What is your favourite novel, and why?

i dont know if they are my favourite but I have just finished The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch and they are right up there.

Another fan of George Eliot here. Middlemarch is my favourite novel. Her characters are have a real depth to them; most are flawed to a greater or lesser degree. The complex picture of life in and around a small town is so cleverly and elegantly done. And - hurrah - her heroine finds both love and fulfilment for her intellectual aspirations.

Many years ago I read Skallergrig by William Horwood. It sent shivers down my spine and did the same as I remembered it to write it here. It was a very moving novel about 2 people with Cerebal Palsy and their connection. It's magic and I am now going to read it again. Thanks for making me think about this Doodledog.

Ian McKewan is a go to author and Kate Atkinson is brilliant, particularly Life after Life and Scenes from a museum but the book I'll never forget is Sebastian Faulkes' Birdsong. The writing is beautiful and the love story moved me to tears.
As a child my favourites were Heidi and The Secret Garden.

When I was 18 I read every book I could find and I came across John Gordon Davis’s book The Year of the Hungry Tiger. I’m not sure how I managed to get through the first heavy chapter outlying the history of Hong Kong but I persevered and discovered a love story. After a period of sentimental romantic stories, Barbara Cartlands, Georgette Heyer etc it was incredible to read a love story from a man’s perspective. A love between a British policeman and a Communist schoolteacher. I still think it’s amazing. Recently I read American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins which moved me.

Omg Doodledog …….. you’ve given me such a blast from the past ! I read “The Women’s Room” many, many years ago and it gave me the strength to leave my husband. It made me see I was not his property, I didn’t have to do as I was told and I was a person in my own right ! As you say it’s probably quite dated now, but I think I’ll try and down load it, just because it was so pivotal to me.
Ive read too many good books to mention, but I really enjoyed “ Where the Crawdads sing”.

I have read lots of wonderful books, having been a bookworm since childhood! I love ‘The Catcher in the Rye’(JD Salinger), Thomas Mann’s ‘The Holy Sinner’ and ‘Death in Venice’, Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath (SO much better than the film!), and many other treasures! My overall favourite has to be Emily Brontes’s ‘’Wuthering Heights’ though. I was given it as a Christmas present by my cousin when I was ten and have been enthralled by it ever since. It is so much more than ‘just’ a love story. I re read it most years and at nearly 67 I can recite portions of it by heart. I don’t know what the fascination is, I just know that of all the fiction I have read it is the one that is the most enduring. And no screen adaptation comes close to its power for me. Now non fiction, that’s a whole other ball game!

For me it’s Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The first page always drags me in - even though I nearly know it off by heart.
When I was younger ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was a favourite.
However nowadays I tend to read more nonfiction.

Little Women and To Kill a Mockingbird are probably my all time favourites,carried on from childhood. Both touched me greatly. The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Both give an emotional insight into life in Afghanistan.

As a teenager Catcher In The Rye and also Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain Fournier as I reckon it helped me secure my place at uni .

Anna Karenin simply for the shock.of the ending, I wasn't expecting that 😱, and The Warden by Anthony Trollope, for the portrayal of the eponymous warden, Mr Harding, playing his invisible cello when he was upset, and for his affection towards his charges. When his daughter Eleanor slapped the 'odious Mr Slope' well that just sealed the deal and I had to go on.and read all if the Barchester Chronicles.

The Thorn Birds. No reason just unforgettable.

Jane Eyre, which we read at school when I was 13. I still have my 30p Penguin copy but it’s been read so often that a few years ago I bought a new copy - not for 30p though!

Doodledog
I re read Wuthering Heights a few years ago, and it almost seemed to be a different book than I remembered, so much more to it, I think Kate Bush may have warped my memories.
They were both quite unpleasant characters, Kathy in particular was horrible.
But I still really enjoyed it, and may read it again at some point.

Severnsider

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
and
Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thomson

both very peaceful reading.

... I second that!

Casdon

M0nica

When I was leaving school, having take' A level English, my very good English teacher asked me my favourite author and favourite novel. I replied Jane Austen' and 'Pride and Prejudice'.

Her reply was that when I was more mature I would prefer 'Persuasion'.

She was right, I do now prefer 'Persuasion' and reading on this thread, the number of people who also say that Persuasion' is their favourite Jan Austen, I realise how very riht she was.

You may want to rethink your wording rather than offend the others who prefer P&P Monica. I suspect we are equally mature, and have our reasons.

Oh, gosh, Casdon. I love P & P, too. I just love Persuasion more.

I'm a huge Georgette Heyer fan, too. Nobody's mentioned her. I think her style is impeccable in her earlier novels and admire the way she's created a totally convincing version of the early 19thC which probably didn't exist (I've read lots of contemporary letters and memoirs...)

Rosalyn69

Probably Wuthering Heights.

I loved WH as a teenager, and remembered it as being very sexy and romantic. I re-read it as an adult, and it really wasn't. There was no sex, and absolutely no romance. Heathcliffe and Cathy's relationship was what would now be called toxic .

A book of poems that tells the story of a relationship from start to end is Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy. I love that so much, and read it often.

Glammagran
Just a quick update on ‘Lessons’
I am getting drawn in, and am now enjoying it.

Sorry, no offence meant. I had only seen the posts from those preferring Persuasion.

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
and
Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thomson

both very peaceful reading.

I’m not offended!

M0nica

When I was leaving school, having take' A level English, my very good English teacher asked me my favourite author and favourite novel. I replied Jane Austen' and 'Pride and Prejudice'.

Her reply was that when I was more mature I would prefer 'Persuasion'.

She was right, I do now prefer 'Persuasion' and reading on this thread, the number of people who also say that Persuasion' is their favourite Jan Austen, I realise how very riht she was.

You may want to rethink your wording rather than offend the others who prefer P&P Monica. I suspect we are equally mature, and have our reasons.

When I was leaving school, having take' A level English, my very good English teacher asked me my favourite author and favourite novel. I replied Jane Austen' and 'Pride and Prejudice'.

Her reply was that when I was more mature I would prefer 'Persuasion'.

She was right, I do now prefer 'Persuasion' and reading on this thread, the number of people who also say that Persuasion' is their favourite Jan Austen, I realise how very riht she was.

Another vote for 'Gone with the Wind' here.

Difficult to choose but I tend to go back to Jane Austen and, in particular, Persuasion. All of her novels have a rich variety of characters, but for some reason which I can't quite explain I love this one the best.