What are your top 5 books? Very difficult Eay!

[Acesare*]

Yikes ... first posting!

 

Hiya and welcome. Normally I'd say Hi Wrath, but we have a Wraith and it would get too confusing

 

Why don't you pop across to thge introduction thread and telkl us a bit about you? I promise we don't bite

[Amanda1]

Ummmm.....top five books (non classics) at the moment are:

1. Haweswater by Sarah Hall

2. The Discovery of Chocolate by James Runcie

3. Distant Music by Lee Langley

4. Music and Silence by Rose Tremain

5. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

 

Distant Music has just been sent to me from Amazon. It's not the sort of book I would usually read si I'm looking forward to it. I'll let you know what I think

[JudyB]

Tough one this - here goes...

 

1. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (I love everything about this - it's poetic, the descriptions are wonderful and the characters brilliant)

 

2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (a moving novel which teaches the reader about Afgan culture but also contains universal emotional truths)

 

3. The Rotter's Club by Jonathan Coe (brilliant characterisation and it captures the social and political climate so well - I think Johnathan Coe is a Dickens of our time)

 

4. Therese Raquin by Emile Zola (shocking and compelling tale)

 

5. Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (love this as it deals with the expansion of the railways and so is a social commentary of that time and also looks at forgiveness)

 

There are loads of novels that haven't made the list.

[muggle not]

Read several Steinbecks many year ago Muggle, especially remember 'The Grapes of Wrath' as being very good. Have this and also 'Of Mice and Men' and 'The Pastures of Heaven'. On my 'to be re-read soon' list.

 

Rosie, have you read any of R.F.Delderfield? Particularly enjoyed 'A Horeseman Riding By' and 'To Serve Them All My Days'.

Poppy, please give The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck a read. It is a relatively short book which I believe you will like. Makes one think a bit and appreciate mankind.

[poppy]

Poppy, please give The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck a read. It is a relatively short book which I believe you will like. Makes one think a bit and appreciate mankind.

 

Thanks for that Muggle, have written it down for my next trip to the library.

[Nici]

Right, I have given this a lot of thought.....these are my most favourite books in the whole wide world! (In no particular order).

 

1. Jean Auel - The valley of the horses

2. Barbara Erskine - Hiding from the light

3. Barbara Erskine - Child of the phoenix

4. Nancy McKenzie - Queen of Camelot

5. Stephen King - Rose Madder

 

[Bunny]

The Crucible ~ Arthur Miller

Animal Farm ~ George Orwell

Lord of the Flies ~ William Golding

El Otro Arbol De Guernica ~ Luis Castresana

Winnie the Pooh ~ AA Milne

 

makes me wonder why I read so much chick lit at the moment where there are so many more mind stimulating books out there

[KW]

Somehow five is easier than ten:

 

Honest Illusions by Nora Roberts

Wages of Sin by Penn Williamson

Mortal Sins by Penn Williamson

Sea Swept by Nora Roberts

Fighting Reuben WOlfe by Markus Zusak

 

 

KW

[KAY]

Thats a good a idea

[rock_faery_666]

In no particular order...

 

The Bitch Goddess Notebook by Martha O'Connor

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Othello by William Shakespeare

An Inspector Calls by JB Priestley

Emma by Jane Austen

[ellie]

The Regeneration Trilogy Pat Barker

The World Is Not Enough Zoe Oldenbourg

Katherine Anna Seaton

Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell

The Woman In White Wilkie Collins

 

I enjoy reading these books over and over.

 

ellie:readingtwo:

[SteffieB]

What an inspiring thread this is! Ok, already, I'll read Wuthering Heights, it's been on the Leaning Tower for a, ahem, very long time now:)

 

After reading everyone else's lists I find it impossible to narrow mine down. Boy, did I love If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things..so thoughtful. It's nice to know there are other Zusaks to search out, too. And what's this Bitch Goddess Notebook -- the title alone is alluring:)

 

I just finished Good Omens on the recommendation of a really good friend...it was so good I immediately turned it over to a kid at the hospital. He's only got 10 pages to go!

 

I'm so glad I found this forum:smile2: Sigh!

[Hazeltree]

This is so hard! There are several groups of books by authors that I really like -

Diana Gabaldon's Cross Stich etc,

Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear etc,

Trudi Canavan's Black Magician Trilogy,

J K Rowling's Harry Potter series (of course!)

Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series

 

Long Term favourites (single books) include:

Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

The Hobbit - J R R Tolkien

Lord of the Rings - J R R Tolkien

Devil Water - Anya Seton

Watership Down - Richard Adams

 

 

Those are off the top of my head and I know I've cheated by putting my favourite series's (if that's a word!) of books but I couldn't pick one out of a series!

[Kylie]

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Catch-22, Joseph Heller

A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess

Dracula, Bram Stoker

[Oblomov]

1. Fatherland by Robert Harris

2. World Fair by E L Doctorow

3. The Night of the Generals by H H Kirst

4. Black Sunday by Thomas Harris

5. The Consort by Anthony Heckstall-Smith

[Echo]

Wow, this is really hard!

 

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

2. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

3. The Stand by Stephen King

4. Vanity Fair by W.M. Thackeray

5. all of the Pendergast novels combined by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (I know that's kind of cheating, but so what?)

[Lone Watie]

I agree. A lot tougher than I thought it would be. I read this yesterday, and have chewed on it ever since.

 

 

1. Daniel Defoe ~ Robinson Crusoe

2. James Fenimore Cooper ~ Last of the Mohicans

3. Larry McMutry ~ Lonesome Dove

4. The Dalai Lama ~ The Art of Happiness

5. Blackwolf Jones ~ Listen to the Drum

[NiceguyEddie]

Thayt's tricky one, and subject to regular change:

 

David Mitchell Cloud Atlas

John Irving Owen Meaney

Harry Thompson This Thing of Darkness

John Updike Rabbit, Run

Ian Rankin Resurrection Men

 

If I answered tomorrow it would be a different five I'm sure.

[Oblomov]

1. Fatherland by Robert Harris

2. World Fair by E L Doctorow

3. The Night of the Generals by H H Kirst

4. Black Sunday by Thomas Harris

5. The Consort by Anthony Heckstall-Smith

 

BTW, the above 5 are my favourite modern books. I have to classify classics separately. They are:

 

1. Nostromo by Joseph Conrad (I am currently re-reading this one)

2. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

4. Orlando by Virginia Woolf

5. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

[Polka Dot Rock]

John Updike Rabbit, Run

 

Ah, I love Updike's Rabbit series! I used Rabbit, Run in an exam. Although I do need to get hold of the last two

Have you read the others? What did you think of Rabbit Redux? I think I may even like it more than ...Run!

 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

 

Great choices IMO, Oblomov!

[Polka Dot Rock]

Think I need to update mine...

 

Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Maus - Art Speigelman

The Crimson Petal and The White - Michel Faber

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

[Oblomov]

I have never liked Wuthering Heights (the wife is crazy about it) for reasons that I cannot fathom myself. The book left a bad taste in my mouth because of the unpleasant lead. I find Heathcliffe's character almost sadomasochist and his relationship with Cathy delibrately perverse. The story looks a bit too much at the negative and unredeemable aspects of humans.

[carm]

here are my choices:

1-I Know this much is true by wally lamb

2-the stand- stephen king

3-what looks like crazy on an ordinary day- pearl cleage

4-the lovely bones- alice sebold

5- kite runner- khalid hosseini

-carm

[NiceguyEddie]

Have you read the others? What did you think of Rabbit Redux? I think I may even like it more than ...Run!

 

Yes, I've read all three + the novella of a couple of years ago.

 

Rabbit Redux is extremely good. Rabbit and his son descend into chaos when his wife leaves. It's a while since I read them all, but as a kind of American history snapshot, it's very interesting as he goes through the decades.

 

I actually on chose Rabbit, Run because I didn't want to choose the Rabbit series as that's 3 1/2 books, but it could have been any of them. Rabbit is Rich is very good also.

[~Andrea~]

I have never liked Wuthering Heights (the wife is crazy about it) for reasons that I cannot fathom myself. The book left a bad taste in my mouth because of the unpleasant lead. I find Heathcliffe's character almost sadomasochist and his relationship with Cathy delibrately perverse. The story looks a bit too much at the negative and unredeemable aspects of humans.

 

I loved Wuthering Heights (I've only read it once, I wonder how it would stand up to a re-read) but I hated Heathcliffe character. I think that's one of the things that impressed me about the book, how much it made me get involved.