Win £700 worth of the best books of 2015!

My favourite book is The Throwaway Children. It is sad, interesting and it will take you on a journey with them.

It's hard to pick as I like find new stories. The most recent book which I couldn't put down was The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. about the repercussions on relationships after a man slaps a naughty child at a BBQ. The characters he created are complex, diverse but you can't help but feel you know them.

Books I keep rereading: Lord of the Rings, Jungle Books, Pride & Prejudice...but my all time fave must be Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr

Ripley's Believe It or Not! 2016. I love Strange but true facts as books are there to give a meaning, a pleasure and are a treasure.

Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
Told by a young girl growing up in northeast Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire it's semi autobiographical and so, so evocative of childhood in the late 1930's and early 1940's.
The story evolves as a close-knit, rural community gradually changes as communications improve alongside the mechanisation of agriculture and urban growth.
It's an absorbing insight into a long-lost way of life that never ceases to reveal a far less hurried and frantic world, where community and family were valued and prioritised above possessions and money.

It's my literary version of Valium, uplifting and soothing and has been my 'turn to' book for more than half a century.......scary thought but reassuringly still there.

Cider with Rosie - it paints a vivid picture of gentler but not necessarily better times. I particlarly like the depiction of the Grannies. It is one of the few books which I read over and over again.

I usually love crime novels but I came across Lori Lansens' book The Girls and I loved it. It's the story of conjoined twins, unwanted by their mother and brought up by their midwife and her husband in a totally loving and accepting home. The girls have very different personalities and each has a particularly distinctive voice throughout the book as they tell of their lives, troubles and pleasures in a small rural community. It's so well written I challenge anyone to read this glorious book and remain unmoved, it's simply wonderful.

I first read Swallows & Amazons by Arthur Ransome when I was about 10. I lived in a city and it started me on the whole series of books he wrote about the 2 families of children where I was transported into their world of adventure far away from the crowds. I can still remember picking it out of the junior school 'library'. This was a small bookcase in the corridor and the book was a brown hardback with no cover. But the title just caught my imagination and I'm so pleased it did.

So many years, so many books!!! A favourite is The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins, fast paced and very readable.

I like the novels my Daphne du Maurier - maybe Frenchmans Creek is my favourite - tales of suspense and intrigue set in a beautiful part of the world

I love "Goodnight Mr Tom" because of the memories it has for me. I must have read it at least six times to year 6 classes (11 year olds) as a backdrop to topic work on Briain since the 1930s. I always cried when I read the ending. I wouldn't want to spoil the story for any one but on one occasion I came to one part when news comes to Will, the evacuee, about his mother. On hearing this the class burst in to spontaneous applause. It was very special to think the class was that involved with the story. Looking down the lcomments from others it's interesting to see some of my other favourites mentioned reminding me of other books I have enjoyed.

Pride and Prejudice if I had to pick one book. I love this book have read it so many times I know it word for word.

A Street Cat Named Bob. An uplifting true story of a cat who adopts a man when he is on his downers. It is an unlikely friendship of an adorable feline who helps him heal his life.

Us by David Nichols. If you're read One Day you are in for a treat when you pick up Us! It's written with such sensitivity you cannot fail to become totally engrossed and as one with the characters . It is full of pathos that draws you in and forces you to carry on reading, a book that you are certain to find difficult to put down! It's wonderfully written and so engaging, much better than One Day.

My favourite book of all time has to be Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It tells the story of a nurse at the end of the Second World War who visits Scotland with her husband and accidentally falls through a time fault into the Scotland of the 1750's. The adventures and love she finds there is described so graphically by the author who is a historian that you can easily imagine you are there. The twists and turns in the story keep you interested in the plot all the way to the end and Claire's life in both centuries quite believable!
Why is it my favourite book? Because it is the first of 8 ( but she is writing the ninth) epic tomes which I have read time and again and allows me to lose myself in a different world of someone else's exciting and knowledgeable imagination.
The factual content is correct and has even enabled me to answer questions on university challenge with my newfound historical knowledge!

The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brien.

I return to this book repeatedly, in spite of it being set in a nunnery - and me an agnostic! It encapsulates the whole of human emotion.

(This is the version after I read that we can only use 140 characters!)

My favourite book, since 1961, has been and still is "Pride and Prejudice".

Think how many holidays I will need to book to be able to read all these books!

My favourite book, since 1961, has been and remains " pride and Prejudice".

The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brien.

I come back to this book again and again, in spite of it being set in a nunnery - and me an agnostic!

Its strength lies in the fact that it encapsulates the whole gamut of human relationships in this sheltered space and small community. And it is beautifully written.

This book is a small marvel - if you have never read it, do give it a go.

My favorite book at the moment is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It was a wonderful read with excellent characters and a brilliant plot. I just didn't want it to end. We chose it as a book group book and it won hands down when we voted for our favorite book at the end of the year.

My favourite childhood book is The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The family's struggle to survive an apocalyptic winter is heartwarming and a lesson in adversity.

I also love Susan Hill's book, Howards's End is on the Landing. It's part memoir, part thoughts on the variety of books that populate her life. It inspired me to buy no new books for myself in 2015, and to just read what is already on my shelf.

My favorite book has to be The Wind in the Willows, Ratty Mole Badger, just love it, have read it soo many times xx

My favourite book is Lucia Lucia by Adriana Trigiani