All Time Favourite Reads

[Lynda]

My all time favourite is Brides head Revisited . I read it about once a year and always get something different from it.

[Emma]

I absolutely love The Secret Garden. And Dance While You Can . Both these books, for different reasons, have stayed with me, and made me cry. Athough I have a well thumbed copy of the secret garden, I have only read Dance While You Can once, but loved it so much. Then there's both Gabriel's Inferno and Gabriel's Rapture. Xx

[Barbara]

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy is my favourite read......I am amazed that I was able to read, enjoy, learn about Russia and actually finish and love such a large book......big achievement for me......and it didnt take me too long to read it either....couldn't put it down.

[Lewis]

Emma
Disgrace
The Great Gatsby
Revolutionary Road

Each one broke my heart in different ways.

[Liz, Your Friendly Moderator]

Barbara wrote: "War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy is my favourite read......I am amazed that I was able to read, enjoy, learn about Russia and actually finish and love such a large book......big achievement for me......."

I am impressed. It's been on my 'to read' list for a long, long time - its sheer length has been the biggest obstacle to me taking the plunge!

[Tami]

I adore The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and also D.H.Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover. Masterpieces! :-)

[Deanne]

Loved War and Peace, the size is daunting but Tolstoy was a great writer. Also loved Dostoevsky, Barbara have you read Crime and Punishment?

[Craig]

For me, The Hobbit immediately brings to mind. I haven't got round to reading The Lord of the Rings books, though. :-(

[Swimming]

My all time favourites are the book thief ,the fault in our stars and the Harry Potter books

[Elaine]

All time favourites are Pride and Prejudice, The Stand, The Time Travelers Wife and Chocolat.

[Carol]

I think your tastes change greatly as you become older. I used to love Gormenghast and Wilt. I still like them but less so. I prefer non-fiction now, particularly books which reveal the detail of past centuries, such as The Diary of a Farmer's Wife, 1796-1797, by Anne Hughes.

[Tori]

A few all-time faves of mine - Engleby, Sebastian Faulks; A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini; Me Before You, Jo Jo Moyes. I also loved the Harry Potter books. A pure delight. There are a couple of dozen more books that really stand out in the memory. So many.

One thing about me - I can never read a book twice. Once I know what happens, that's enough for me. I never revisit fiction.

[Carol]

As an adult I would not tend to read a book again, but as a child I remember reading Kidnapped by RL Stevenson about 40 times, I loved it so much.
Valley of Adventure by Enid Blyton was also another book I read many times. I think perhaps it is something that children do.

[Kate, Your Friendly Moderator]

I agree, I think children are more inclined to read a book many times. I've lost count of the times I read The Animals of Farthing Wood as a child. It's definitely one of my all time favourites and probably one of the reasons why I'm working with animals now. I also loved all of Enid Blyton's Adventure series and recently went round second hand book shops collecting them all again!

[Linda]

my top 5 -

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Vanity Fair by Thackeray

[Ray]

catch 22
the tin drum
a prayer for owen meany

[James]

Not many would consider it a classic but I consider 'Red Storm Rising' by Tom Clancy to be a great read. I have read it about four times now and woill continue to read it again.

[Lynne - The Book Squirrel]

I am once again listening to The Dark Tower series. I waited so long for Stephen King to finish it I feel I have to listen to it again and again!

I also love The Stand!

[Tori]

James wrote: "Not many would consider it a classic but I consider 'Red Storm Rising' by Tom Clancy to be a great read. I have read it about four times now and woill continue to read it again."

Like I've already said, I cannot read a book more than once. In my lifetime, I'll never be able to read all the books I want to read, so I'm definitely not going to get stuck on one, unless it's non fiction and I've forgotten something important. The Dark Tower series sounds like more fun than The Stand which is the current read. Never heard of it.

[Louise]

Ray wrote: "catch 22
the tin drum
a prayer for owen meany"

I shall have to look for the tin drum....your other two choices are excellent recommendations!

[John]

Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky
The Idiot - Dostoyevsky
The Stand - Stephen King
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Hunger - Knut Hamsun
A Green Tree in Gedde - Alan Sharp
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
Cain's Book - Alexander Trocchi
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
The Leopard - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

and...Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (read 3 times!)

Oh...and Fahrenheit 451...Catch 22...Steppenwolf...

[Em]

The Master and Marguerite is unusual and very memorable I thought, never read anything quite like it b4 or since!

[Carol]

Zahira wrote: "I thinks the books that become your favorite become so because they arrived into your life at exactly the right moment in your life and spoke to you. Here are my favourites - not the best books I h..."
Growing up I loved The Valley of Adventure by Enid Blyton. When I was a teacher that was the story the children loved most. Enid Blyton has somewhat fallen out of favour now and I feel that the exciting nature of her stories has been glossed over.

[Carol]

John wrote: "Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky
The Idiot - Dostoyevsky
The Stand - Stephen King
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Hunger - Knut Hamsun
A Green Tree in Gedde - Alan Sharp
The Unbearabl..."
You have a very international taste. I found Crime and Punishment extremely exciting and gripping when I read it many moons ago. Also rather grim. Crime and Punishment. Not so keen on your other Dostoyevsky book.

[Ian, Former Moderator]

Em wrote: "The Master and Marguerite is unusual and very memorable I thought, never read anything quite like it b4 or since!"

If you have Sky, a TV adaptation is available via the catch up service. I have just downloaded the first part. No idea who made it but it is sub-titled.

[Em]

Really, let me know if it's worth seeing. We've got Virgin but there is some Sky on demand stuff we can get I think, I'll have to have a look.

[Ian, Former Moderator]

Started watching 1st episode and Russian acting/production values really bad so gave up.

[Em]

Ha! I won't rush then. I was thinking it would be hard to put onto film but I thought that about Life of Pi too.