What is your favourite novel, and why?

Glammagran
Your choice of ‘Lessons’ surprised me, I am about half way through, and I’m not particularly enjoying it, but I’ve still got a way to go.

Jane Eyre. I did it for GCE and then again for my degree. Loved it always.

Hard to pick a favourite, but I’ve read and re-read Rebecca so many times - definitely on my shortlist.

“A Lost Lady” Willa Cather, “Ethan Frome” Edith Wharton and all Colette’s novels.

Mervyn Peake's 'Mr Pye.' I simply love the style of writing, eg someone is described as having a facial expression 'like the top of a mushroom'. I love 'Gormenghast' too, by the same author.

As a child "Black Beauty" was a book I read and re-read, and always cried at poor Ginger's fate.

As an adult a favourite has been "The Island" by Victoria Hislop.
We went to Spinalonga on a day trip one summer.
I read the book after I came home and could picture exactly the locations in the book. Very moving.

I really couldn't choose, it would change with each remembered book, but ones that made a big impact on me at various times would be Little Women, A Town Like Alice, The Diary of a Young Girl, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and finally a play that was intended initially to be a book so I'm including it A Taste of Honey.

I am an avid book lover and have read many, many wonderful books but my all-time most favourite book ever (dreadful grammar there!) is The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B by J.P. Donleavy. Fell in love with it when I first read it at 17 and have remained so ever since but can’t begin to explain why!

It's really difficult to have a favourite. But Little Women when I was young was always my go-to book. And later in life it was My Cousin Rachael by Daphne Du Maurier.
I just love so many books these days that it's impossible to say which is a favourite.

Most novels by Graham Greene with Evelyn Waugh a close second.

Wonderful thread. Cant believe I left out much loved writer Thomas Hardy. I loved The Woodlanders but also Jude the Obscure.
Its impossible to pick a favourite.

The Herries Chronicle - Hugh Walpole

The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns really left an impression. I’ve loved both Love is Blind by William Boyd and Lessons by Ian McKewan lately. Currently reading the Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn - jury is out on this one. I read the Women’s Room when I was 22. Enjoyed this at the time but I can’t really remember it too well now.

Agree choosing a single favourite is impossible but ‘The Remains of the Day’ by Kazuo Ishiguro comes close for me. It captures perfectly the character and values of an earlier time. How, given his own background, I have no idea.

I Capture the Castle. It’s exactly what it’s like to be young, and full of joy and fun.
I also love Jane Austen. My favourite is Pride and Prejudice, the level of observation and wit is brilliant, and every time I read it I discover more.

Doodledog
Yes, The Womens Room
Had a huge affect on me when I read it in the seventies, still have my original copy
But as you say, would seem really dated now.

I do change my mind, but the top spot for many years has been The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, not sure why it had such a great affect, just a fabulous book.
I love all John Updike, but the Rabbit books I think are his masterpiece, just never tire of them.
Big Thomas Hardy fan, but particularly like The Woodlanders.
AS Byatt, in particular The Virgin in the Garden

Ask me tomorrow, and it maybe different.

Oh yes Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

As a child Little Women(Thought I was Jo, cos I loved books but never been as brave as her so I now realise Im Beth! 😂)

Anna Karenina
Jane Eyre - a definite and more recently.
Eleanor Oliphant is Absolutely Fine

MayBee70

Hellogirl1

As a child I loved Little Women. As an adult I can`t pick out a favourite, but A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini would be up there on the list.

I was numb at the end of that book. It was wonderful.

It was/is an amazing book, but I couldn't bear to read it again. I found it heartbreaking.

I almost never reread a book so I can’t truly say I have an all-time favourite.

I have read GWTW several times, though and loved A Fortnight in September, too. It’s amazing anyone can a story that is so intricate and absorbing but where nothing really happens!

As a child I read and re-read The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Oh, another re-read, The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurer.

As a child it would have to be Black Beauty because, although sad, kindness and compassion for animals won in the end.
I would also go with Persuasion, though it was my A level set text, and I knew it too well.
Maybe Madame Bovary because I am a romantic at heart like Emma.

Hellogirl1

As a child I loved Little Women. As an adult I can`t pick out a favourite, but A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini would be up there on the list.

I was numb at the end of that book. It was wonderful.

I don't read much fiction and I'm hopeless at modern novels, but I think my all time favourite is Jane Austen's Persuasion. Her portrayal of Anne Elliot's emotional reactions to the reappearance of her former lover and having to endure close proximity when no-one knows their past history is absolutely perfect. Happy ending too.

Am I allowed a children's novel? Rosemary Sutcliffe's The Lantern Bearers. First heard it dramatised Children's Hour and I reread it from time to time. Once again, it's about loss and reconciliation.

There's a bit of a theme here, isn't there?

Apart from that, I like anything that is well written...

As a child I loved Little Women. As an adult I can`t pick out a favourite, but A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini would be up there on the list.