
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    I'll have changed my mind by tomorrow, and have probably missed out loads, but here goes,

    Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
    Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
    Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
    Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
    The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
    A Game of Thrones series by George R R Martin
    The Lord of the Rings J R R Tolkein
    The Inheritors by William Golding
  • stud u likestud u like Posts: 42,100
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    "Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier
    "Jamaica Inn" by Daphne Du Maurier
    "Chase The Wind" by E.V Thompson
    "Demelza" by Winston Graham
    "Cold Comfort Farm" by Stella Gibbons
    "Rosemary's Baby" by Ira Levin
    "The L Shaped Room" by Lynne Reid Banks
    "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
    "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
    "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton
    "Larkrise To Candleford- a trilogy" by Flora Thompson
    "Pussy's Bow" by Neal Drinnan
    "Animal Farm" by George Orwell
    "Tropic Of Cancer" by Henry Miller
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 45
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    Withering heights, forgot that.

    Oh yes, me too. I studied Wuthering Heights for A level.
  • TeddybleadsTeddybleads Posts: 6,814
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    Oh yes, me too. I studied Wuthering Heights for A level.

    Lucky you. They wouldn't let me do lit A-level. There was no dyslexia back then, you sat at the back with raffia.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 45
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    Lucky you. They wouldn't let me do lit A-level. There was no dyslexia back then, you sat at the back with raffia.

    I have a son with dyslexia. It's still very hard.:(
  • Sifter22Sifter22 Posts: 12,054
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    Down and Out In Paris and London
    Junky
    In Cold Blood
    The Count Of Monte Cristo
    On The Road
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 45
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    Sifter22 wrote: »
    Down and Out In Paris and London
    Junky
    In Cold Blood
    The Count Of Monte Cristo
    On The Road

    In Cold Blood - that's another of my favourites I missed.
  • GiraffeGirlGiraffeGirl Posts: 13,619
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    Sue_C wrote: »
    I'll have changed my mind by tomorrow, and have probably missed out loads, but here goes,

    Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
    Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
    Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
    Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
    The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
    A Game of Thrones series by George R R Martin
    The Lord of the Rings J R R Tolkein
    The Inheritors by William Golding

    I just finished Neverwhere, it was great.

    I need to think my list through for definitiveness :D
  • pie-eyedpie-eyed Posts: 8,456
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    Ahabs Wife Sena Naslund
    Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
    A handful of dust Evelyn Waugh



    oh and Catcher in the Rye
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 637
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    The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is my favourite book of all time.

    The film version was a joke. Some books just shouldn't be adapted to the screen.
  • ElanorElanor Posts: 13,326
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    ohglobbits wrote: »
    Daphne Du Maurier - Rebecca
    Persuasion - Jane Austen (one of the most moving books I've ever read)
    Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell (a book that wonderfully captures life in a provincial town in Victorian times)
    Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (A book with so many layers - romance, horror, thriller and mystery - it's brilliant!)
    "Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier
    "Cold Comfort Farm" by Stella Gibbons

    Definitely agree about all these! Cold Comfort Farm is a masterpiece (and Flora Poste is my favourite character in fiction ever, I think.) Persuasion is one of the most perfect books ever.

    I'd add:
    The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy. I love how beautiful the language is, the words are just stunningly beautiful, and the plot flashes backwards and forwards, gradually leading to a horrible tragedy that creeps up ominously and painfully.

    The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje.
    Slaughterhouse V - Kurt Vonnegut.
  • The PrumeisterThe Prumeister Posts: 22,398
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    In no particular order:

    A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
    Blindness - Jose Saramago
    Never let me go - Kazuo Ishiguro
    Atomised - Michel Houllebec
    Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey
  • trinity2002trinity2002 Posts: 16,059
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    The Count of Monte Cristo is my favourite book of all time and I'm due a reread very shortly.

    Other favourites are The Book Thief and Karen Marie Monings Fever series.
  • dymafidymafi Posts: 775
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    Barchester Towers - Anthony Trollope
    The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
    David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
    Jude the Obscure - Hardy
    In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
    Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
    Fever Pitch - Nick Hornby
    Stick it Up Your Punter - Chippendale and Horrie
    Gladstone -Roy Roy Jenkins
    Seasons in the Sun - Dominic Sandbrook
    The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
    The 100 yr old Man who Climbed Out of The Window and Dissapeared
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 45
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    Some fab books listed so far. Some I'd forgotten I'd read. Might have to read some of them again. :)
  • My Sweet LifeMy Sweet Life Posts: 1,434
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    Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
    Dracula - Bram Stoker
    Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
    The Color Purple - Alice Walker
    1984 - George Orwell
    Brixton Beach - Roma Tearne
  • fizzycatfizzycat Posts: 6,120
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    Eva Luna - Isabel Allende
    The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood.
    Woman at Point Zero - Nawal El Saadawi
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1
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    I always enjoying reading posts like this and seeing what people choose. Here are some of my favourites -

    The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
    Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
    The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon
    The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
    Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke
    The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair Joel Dicker (a very recent read but it's the best crime novel I've read, a real page-turner)
    [IThe Lord of the Rings][/I] J.R.Tolkein

    There are many more but have tried to put a few ones down here that I haven't seen in other lists so far.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 181
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    My list;

    Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger
    American Tabloid James Ellroy
    The Kool Aid Acid Trip Tom Wolfe
    I'm With The Band Pamela des Barres
    A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
    Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy
    1984 George Orwell
    Absolute Beginners Colin MacInnes
    Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh
    The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark
    100 Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
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