What is your favourite novel, and why?

So many great books mentioned, I loved Olive Kitterage, what a woman!
I would also like to mention Sue Gee, every word she writes is perfect, and ‘The Hours of the Night’ would definitely be in my top ten.

Absolute favourite - Pride and prejudice
Favourite childhood book - The story of the treasure seekers by Edith Nesbit
Also really enjoyed:
Never let me go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
If nobody speaks of remarkable things (Jon McGregor)
The librarian (Sally Vickers)
Anything by Sarah Moss
A year of wonders (Geraldine Brooks) novel of the plague

Lovely thread & like others I'm making a list of books to try!

The Night Circus - Erin Morganstern - just magical. But there’s too many to mention, I love all Douglas Kennedy’s novels and Jodi Picoult….I just love books.

For me it has to be Black Beauty. I was mad about horses when I was a child and I read this book so many times the spine and cover fell off it. I must have read it 20 or 30 times easily over the years. I still love it at 68.

“Modern Books”
Miss Bensons Beatle - real feel good book and The Hunger Games Trilogy
And so many from my childhood:-
Heidi, Black Beauty, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe and Alice in Wonderland. I love reading and read lots of thrillers/murder mysteries/biographies and other but never westerns, wars books or Mill & Boon !!

Ooops Beetle as in the insect !!

I was so allergic to reading after my degree that I literally found it soothing to look at a Tupperware catalogue. However, I've since discovered a love of character driven series. 'The Expanse' novels by S.A. Corey are 9 novels following the crew of a captured martian spaceship. Most of them are now on video on Amazon Prime. There is a lot of empire building, morality, ethical choices, biology, science and engineering. Mainly a good mix of characters in the core crew.

Brilliant thread and I’ll be pinching some of the books and it also reminded me of all the wonderful childhood books I’d read

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist by Robert Tressel. It taught me so much about the plight of the working class.
A Moment In Time by H E Bates. Beautifully crafted characters. I cared about every single one of them.

PerkyPiggy

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist by Robert Tressel. It taught me so much about the plight of the working class.
A Moment In Time by H E Bates. Beautifully crafted characters. I cared about every single one of them.

Thanks PerkyPiggy I'd forgotten TRTP. A brilliant book. My GD always said it was the book that won Labour the post-war election.

This is lovely, I’m being reminded of so many great books I’ve enjoyed, and like others, I’m making a list.

Very difficult to choose. I, too, loved A Fortnight in September and I discovered Mr. Finchley Discovers His England. Charming story. I really enjoy feel-good books and The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce is lovely. As a child I loved Heidi by Johanna Spyri, What Katy Did and She Shall Have Music by Kitty Barne. As I grew older, Noel Streatfeild was my favourite author but I think my favourite ever children’s book is Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce. I discovered The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer a few years ago and it has stayed with me ever since.

D.H.Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover. I read this for the first time when I was about 17. In later life I enjoyed it again and saw that it was about innocence, passion, personal freedom and that love has no class and can win in the end. In DH I discovered someone who saw the world in ways that I related to.
I love the Ken Russell 4 part production of it with Joelly Richardson and Sean Bean but don't like any of the other attempts at it.
Good to hear what others like and some I haven't heard of so I will explore.

Cossy

“Modern Books”
Miss Bensons Beatle - real feel good book and The Hunger Games Trilogy
And so many from my childhood:-
Heidi, Black Beauty, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe and Alice in Wonderland. I love reading and read lots of thrillers/murder mysteries/biographies and other but never westerns, wars books or Mill & Boon !!

Yes!
Miss Benson’s Beetle. Loved it.

It would have to be Pride and Prejudice. Sparkling, witty, playful, great observation of her society and a happy ending.

As a child I loved Noel Streatfeild, C S Lewis, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Geoffrey Trease and so many others.

grandmac

MadeInYorkshire Have you tried a Kindle? They are very light weight and easy to hold in one hand.

Favourite books I could read again
The Long Walk, Slavomir Rawicz (read when I was about 12 and never forgotten)
The Thorn Birds, Collen McCullough
The Far Pavillions, M M Kaye ( and her autobiographies)
Diary of an Ordinary Woman, Margaret Forster
The Light between Oceans, M L Stedman
All the Nella Last series of diaries
The Source, James Michener
The Pillars of the Earth series, Ken Follett
The Kite Runner and 1000 Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
All the books about different cities by Edward Rutherford
Most of Leon Uris books
And Lots more!

yes *grandmac, actually thinking back, that was the first thing I tried!

Sara1954

This is so interesting.
I just have to add Doris Lessing, Margaret Forster, Margaret Drabble and Anita Brookner, all favourites of mine.

YY to Lessing, Forster and Drabble. Also A S Byatt.

There are so many, loved Me Before You Jojo Moyes then read the follow up.
If I find a book I love will read others by the same author, Roddy Doyle, Jojo Moyes, Lisa Jewell, Adele Parks,T.M.Logan,Mark Haddon. Several more but can't remember them all.

Withering heights was my favourite as a child and the Enid Blyton adventures. Nowadays I read east going books, such as by LJRoss and Anne Cleaves. I need escapism

Somewhere near the top of my list would be Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. Also loved A Gentleman in Moscow; Ken Follett's World Without End; Bad Blood by Lorna Sage and Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian. As a child it was Tom's Midnight Garden and The Secret Garden. I was a terribly lonely and unhappy little girl and I really believe reading saved me. I would disappear into a novel for hours and escape real life.

Loads of interesting choices suggested here! Looking forward to trying a few,

I would read again:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime by Mark Haddon;
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, well any of his books;
Georgette Heyer’s regency romances;
Rebecca and almost all of Daphne du Maurier’s books.

Does anyone remember the Whiteoaks series by Mazo de la Roche?

Also Bill Bryson - love his books.

The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa. Very moving. Would so recommend it. As a child it just must be Anne of Green Gables - read it about 10 times - as a child.

My most favourite is Where the crawdads sing. A brilliant story.
I also liked Eleanor Oliphant.
Also all of Peter James' Roy Grace series.

The ones I'd need on a desert island: all twelve volumes of Anthony Powell's 'A Dance to the Music of Time', Paul Scott's 'Raj Quartet' and all of Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld'.