Steven - If you like horror/dark fantasy, my son says that Night Angel A Trilogy by Brent Weeks is the really good.

These are in no particular order:

1. A Country Year: Living the Questions - Sue Hubbell

2. The Great Book of Amber - Roger Zelazny

3. The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley

4. The Hearing Trumpet - Leonora Carrington

5. Tao Te Ching, 25th-Anniversary Edition - Laozi / Lao Tzu


Also essential to me, but left out because they are series:
- The Masks of God series ("Primitive Mythology", "Oriental Mythology", "Occidental Mythology", & "Creative Mythology") - Joseph Campbell
- The Griffin & Sabine series - Nick Bantock
- The Dark Tower series - Stephen King


If I could go beyond 5 (not counting series noted above), I'd include:
- Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
- Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
- To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis
- The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
- The World of Pooh: The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner - A.A. Milne

I, like many, typically read a book only once.

My Facebook information only lists one favorite book: Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason by Alfie Kohn. It is, in fact, a parenting book.

I've thought about this question before, and it is a tough one for me.

For a long time my favorite author has been Charles de Lint. If I'm reading one of his books, I will usually wind up crying (at least) at one time while reading it. I only started reading his books after I reached a point where I cried a lot, so I'm fairly certain I've cried while reading every one the books of his that I've read. (Including the horror/dark fantasy originally released under the pseudonym Samuel M. Key.)

For a while when I wasn't reading Charles de Lint, I was reading Terry Pratchett. I love authors who write enough so that if you get hooked on their stuff it is a near endless smorgasbord for a period of years.

Really, though, if I were trapped on a desert island with only 5 books, it doesn't matter which ones they were, I would wind up making my own stories, and -- if possible -- finding a way to share them.

Karen wrote: "I love love love the Scarlet Pimpernel.

There's a whole series of them, check: http://www.blakeneymanor.com/series.html

some of them you can find online as free e-books"

The Project Gutenberg page is http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/... (They have some of the books in a variety of formats.) It appears the blakaneymanor.com link actually has eTexts of all of them, though it appears to be only in HTML.

If you're going to get paper copies of these books do not overpay! Hold out for an omnibus, at least. :)

Meghan wrote: "Julie wrote: "I guess I need to Read some Jane Austen! She gets everyone's vote..."

I'm in the minority, but she definitely does not get mine."

No Jane Austen votes here either.

Julie wrote: "I guess I need to Read some Jane Austen! She gets everyone's vote..."

I'm in the minority, but she definitely does not get mine.

Harry Potter- the whole series
The Ousiders by S.E. hinton
Danny the Champion of the World by R. Dahl
THe Huner Games
Twilight Series

I guess I need to Read some Jane Austen! She gets everyones vote!

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen is a heroine of mine with her forward thinking and sense of humour and I think this is her best work.

2. The Twilight Saga - I just love a good vampire book and this is a guilty pleasure of mine, it may not be the best literature book but it kept me entertained.

3. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - this book was so shocking when it was published because of the content but when I read it for University, I found it hard to put down. A really well written thriller.

4. The Firm by John Grisham - the first book I read of his and still my favourite, it is full of suspense and hard to put down. What I love about his books, is that he starts the story from the first page, straight away you are desperate to turn to the next page.

5. The Da Vinci Code - When I read this, I found it so hard to put down, whether any of it is true or not, I felt it got me really thinking. Such an enjoyable read.

It is very hard to pick only 5 books with which to be stranded. In no particular order they would have to be:

How to survive on a desert island - or some other book to that purpose.

Brothers Karamazov - because I've always wanted to read this and yet have never gotten around to it.

The Bible - it's kept people entertained for centuries.

I'll have to think about the other two.

Jennifer wrote: "BJ Rose wrote: "5. Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell - or the whole Medieval trilogy..."

I loved these books! They're definitely some of my favorites!"

Ok if you and BJ liked these, I have to add them to my TBR. There it goes again!!

BJ Rose wrote: "5. Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell - or the whole Medieval trilogy..."

I loved these books! They're definitely some of my favorites!

Wow Meghan - great choices. Little Women is my favorite book of all time. I haven't read Tai-Pan, but loved Shogun. And Pillars of the Earth - what can you say. One of the best ever written.

The other two are on my TBR list.

1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (I read this once a year. It's like visiting family.)

2. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (I try to read this every other year or so. This is my favorite era and the Gothic cathedrals are my favorite architecture, so it's basically heaven for me to read.)

3. Tai-Pan by James Clavell (Actually the Noble House series, which includes Shogun. Fantastic historical fiction set in Asia.)

4. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (The whole Ender/Bean series please!)

5. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (This book just gives me hope and inspires me, and if I'm stuck on a desert island I'm probably going to need both.)

**Really could use a top 10 list. Does the desert island have electricity? 'Cause then I'd bring my kindle and I could bring hundreds! heh

This was hard! In order to qualify for me, they would have to be books that I would want to re-read more than once, so with apologies to all the good books out there that will not be on this list:

1. Son of the Morning by Linda Howard
2. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Wilis
3. Ransom by Julie Garwood
4. A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught
5. Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell - or the whole Medieval trilogy

OR any good book I could put my hands on!

:)

This was my first group on GRs and is still near and dear to my heart.

Lyn wrote: "Hey Jennifer - welcome. This is a great group, as great as the Tudor group, but different. I have met some really great people here and found some really good books. So - great to see you in thi..."

Thanks Lyn! I didn't realize you were on here too :)

Hey Jennifer - welcome. This is a great group, as great as the Tudor group, but different. I have met some really great people here and found some really good books. So - great to see you in this group too.

Hi everyone! I just joined this group today and it looks like a great group :)

I'll just jump in here with my 5 although I guess using series might be cheating a little? lol

1. The Mists of Avalon
2. The Harry Potter Series
3. The Lord of the Rings Series
4. Gone With the Wind
5. The Twilight Series OR some big massive all-in-one series about the Tudors that doesn't exist yet :)

1. The Women's Murder Club Series
2. The Chronicles of Narnia
3. The Twilight Series
4. The Harry Potter Series
5. The Stephanie Plum Series

Hmmm...I think I see a theme with my list!

1. The New Dictionary of Thoughts A Cyclopedia of Quotations
2. Daimonic Reality A Field Guide to the Otherworld
3. Magick on the Edge Adventures in Experimental Magick
4. A Field Guide to Otherkin
5. .......Familiar Scars

So hard to pick five! But here they are (not in any particular order):

1. Confessions of a Shopaholic...Sophie Kinsella
2. Exquisite Corpse...Poppy Z. Brite
3. The Notebook...Nicholas Sparks
4. Nineteen Minutes...Jodi Picoult
5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince...J.K. Rowling

As I knew that you would pick Tarzan of the Apes. Actually, The Once and Future King would be in my top 10.

Lyn wrote: "My must haves are:

1Little Women - My favorite book of all time.
2. The Outsiders - I think I have read this book around 10 times
3. The Wolf and the Dove ..."

Wow, I guess you had a big affect on me. Check out my list. I KNEW you would pick "The 5 Little Peppers".

My must haves would be:

1. Tarzan of the Apes
2. Little Women
3. The Outsiders
4. Gone With The Wind
5. The Once and Future King (I couldn't go through life without 1 King Arthur Book and this is my favorite). As for the rest... I could read any one of them 1,000 times and still love them, and I hardly EVER reread books!

The five books I can't live without are...

1. The Kite Runner (Hosseini Khaled)
2. Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt)
3. High Fidelity (Nick Hornby)
4. House of Sand and Fog (Andre Dubus)
5. Miracle in the Andes (Nando Parrado)
...and I'll throw this one in for good measure...
6. Last Night at the Lobster (Stewart O'Nan)

My must haves are:

1Little Women - My favorite book of all time.
2. The Outsiders - I think I have read this book around 10 times
3. The Wolf and the Dove - My favorite romance (Yes even more than twilight, although Twilight is a close second)
4. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew- My favorite book as a beginning reader
5. The The Little House Collection- I am a Laura Ingalls Wilder fanatic, I have even gone to her houses in both Minnesota and Kansas, and have the book she wrote later in life on her farm in Missouri (Most people don't even know about this one.)

This is a very good question and had me thinking for a while. I agree that the first two come quick and it becomes harder the further down you go. :0)

1. Pride & Prejudice
2. Harry Potter (the series is one big story to me too).
3. Black Dagger Brotherhood series (same as HP, you got to read them all :op)
4. Fires of Winter by Johanna Lindsey
5. Twilight (can't help it, just love the story)

I'm finally going to get to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, my library just brought it in. I seem to have heard of it forever! Others in your list I've already read are The Gargoyle, fantastic debut!, The Time Traveler's Wife, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (so hard to believe it's fiction). These were all great books. Not too sure I want to read Animal Farm, I got really upset seeing the movie years ago and couldn't watch it all; I guess I think animals are more noble than that! ;-)

It looks like Andrew and I have read all 5 of the books and loved them.

My Top 5:

The Gargoyle: A modern love story
Animal Farm: A classic
The Time Traveler's Wife: just finishing this book but loved it
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: Just loved it a great mystery.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: Written through letters, great characters and fresh look at Nazi occupation.

I would like to make a change. Instead of A NIght in the Lonesome October, I pick Water for Elephants.

Starlight wrote: "Okay, I'm thinking of this as a desert island situation. If I could only have five ... forever:

I think I'd rather be dead than have to read the same 5 books over and over again forever! I rarely (if ever) have read a book twice. Once or twice I've started something only to realize I've read it before. As soon as I realize this, I put it down and grab something new. There are so many books and so little time as it is - why read something twice?

Having said that...I do have a keeper shelf with over 100 books on it so maybe I'll reread something sometime...

The Bell Jar
Complete Works Of Shakespeare
Anne Sexton: The Complete Poems
Mists of Avalon
Looking For Alaska

OK i think im going with - in no particular order

1. The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
2. Written on the Body - Jeanette Winterson
3. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
4. The Hours - Michael Cunningham
5. Tess of the D'Urbervilles -Thomas Hardy

I'm like Kelley, this is my list today but it could very well change tomorrow lol

1. The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer (these are my feel good book which is why I often skip the entire middle of New Moon)

2. The Women of the Otherworld Series by Kelley Armstrong (I think I could read this series a thousand times and not get tired of it)

3. The Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris (What can I say, I'm a vampire addict and this series provides one of my strongest fixes)

4. The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling (Too much fun not to have with me)

5. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (My obligatory techno geek book)

Okay so I ended up getting 28 books in my list of 5 lol. I know I cheated but most of my favorites are series and I can't imagine just picking one book from each series.

I'll take some from my list of books that remained with me the longest:
1. Missing by Thomas Hauser (out of print, a movie was made with Jack Lemmon)
2. A Promise of Hope by Autumn Stringham
3. The Concubine's Children by Denise Chong
4. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
5. Roots by Alex Haley
Special mention: *Surviving the Odds: From D-Day to VE-Day with the 4th Division in Europe by Jack Capell
and
*The Poison that Fell from the Sky by John G. Fuller
and all the Harry Potter books
(This is not all, believe me!)

1. The Other Boleyn Girl
2. The Time Traveler's Wife
3. Sookie Stackhouse series
4. The Outsiders
5. Twilight series

I am sorry i could only get my carnt live without booklist down to a list of 10. Their in no pacific order:
Pride and prejudice- Jane Austen
A different sort of real- Kerry Greenwood
Lock and Key- Sarah Dessen
The Truth about Forever- Sarah Dessen
Rose by any other name- Maureen McCarthy
Sisterhood of Traveling Pants Series- Ann Brashares
Dairy Queen- Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Offseason- Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Tommorrow Series- John Marsden
Stephanie Plum Series- Janet Evanovich

1. The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley
2. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
3. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
4. From the Corner of his Eye - Dean Koontz
5. The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett

Hard to narrow it down to 5 but these are books that I could and have read more than once - so for desert island scenario they would make a good start!

As far as books that I considered to be life-changing when I read them and continue to speak to me upon each re-read:

1. Franny and Zooey, JD Salinger.
2. City Boy, Herman Wouk.
3. HERmione, H.D. [Hilda Doolittle:]
4. Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh.
5. The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton.

1. Left Behind series
2. Harry Potter series
3. Z For Zachariah
4. Twilight
5. New Moon

This is a hard one. I am another who rarely rereads books but here are some I have:

1. Gone with the wind
2. Harry Potter series
3. Fall on your knees
4. She's come undone
5. To Kill a Mockingbird

A bit hard to remember but five that I have loved (and can think of right now):
- Captain Correli's Mandolin
- The Kite Runner
- Bleak House
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Little Women (a childhood favourite)

1. Harry Potter Series
2. Chronicles of Narnia
3. The Princess Diaries
4. The Giver
5. Confessions of a Shopaholic

These books make me feel 10 years younger! LOL~

Gee thanks for the site Karen.
Didn't know there were actually so many related titles, I'll check out the e-books if I can't get them in the stores.

Thanks again!!

I love love love the Scarlet Pimpernel.

There's a whole series of them, check: http://www.blakeneymanor.com/series.html...

some of them you can find online as free e-books

Just added The Elusive Pimpernel to my shelf, got to get a copy of this one!!

The Scarlet Pimpernel is AWESOME! I also had no clue that it was part of a series until quite recently. The Elusive Pimpernel is another one but I haven't read it yet...

Thinker-I love The Scarlet Pimpernel!

This is a tricky one, but I think I'll choose:

A Tale of Two Cities
Jane Eyre
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Mrs Dalloway
My Bones and My Flute