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Please share your top 10 books with us

missy

missy

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I am starting to read actual books again and would love to hear your top recommendations. Anything you feel was a very enjoyable and even must read. Share your favorites please! Non fiction and fiction welcome.

Feel free to share any of your favorites...I just used 10 as a starting point but you can recommend less or more. I am looking forward to your replies.

I'll start. Off the top of my head and I am leaving out many many wonderful books


Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fiztgerald

The Stories of John Cheever

The Diary of Anne Frank

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Shining by Stephen King

Night by Elie Wiesel

Man's search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Dune by Frank Herbert

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

1984 by George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Sophie's Choice by William Styron

Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

Call of the Wild by Jack London

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Blindness by Jose Saramago

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster


Thanks for participating!
 
Great thread idea @missy I've read & enjoyed probably 3/4 of the books on your list :)


This is a quick (but longer than 10!) list of books/series that I have read more than once:

STANDALONE NOVELS:

The Elegance of the Hedgehog – by Muriel Barbery

Where’d You Go Bernadette – by Maria Semple

The Human Comedy – by William Saroyan

Lessons in Chemistry – by Bonnie Garmus

A Man Called Ove – by Fredrik Bachman

The Girl With All the Gifts – by M.R. Carey

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – by Mary Ann Shaffer

An Old Fashioned Girl – by Louisa May Alcott


SERIES:

Beach Street Knitting Society trilogy – by Gil McNeil

The Hunger Games trilogy – by Suzanne Collins

Gregor the Overlander – by Suzanne Collins

Asher Lev two-book series – by Chaim Potok

Reuven Malther two-book series – by Chaim Potok

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo original trilogy – by Stieg Larsson

Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series – by Deborah Crombie

Inspector Gamache series – by Louise Penney

Joe Pickett series – by C.J. Box

Charlie Parker series – by John Connolly

Harry Hole series – by Jo Nesbo


FAVORITE URBAN FANTASY AUTHORS:
Ilona Andrews
Faith Hunter
Patricia Hunter
Seanan McGuire
 
LOVE LOVE books! Great thread and great start to the list!

Here are my suggestions -just a tip of the iceberg:


The Diving Bell and the Butterfly- Jean Dominque Bauby

The Kite Runner- Khaled Hoessini

In Cold Blood- Truman Capote

Angelas Ashes- Frank McCourt

Book Seller of Kabul- Asne Seirstad

The Glass Castle- Jeannette Walls

The Godfather- Mario Puzo

Still Alice- Lisa Genova

Memoirs of a Geisha- Arthur Golden

The Space Between Us- Thrity Umrigar

Joy Luck Club- Amy Tan ( watch the Netflix documentary on her )

The English Patient- Michael Ondaatje

Some Stephen King- but only when I am feeling brave.

Jon Krakauer:
Into Thin Air
Into the Wild


Authors- includes singular novels or series - all good reads.

Phillipa Gregory
Lisa See
Jodi Picoult
Elin Hilderbrand
John Grisham
Nicholas Sparks
George RR Martin
Mitch Albom
James Patterson
Susan Mallery
 
hardwear said:
LOVE LOVE books! Great thread and great start to the list!

Here are my suggestions -just a tip of the iceberg:


The Diving Bell and the Butterfly- Jean Dominque Bauby

The Kite Runner- Khaled Hoessini

In Cold Blood- Truman Capote

Angelas Ashes- Frank McCourt

Book Seller of Kabul- Asne Seirstad

The Glass Castle- Jeannette Walls

The Godfather- Mario Puzo

Still Alice- Lisa Genova

Memoirs of a Geisha- Arthur Golden

The Space Between Us- Thrity Umrigar

Joy Luck Club- Amy Tan ( watch the Netflix documentary on her )

The English Patient- Michael Ondaatje

Some Stephen King- but only when I am feeling brave.

Jon Krakauer:
Into Thin Air
Into the Wild


Authors- includes singular novels or series - all good reads.

Phillipa Gregory
Lisa See
Jodi Picoult
Elin Hilderbrand
John Grisham
Nicholas Sparks
George RR Martin
Mitch Albom
James Patterson
Susan Mallery
Click to expand...

Oh my gosh, yes I love all these books you listed above and many of the authors you also listed. Joy Luck Club was such a good book..I am going to read it again at some point. Love Krakaeur and have read all his books. Still Alice was so poignant. I never got into Nicholas Sparks but maybe I didnt give him a fair chance. I am reading a book by Liam Moriarty at the moment called "What Alice Forgot"...just two chapters in but am enjoying it so far. Thanks for sharing your recommendations

marymm said:
Great thread idea @missy I've read & enjoyed probably 3/4 of the books on your list :)


This is a quick (but longer than 10!) list of books/series that I have read more than once:

STANDALONE NOVELS:

The Elegance of the Hedgehog – by Muriel Barbery

Where’d You Go Bernadette – by Maria Semple

The Human Comedy – by William Saroyan

Lessons in Chemistry – by Bonnie Garmus

A Man Called Ove – by Fredrik Bachman

The Girl With All the Gifts – by M.R. Carey

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – by Mary Ann Shaffer

An Old Fashioned Girl – by Louisa May Alcott


SERIES:

Beach Street Knitting Society trilogy – by Gil McNeil

The Hunger Games trilogy – by Suzanne Collins

Gregor the Overlander – by Suzanne Collins

Asher Lev two-book series – by Chaim Potok

Reuven Malther two-book series – by Chaim Potok

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo original trilogy – by Stieg Larsson

Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series – by Deborah Crombie

Inspector Gamache series – by Louise Penney

Joe Pickett series – by C.J. Box

Charlie Parker series – by John Connolly

Harry Hole series – by Jo Nesbo


FAVORITE URBAN FANTASY AUTHORS:
Ilona Andrews
Faith Hunter
Patricia Hunter
Seanan McGuire
Click to expand...

Thank you so much @marymm ..love your list and I now have added more books for me to read based on your recs. Thank you
 
Here are 10 of my favorites.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- Ken Kesey
The Good Earth- Pearl Buck
Dragon Seed- Pearl Buck
Gone With The Wind- Margaret Mitchell
Catcher in the Rye- JD Salinger
All Quiet on the Western Front- Erich Maria Remarque
Peyton Place- Grace Metalious
The Godfather - Mario Puzo
The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Mark Twain
 
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HI:

So many already mentioned..

Anne of Green gables (all of the series)
Gone with the Wind
Anything by Lawrence Durrell, and the Bronte Sisters, George Eliot, Dostoevsky
Madame Bovary
The Eustace Diamonds
Mrs Dalloway
Les Miserables

For fun:

A Series of Unfortunate events
Captain Underpants
Harry Potter

soooo many to list!!!

cheers--Sharon
 
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I don’t think you’d like any of the books I like @missy. I tend to read crime books with lots of forensic details, all blood and gore :lol:
 
Three classics. Spot the theme...
Don Quixote
Madame Bovary
Middlemarch

The Leopard - Guiseppe di Lampedusa (also made into a classic film)
The Story of the Stone - Cao Xueqin
Six Records of a Floating Life - Shen Fu
Speak, Memory - Nabokov
The Diary of Samuel Pepys (ed. Latham & Matthews)

For dipping into:
Boswell's Life of Johnson
 
i have read many many books over my lifetime but id struggle for 10 off the top of my head
i prefer well written factual auto/ biographies of both famose and ordinary people also history

but two fiction books that come to mind are the grapes of wrath (we dont read that in school here)
and on the beach Nevil Shute

i dont read much fiction anymore , i used to like Wilbur Smith, but after my dad died i just lost interest in fiction
 
hardwear said:
LOVE LOVE books! Great thread and great start to the list!

Here are my suggestions -just a tip of the iceberg:


The Diving Bell and the Butterfly- Jean Dominque Bauby

The Kite Runner- Khaled Hoessini

In Cold Blood- Truman Capote

Angelas Ashes- Frank McCourt

Book Seller of Kabul- Asne Seirstad

The Glass Castle- Jeannette Walls

The Godfather- Mario Puzo

Still Alice- Lisa Genova

Memoirs of a Geisha- Arthur Golden

The Space Between Us- Thrity Umrigar

Joy Luck Club- Amy Tan ( watch the Netflix documentary on her )

The English Patient- Michael Ondaatje

Some Stephen King- but only when I am feeling brave.

Jon Krakauer:
Into Thin Air
Into the Wild


Authors- includes singular novels or series - all good reads.

Phillipa Gregory
Lisa See
Jodi Picoult
Elin Hilderbrand
John Grisham
Nicholas Sparks
George RR Martin
Mitch Albom
James Patterson
Susan Mallery
Click to expand...

i have the English patient in my bookcase
always like to read a book if a book came before a movie
 
The In Death series by J. D. Robb
The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
 
Austina said:
I don’t think you’d like any of the books I like @missy. I tend to read crime books with lots of forensic details, all blood and gore :lol:
Click to expand...

That’s the kind of shows my husband and I watch on Britbox! Haha!
 
Some randos, what I can see of the titles from where I'm sitting in the bookcase

White Teeth
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
River God
Pillars of the Earth
She's Come Undone
The Passage
The Dark Tower series
Fall on your Knees
GOT
The Bonesetter's Daughter
The Descent
Blood Meridian

I always forget the titles of my favorites because if I love them, I tend to lend them out- I insist on my people reading them so I can go on about it. I then forget about them and whoever got said book keeps it.
I'm terribly forgetful like that.
I'd have to call around to get the titles again.
My taste runs the gamut

If you're ever feeling down grab yourself some Twain or Sedaris- always works.
You want to be scared? McCarthy, Keelan Patrick Burke or Paul Tremblay
Maugham, and like writers, when you want to wear big sunglasses and feel keenly the yearning or decadence of man while being removed from it. :lol:
You want fantasy? Start with Jordan.

*Edited:
I just realized that I gave mostly generational span examples (maybe that's how I grouped them in there? Who knows, I'm sure it was a good idea at the time. So, that's our theme for today!
 
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Austina said:
I don’t think you’d like any of the books I like @missy. I tend to read crime books with lots of forensic details, all blood and gore :lol:
Click to expand...

Me too. Or detective novels. I like the Lucas Davenport books by John Sanford and also the Kathy Reichs books to name a few.

For the classics, I like Jane Austen. Studied British Lit in college, but mainly from the Anglo Saxons up to Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare. Not a lot after that time period.
 
 
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I very rarely read any fiction. Also, I tend to use Audible as I do a lot of "reading" while traveling so hope that is acceptable.

Almost Interesting, David Spade
Can't Hurt Me, David Groggins
Sea Stories, William H McRaven
The Hero Code, William H McRaven
Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss
I Can't Make This Up, Kevin Hart
Scars & Stripes, Tim Kennedy
Greenlights, Matthew McConaughey
Grateful American, Gary Sinise
Fearless, Eric Blehm
Inside Out, Demi Moore
 
I used to be a voracious reader. Life happened, and I fell out of the habit - but I’m finally getting back into reading. I don’t have a top ten list but here are a few that come to mind:

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
The Prisoner (Dostoyevsky)
One of the James Harriott compilations
A Wrinkle in Time
The Eye of the Needle (Ken Follett)
Plainsong (Kent Haruf)

My hubby and I are currently reading Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce, a book I found at a thrift store that just looked like it might be good. We’re reading it aloud, a chapter or two at a time, before going to sleep - mostly he reads it to me, because he’s such a good out-loud reader! Anyhow, practically every time we finish with the night’s reading one of us remarks on how incredibly enjoyable and well written this book is!
 
Some of you appear to be waaaay to intellectual for me! :lol-2: What I find interesting is that some of your favorites are books I absolutely hated, yet we share some of the same favorites.

Here they are:
All the Light We Cannot See
Angela's Ashes
Ghost Soldiers
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
The Help
Hunger Games series
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Joy Luck Club
Memoirs of a Geisha
Olive Kitteridge
Rebecca
Snowflower and the Secret Fan

The Dogist Photographic Encounters with1000 Dogs (OK- so it's a picture book)

When I was younger I loved Sidney Sheldon books! They were quick, easy reads and kept me captivated.
 
missy said:
I am starting to read actual books again and would love to hear your top recommendations. Anything you feel was a very enjoyable and even must read. Share your favorites please! Non fiction and fiction welcome.

Feel free to share any of your favorites...I just used 10 as a starting point but you can recommend less or more. I am looking forward to your replies.

I'll start. Off the top of my head and I am leaving out many many wonderful books


Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fiztgerald

The Stories of John Cheever

The Diary of Anne Frank

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Shining by Stephen King

Night by Elie Wiesel

Man's search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Dune by Frank Herbert

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

1984 by George Orwell

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Sophie's Choice by William Styron

Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

Call of the Wild by Jack London

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Blindness by Jose Saramago

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster


Thanks for participating!
Click to expand...

Whoah this is my kind of thread! Thank you for all of the awesome recommendations and nostalgia. ❤️
 
Here are some books that captivated me and gave me better understanding
Moby Dick Herman Melville
Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Crime and Punishment Fyodor Doestoevsky
Writings of Gertrude Stein
Goodbye, Columbus Philip Roth
All Works Isaac Bashevis Singer
All poems Wallace Stevens
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Complete Works John Cheever
We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction Joan Dideon
White Buildings (all Poems) Hart Crane
(All poems) Pablo Neruda
Hasidism: A New History David Biale, et al
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert Pirsig
Room With A View EM Forster
The White Devil's Daughters: The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown Julia Flynn Siler
A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace
Barrel Fever, etc. David Sedaris
 
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I loved reading before my dad died last year. I’m starting to get into it now. So many of the books listed I have read, and so many I havent and want to give a try. I will list ones that I don’t see on anyones list, or try to…..
1.Stones from the River
2. The shadow of the wind
3.Seven types of ambiguity
4. Frankenstein
5. The Fountainhead
6. Anthem
7. The last days of night
8. Ken Follets Trilogy books
9. Beach music
10. In the heart of the sea
 
VRBeauty said:
I used to be a voracious reader. Life happened, and I fell out of the habit - but I’m finally getting back into reading. I don’t have a top ten list but here are a few that come to mind:

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
The Prisoner (Dostoyevsky)
One of the James Harriott compilations
A Wrinkle in Time
The Eye of the Needle (Ken Follett)
Plainsong (Kent Haruf)

My hubby and I are currently reading Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce, a book I found at a thrift store that just looked like it might be good. We’re reading it aloud, a chapter or two at a time, before going to sleep - mostly he reads it to me, because he’s such a good out-loud reader! Anyhow, practically. https://samploon.com/free-essays/hamlet-madness/ offers free papers about the famous Hamlet Madness topic. every time we finish with the night’s reading one of us remarks on how incredibly enjoyable and well written this book is!
Click to expand...

Hey there, your couple reading impressed me. I found in your description my grandparents relationship and usual activities, but my grandpa died so my grandma is reading alone...
However, the love for book has been forwarded to me and my top list is:
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
The Prisoner by Dostoyevsky
A Wrinkle in Time
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
One of the James Herriot compilations
Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce is my favorite one.

So if you're looking for a good read, maybe check out one of these books or Miss Benson’s Beetle.
And if you have any recommendations for me, please let me know! I'm always on the hunt for my next favorite book))
 
In no particular order:
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
This Side of Paradise (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
How Green Was My Valley (Richard Llewellyn)
An Edge of the Forest (Agnes Smith)
Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
The Jungle Books (Rudyard Kipling)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The Good Earth (Pearl S.Buck)
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The Prophet (Kahlil Gibran)
All of the James Bond books by Ian Fleming

This is actually a short story: "The Door In The Wall" by H. G. Wells.
 
I almost forgot: Dandelion Wine (Ray Bradbury)
 
I'd recommend checking out "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt. It's a beautifully written novel that's both engaging and thought-provoking.
Additionally, if you're into fantasy, "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss is a must-read. It's the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle series and has garnered a dedicated fan base.
And for some non-fiction inspiration, "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari offers a fascinating perspective on the history and impact of Homo sapiens.
Also, here's a great resource I came across that offers a comprehensive guide and analysis of the Game of Thrones books: bookwormera.com. It can really enhance your reading experience if you're a fan of the series.
 
My new favorite book

“The beauty of what remains” by Steve Leder
 
Recent favorites from the Great Unwashed:
I Fear for This Boy by Theo Fennell
Stoned by Aja Raden
 
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