A book that has made you think long after you have finished reading it

Delia Owens “Where the Crawdads Sing” ..... brilliant book

Nearly all of you have mentioned novels. But a book which had an important effect on me was Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch. I actually read it while breastfeeding my DS (born 1971) and it made me determined to go on with my profession.
I don't think I turned into a rabid feminist, but I stopped thinking the world - or any man - owed me a living.

I read the Handmaid's Tale, enjoyed it but felt that it could so easily happen. Paul Auster's 4321, a very long book which I started early in lockdown. I found it hard to put down, superbly written changing from one scenario to another until there is only one life option left. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan seems almost autobiographical. Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel - beautifully written, clearly well researched. I am currently reading her A Change of Climate.

VOX by Christina Dalcher. Along the lines of The Handmaids Tale. Very disturbing as you could see how it could happen - particularly in Trumps America.
Ragged Trousered Philanthropist.
A Thousand Splendid Suns.
The Ken Follett Century trilogy.

Two of the books that stayed with me for a long time were both children’s books. Private Peaceful and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, but I can’t remember the names of the authors. The ending of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas fair took my breath away.

Two books which continue to haunt me, many years after first reading, are both by Gordon Honeycombe: Neither the Sea Nor The Sand and Dragon Under The Hill. I can heartily recommend.

Too many to list, but Madame Bovary and especially My Antonia by Willa Cather. Her books hang about me for a while as so atmospheric, a wonderful picture of the plains of Nebraska and the early pioneers.
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton was unforgettable and Colette always leaves me feeling lighthearted and French!

Agree with most of the above plus purple hibiscus, to kill a mockingbird and the women"s room. Good books are manna from heaven!

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing.

Terrific books to lose yourself in, and there are eight of them to date, the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, time travel very well researched, and characters you really come to care about. Five series on film now, hugely enjoyable.

During my childhood it was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. More recently Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey.

I found Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet haunting, but possibly because I met the author at a book festival and it was really the first time I had a proper insight into Asperger's Syndrome, which I now realise has featured greatly in my family, mostly undiagnosed.

I ought to also mention A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay, a book which is memorable not for the writing so much as for sheer weirdness. Probably a bit of a marmite novel but it has stuck with me.

Birdsong
American Dirt
Where The Crawdads Sing
To Kill A Mockingbird
Shuggie Bain
Eleanor Oliphaunt is Completely Fine
War and Peace
The Cellist of Sarajevo

Plus The Grapes of Wrath
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist

Paddy Clark Ha Ha and The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, both Roddy Doyle books.
The Green Mile is another very emotive book.

A book we read at school, incredibly bold for it’s time especially for fourteen year old girls
A Kind of Loving-Stan Barstow had a huge affect on me at the time, still remember it quite vividly.
Oh and much more recently, everything by Elizabeth Strout.

Niochorio

Two of the books that stayed with me for a long time were both children’s books. Private Peaceful and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, but I can’t remember the names of the authors. The ending of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas fair took my breath away.

Boy in the striped pyjamas was excellent. The subsequent film was a let down from the book

Another one for Elizabeth is Missing and on non fiction
Donna Eden, Energy Medecine, opened my eyes.

lemongrove

I think that in recent years Never Let Me Go, it was a harrowing read and I felt quite upset even though it’s fiction, it’s so heart breaking.
Also All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Duerr ( set in WW2) and
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.

If you enjoyed Never Let Me Go then I suggest you read his latest novel Klara and The Sun. Love your other choices - both excellent books.

Also, thinking about book series it has to be the 'My Brilliant Friend' series by Eleanor Ferrante and also the 'Gilead' series by Marilynne Robinson.

halfpint1

Another one for Elizabeth is Missing and on non fiction
Donna Eden, Energy Medecine, opened my eyes.

I read this just as one of my Aunt's was diagnosed with dementia. Lots of things began to make sense.

I love this question and the answers as I’m always on the lookout for good reads. I agree with some of the choices of the others and the comment that I couldn’t pick out only one. Here are some of mine;
The Good Earth-Pearl Buck
The Secret Life of Bees-Sue Monk Kidd
Me Before You-Jo Jo Moyes
Shuggie Bain-Douglas Stuart

The Kite Runner, shocking, poignant and touching. Grapes of Wrath so sad and hopeful as well in parts.
We the Accused by Ernest Raymond, I read this when young and it certainly stays with you. A manhunt with the accused getting his just desserts at the end.

I have quite a lot of favourite books but I know the one that I’ve just read will stay with me. I would recommend Boys Don’t Cry by Fíona Scarlett

The most memorable book I've read this year has been American Dirt, a truly unforgettable story of escaping a Mexican drug cartel by riding on the roof of a train and illegally entering the US.

TerriBull I have just finished reading Star of The Sea by Joseph O Connor. I started reading it, found it a bit dark and depressing and was intending to take it back to the library., unfinished. Then I saw your post on this thread and decided to have another go. I’m so glad I did, a wonderful book.