I love all these lists! Here are my current (read in the past two years) top ten (not ordered):


Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
The Girls by Lori Lansens
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Book of Negroes aka Someone Knows My Name (outside of Canada) by Lawrence Hill
Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda
Straight Man A Novel by Richard Russo
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Ha-Ha A Novel by Dave King

Right now mine would be:

1. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
2. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
3. The Double Bind - Chris Bohjalain
4. Belong to Me - Marissa De Los Santos
5. The Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain
6. Darkfever - Karen Marie Moning
7. Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder
8. Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery
9. The Outsiders - S.E.Hinton
10. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer

These are in no particular order, and subject to change at any time, LOL.

1.To Kill A Mockingbird -Harper Lee
2.Gone With The Wind-Margret Mitchell
3.The Count Of Monte Christo- Alexander Dumas
4.The Three Musketeers-Alexander Dumas
5.Thornbirds-Colleen McCullough
6.The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter-Carson Mc Cullers
7.Beach Music-Pat Conroy
8.Siddartha-Hermann Hess
9.Tale Of Two Cities-Charles Dickens
10.The Lord Of The Rings trilogy

1 The Little Prince (Katherine Wood translation or original) - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

2 The Windblown World - Jack Kerouac

3 White Fang - Jack London

4 Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell

5 On the Road - Jack Kerouac

6 The River Between - Ngugi wa Thiong'o

7 Naked Lunch - William S Burroughsr

8 Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

9 Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

10 The Lost Estate - Henri Alain-Fournier


probably will change tomorrow, and the day after. killthepopular, i really like your list

I think Rowling did for children with "Harry Potter" what Tolstoy did for adults with "War and Peace", and I just loooooove all the "Harry Potter" books. There are so many layers and depth to "Harry", I can almost read it just for little insides on life hidden at every turn of the pen - this is what makes any book a timeless classic.

Svetlana wrote: "Journey into the Whirlwind

War and Peace

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone[bookco..."

Never thought i'd see Rowling and tolstoy sitting side by side.

In no order:
1. Mockingbird

2.

3.

4.

5. Down and out in Paris and London By George Orwell

6.

7.

8. War and Peace

9. Catch-22 by joseph heller

10. All Quiet on the Western Front

Journey into the Whirlwind

War and Peace

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

coming back to add 7 more later, got to run....

adding moreMoskovskaia saga. Trilogiia

Also, I can not seem to find a link to Agatha Chrisie's Autobiography - a great read.
coming back to add more later.

As of today I think they would be these:

1. House of Leaves-Mark Z. Danielewski
2. Shadows in the Asylum The Case Files of Dr. Charles Marsh-D.A. Stern
3. Water for Elephants-Sara Gruen
4. Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen
5. Wuthering Heights-Emily Brontë

I really think that's all at the moment.

Here goes, and in no particular order, except for Matilda.
1. Matilda
2. The Hobbit
3. the entire Harry Potter series
4. To the Lighthouse
5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
6. Everything Is Illuminated
7. Cold Mountain
8. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
9. The Hours
10. A Room With A View

1. Dogzilla
2. Still Life with Woodpecker
3. Harry Potter Series
4. The Phantom Tollbooth
5. Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World
6. East of Eden
7. The Things They Carried
8. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
9. The History of Love A Novel
10. The Sandman Series

Mostly in random order, though Dogzilla is definitely number one.

Brenda wrote: "1. Mrs. Mike
2. A Prayer for Owen Meaney
3. Fifth Business
4. Ahab's Wife or The Star Gazer
5. Running with Scissors
6. The Glass Castle
7. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
8. The Little Pri..."

ahh, Brenda, The Glass Castle. That should be on my list. Don't know how I forgot that one!

Yeah for adding Blindness.. you wont be sorry Suzanne!!

1. Mrs. Mike
2. A Prayer for Owen Meaney
3. Fifth Business
4. Ahab's Wife or The Star Gazer
5. Running with Scissors
6. The Glass Castle
7. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
8. The Little Prince
9. I Know this Much is True
10. Anne of Green Gables

as of this very moment, in no particular order:

1. The Hours
2. The Birth of Venus
3. The Art of Racing in the Rain
4. Anna Karenina
5. Atonement
6. The Color Purple
7. Snow Flower and The Secret Fan
8. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
9. The Great Gatsby
10. Beloved

Lori wrote: "Oh boy!
Maine writes biblical fiction. You dont have to like the bible or christianity to like his works tho :) I would recommend starting with Fallen. It is a story about Cain and Able told in re..."

Ok Lori, a year later having just seen your "must must must" I have just added Blindness to my To Reads.

Not in order, and how on earth to pick just 10?!:

1. The Book Thief
2. To Kill a Mockingbird
3. Ex Libris Confessions of a Common Reader
4. A Wrinkle in Time
5. Into the Forest
6. Bird by Bird Some Instructions on Writing and Life
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
8. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
10. Life As We Knew It

Ack! It'a killing me to stop. It should be the top 100, at least.

Richard wrote: "Here's my list of favourites from Amazon..."

Hi Richard... Can't agree with you on Disgrace, which bored me to tears, but I'll accept the others ; )

1) Jane Eyre
1) To Kill A Mockingbird

(tied for first place)

In no particular order:
2) Time and Again
3) Inferno
4) The Uncommon Reader A Novella
5) The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4
6) The Queen and I
7) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
8) The Enchanted April
9) The Secret Garden
10) Folly

10) Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (It took me a while but I actually managed to get through it!)
9) The Twits - Roald Dahl
8) The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket
7) 1st to Die - James Patterson
6) Looking For Alibrandi - Melina Marchetta(I read it for school and I'd like to read it again, just to see what it is like reading it for my own reasions)
5) Six Sacred Stones - Matthew Reilly
4) Seven Ancient Wonders Matthew Reilly
3) Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
2) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
And in equal first place, drum roll please...
1) Plum Spooky - Janet Evanovich
&
1) Matilda - Roald Dahl

Ok...I'm nineteen, alot of my books that I LOVE are from my childhood...

Kristie, you mentioned a few of my favorites, but I had room for only 10. I was so intimidated by the size of I Know This Much is True that I put off reading it for nearly a year after I bought it. What a mistake! This intense story was beautifully written, filled with memorable characters, and so hard to put down. I read it in only a few days.

The Handmaid's Tale and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime were also on my list of favorites that didn't quite make my top 10.

Randomly....

1. The Thorn Birds----McCollough
2. My Sister's Keeper------Piccoult
3. Kite Runner-----Hosseni
4. Choke------Palahniuk
5. The Mists of Avalon---Bradley
6. I Know this Much is True-----Lamb
7. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime----Haddon
8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-Rowling
9. The Handmaid's Tale- Atwood
10. The Woods---- Coben

Okay, out of the last two lists I haven't read any of these or even heard about them, shame on me!! These lists posts could be seriously HUGE trouble, to my bookshelf and my pocket!!

Really though they're fantastic, it's great to be able to go through and pick books from everyone's lists and they're so diverse, I can't wait to do some investigating.

Today's top 10 in no particular order:

1. Trash Sex Magic - Jennifer Stevenson
2. Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler
3. Perdido Street Station - China Mieville
4. The Jungle - Upton Sinclair
5. All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
6. The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. LeGuin
7. The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers
8. Shaman - Noah Gordon
9. The Roman - Mika Waltari
10. Time and Again - Jack Finney

They aren't in any real order:

1) City of Masks by Mary Hoffman
2) City of Flowers by Mary Hoffman
3) Beastly by Alex Flinn
4) Both Sides of Time by Caroline B. Cooney
5) Damia by Anne McCaffrey
6) The Healer's Keep by Victoria Hanley
7) The Seer and the Sword by Victoria Hanley
8) For All Time by Carline B. Cooney
9) The Princess Decoy by Dawn Cook
10) Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

*LOL*

I try not to :)
Its a dream of mine to have everyone love the books I hold near and dear, you know! When someone doesnt like them, I'm like "What?! Are you sure you read the right book? Let me see the cover. There is NO WAY you couldnt like that!" haa haa

A very interesting concept.I definitely will check it out,after all you haven't steered me wrong yet. :)

Sherry, David Maine is a very creative writer. He takes things from the bible, and expands on them and makes these people seem more human, puts an actual heart and soul into them. I could have cared less about Cain and Able when I took my CCD classes (that was pure torture) but Maine brought them to life. I am not biggest religous person you know....

Fallen caught me from page one becuase its backwards, so you dont know the events that led to the point you start at. You keep reading to find out what happened. Its really quite an interesting way to tell a story.

Sounds interesting...Ordering now...can always add to the stack...although I will read Blindness when it comes in, since I know I will want to see the movie...I have to admit to being a sucker for anything that started out as a book, even though they are normally extremely disappointing...

I would second that Michelle.Blindness is an amazing book.

Lori,Fallen sounds really interesting.I may have to check it out.

Oh boy!
Maine writes biblical fiction. You dont have to like the bible or christianity to like his works tho :) I would recommend starting with Fallen. It is a story about Cain and Able told in reverse. The novel begins with Cain as an old man who is dying and each chapter takes you farther back into his past. It was very captivating.
Saramago.... you MUST start with Blindess! The movie is coming out shortly and looks to be amazing. I know alot of people will agree with me here. You must must must read this novel!

Absolutely...

I don't know if it is loyalty persay or if it is just optimism...like if they were capable of writing whatever it was that captivated me, they must be capable of doing it again...and normally it is a pretty disappointing experience...I also chalk it up to a somewhat addictive personality...I tend to do it with everything...books, movies, music...and rarely does it pay off...

I have to plead ignorance about Maine and Saramago...what would you recommend to start off my next addiction?

Michelle, I wish I had your loyality to authors. I have only done that with a few, and its more due to the fact that I havent found one that I didnt like by them yet, rather than the need to continue.

I love David Maine, and will always read anything that man publishes. No matter what its about!

I also love Jose Saramago. I have read 5 of his novels so far, and am still going :)

perhaps this would be a good topic to start a fresh thread on?!!

I liked the Da Vinci Code as well...which of course meant I read everything by Dan Brown...much to my eternal chagrin, because he is as formulaic as Danielle Steele when it comes to thrillers...

Another Da Vinci Code lover. Whoot!Whoot!

Right at this moment, my 10 favorite books are:

1) The Diary of Anne Frank
2) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
3) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
4) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
5) Perfect Match
6) The Great Gatsby
7) The DaVinci Code
8) Plain Truth
9) Angela'a Ashes
10)Mercy

uhm... word play, eh? interesting.... very interesting....

"lump you with my volume"?

lmao... yeah you might wanna re-phrase that!

Eureka! My fiendish plot has worked! I have you...

Oops, I think I've blown it....

Hi Kirsty - Fortunately, my US distributor has run out of stock, so I won't be able to foist my tome on you (that sounds pretty revolting actually).

Richard, the difference is, unlike SOME other authors (the ones in the spammer's circle in hell!) you actually participate in the group... therefore people are more likely to actually want to check out your book!

Here's my list of favourites from Amazon, plus bullet reviews. My own book is on there, too, but you'll find I managed to review it with tongue firmly in cheek.

Books To Be Buried or Burnt With Me

PS: Like most authors, I have a glaring ulterior motive for joining any group, but I promise not to tell you what it is.

This is really difficult! But as for now my 10 favorites are:

The Book Thief - Zusak
Lord of the Rings trilogy - Tolkien
The Stand - King
Watership Down - Adams
Ender's Game - Card
Lamb - Moore
Plainsong - Haruf
Secret Life of Bees - Kidd
To Kill a Mockingbird - Lee
The Princess Bride - Goldman

Jeremy,that's how I feel about The Stand.I read when I was younger and had already read about 3 or 4 books of his.The Stand was so different from what I had been used to and I really appreciated the layers of the story.

I enjoyed Lisey's Story as well,I loved the idea of the pool.

I am back to working on the Dark Tower series,I'm at book 2 and I'm enjoying it.

I finished Enders Game and I would say it is a good novel for your son.It was interesting and the part of the plot that I found difficult to believe resolved itself in a satisfying way.

Sherry - Yeah, I loved the Stand. I liked other King books but felt that this was his most complete and serious novel. I read it in my late teens and hope to reread it again someday. I had almost given up on him lately but Lisey's Story was a really good comeback for him in my opinion. And of course, I need to read the Dark Tower Series which means reading the Gunslinger all over because it was long enough ago that I forgot a lot of it.

I'm interested in the Enders Game conversation as I just bought the series for my 12 year old upon recommendation. I plan on reading it, too.

Lori - I have had War and Peace and Crime and Punishment on my bookshelf for several years. I know they are great books, I just haven't brought myself to read them yet. Tin Drum is another in that category. Is there a perceived best to be read list??

I really enjoyed reading it Katie, it kept me on the edge of my seat and I actually didn't work out who the killer was till near the end, which to me is a sign of a well written thriller. I loved the reference to Dante and I am planning on reading Dante's Paradiso and Inferno at some point.

Hayley -- I just got The Dante Club yesterday...it sounds sooooooo good. Did you LOVE it?? Was it an edge-of-your-seat thriller or did you kind of figure it out before the end? Oooooo...I can't wait!!!

Ender's Game is a book that crosses beyond YA. I'm not even sure Orson Scott Card wrote it for kids, he's more of an adult writer. A kid can love it because a kid is the hero and it seems to be about fighting and computer games. But I read it when I was 40 and absolutely loved it. And while I think Speaker for the Dead is excellent, it helps if you read Ender's Game first, just to see where he's come from.

My top 10 as of this minute, I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff!

War and Peace - Tolstoy
The Amber Chronicles - Zelazny
The House of Niccolo and The Lymond Chronicles - Dorothy Dunnett
Last Call - Tim Powers
Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
The Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas
Kristin Lavransdatter - Sigrid Undset
Gormenghast Vol 1 and 2 - Mervin Peake
Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Murakami
Tie between Crime and Punishment and One Hundred Years of Solitude

I'm enjoying Enders Game,though I don't think as much as others may have.I've been having trouble with the whole idea of the world's security resting on children's shoulders.However I thought if the author had intended his readers to be younger than this would make more sense and give the story a different context for me.

I wanted to try something in this genre and I've heard that this book is a good place to start.

I have added it to my list to buy. Its not that I think YA is too childish (oh god, do I come across that way!) ... Ive just had a tough time with them as of late. I reread Wrinkle In Time, and read The Book Thief and just wasnt able to surrender to them the way I normally do with a novel. Could just be the authors, or the storylines....

I had no idea that it was viewed as YA until I shelved copies of it in both the YA and the SciFi section while working at Borders. I'm still surprised that some people consider it such. Lori, you should read Ender's Game, but if you feel that it's too childish then you should pick up its sequel, Speaker for the Dead, which is definitely not YA and deals with some of the most interesting issues I've ever come across.