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Our very own top 10 novels

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TerriBull Sat 16-May-26 11:02:42

Apropos of Whitewave's thread "Top 10 novels of all time" and not wishing to derail that one, it focuses the mind on possibly what are our own personal top 10 novels. I have had to put on my thinking cap, because books come and go and there will be those that I've read a long while ago that I thought were wonderful and possibly there would be a few childhood ones, that I'm not going to include. These are probably a reflection of my last 20 or so years of reading and I'll massively kick myself, if later on, I realise I've omitted a firm favourite but here goes: Possibly in no particular order but definitely blown away by these

Star of the Sea Joseph O'Connor
Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides
The Quincunx Charles Palliser
Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne
The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood
Any Human Heart William Boyd
Life After Life Kate Atkinson
The Crimson Petal and the White Michel Faber

These two narrowly missed my 10 The Goldfinch - Donna Tart, some say it rambled and needed editing. I did love it though. 1,000 Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini (too heartbreaking)

.....so what would yours be ????

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Calendargirl Sat 16-May-26 11:19:14

I can’t think of 10, but two of my favourite books that I have read time and again are….

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

Nice Work by David Lodge.

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TerriBull Sat 16-May-26 11:30:34

I nearly included Gone with the Wind I know I loved it, I read it Mid teens ....a long time ago. Also loved The Thorne Birds a decade or so later.

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Esmay Sat 16-May-26 11:30:48

Terribull -
A brilliant list .
You are very well read .
I've loved some of these books ,but have yet to read Kingsolver and Tartt .
I've got two of them lined up ready for my next read .
In the past I've read a lot of French and Russian classics and thoroughly enjoyed all of them.
These days I read more Art and Histiry books .

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Graphite Sat 16-May-26 11:35:46

I think we must have the same sagging bookshelves, TB.

Contemporary novels. All of those. I would find it very hard to condense to a top ten but ,off the top of my head, memorable books include:

Kate Atkinson’s a God In Ruins, the companion novel to Life after Life
Carols Shields’ Stone Diaries
Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet
Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life
Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries
E Annie Proulx’s Barkskins
Anthony Doerr's All The Light We Cannot See
Marilynne Robinson's Gilead

plus anything by Margaret Atwood but a special mention for The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy.

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Esmay Sat 16-May-26 11:43:57

Three cheers for any book written by Margaret Atwood ,Edith Wharton and for Carson McCullers .

Graphite -
Thank you for your list -these are new for me .

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