This is a tough one for me.
I've enjoyed the works of Wilde, Hemmingway, Philip k.Dick, plus more contemporary writers like Welsh, Ellis and Hornby.
But if I had to choose one book I think it would be George Orwell's Animal Farm.

Feel free to add other favorites but it would be nice to hear people's outright winner.

Papillon by Henri Charriere.

Awesome. Couldn't put it down. It's a good film, but the book is something else. True story of a mans absolute refusal to give in and accept incarceration.

Disappointingly, the follow up 'Banco' (what happened after freedom was attained) isn't a patch on it.

Middlemarch, George Eliot

I really enjoyed Papillon too, I aslo enjoyed Banco.

Torah

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. Rushdie’s opinions on the Islamic faith makes it a superb read.

ClaretAndJew wrote:Torah

That almost made me choke on my bacon butty.

There are so many! As a child it had to be Treasure Island (R.L.Stevenson) Then later came Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte), The Go-Between (L.P.Hartley), Great Expectations (Charles Dickens), Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier) and so many more.

If my life depended on choosing just one book then I suppose it would have to be Dr. Zhivago (Boris Pasternak).

It will probably be something different tomorrow

Maybe 'Dune'.

Or 'The Forever War'.

Or 'Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72'

Brave New World

Tough question. Without trying to overthink it and based on which book has left the longest lasting impression - Dispatches by Michael Herr.

ClaretAndJew wrote:Brave New World

I adore Brave New world-Aldous Huxley is a genius

Without a doubt, 'Tommy Boyle - Broken Hero', Mike Smith.

Imajica, by Clive Barker.

Special mention to Lord of the Rings/Hobbit/Silmarillion.

The Elenium and Tamuli trilogies by David Eddings are also excellent fantasy books.

Child 44 is also one of my recent favourites.

Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Simon Scarrow and David Gemmill get a mention for their series of books.

Topsy and Tim Busy Builders

Read it about 2000 times to the kids - "again daddy again daddy"

A classic tale of tragedy, remorse and redemption

pushpinpussy wrote:The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. Rushdie’s opinions on the Islamic faith makes it a superb read.

Wow, for those who don't know the story behind the story, I imagine The Satanic Verses would be an extremely difficult read, very difficult to understand.

For those who know of the story behind the original satanic verses with the knowledge of the 'real' historical characters such as the scribe Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh, little Aisha, Muhammad, the angel Jibreel, the goddesses Al'Uzza, Allat, and Manat - it is a fantastic read! Truly gripping!
But I would recommend a lot of historical (or mythical if you like) study into early Islamic history before you embark on this journey.

My favourite, from being very young, is Shane.
I do love Charles Dickens though: Bleak House, Great Expectations and David Copperfield particularly.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Just starting reading Lamentation the fifth installment of the excellent Shardlake series by CJ Samson
When I first read Trainspotting by Irving Welsh blew me away when it was a little known cult
2666 Roberto Bolano a real oddity
Earth Abides George R Stewart

I've seen The Book Thief mentioned a few times, I must have a look at that.

I remember many years ago enjoying reading The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, it had quite an influence on my political thinking when I was younger, naive and easily mislead.

Winnie the Pooh (seriously!)

Second for Papillon, remarkable story. Also running it a close second is Count of Monte Cristo

Another one for Papillon. I read it about 40 years ago and I remember that I could not put it down, reading til 4 in the morning.

"The Great Gatsby" F. Scott Fitzgerald

ummm reallu difficult this.

i'll answer it slightly differently the book i keep going back to and reading , read it three times now...is a short history of nearly everything by bill bryson

Catch 22. By Joseph heller.
I still laugh out loud when McWatt gets killed.

You'll Die in Singapore. By Charles McCormac.

A book I read that someone by chance had left behind at work (about 40 years ago). True story about escaping from a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

grapidianclaret wrote:Catch 22. By Joseph heller.
I still laugh out loud when McWatt gets killed.

I first read it in my early 20s and re-read it again recently (I'm now 35) and the humour in the book seemed a lot blacker and darker. Yossarian's fear was a lot more real to me on the second reading.

Rowls wrote:I first read it in my early 20s and re-read it again recently (I'm now 35) and the humour in the book seemed a lot blacker and darker. Yossarian's fear was a lot more real to me on the second reading.

It does get darker, the older I get too. The insanity of the characters seems less fictitious every day.

Lord of the Rings

A long journey in many respects

The Bible,its absolutely full of crazy tales of doom and gloom..

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes, absolutely spell blinding love story , set around the trenches of Ypres and World War One,
A close 2nd is pillars of the earth by Ken follet, it's a story about stone massonary ,

Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M Pirsig.

Another shout out for Papillon too, my third favourite book behind Modern Man In Search Of A Soul by Jung and Zen.

Prophet or Traitor the Jimmy Hogan story sent a copy to Eddie Howe while he was our manager.Wrote and thanked me said he would read it over Summer.
He obviously did and took on board the ideas on attacking football .pass and move tactics .Perhaps I should get Sean a copy.There was nothing about hoof ball in the book about quality football.

lifelongclaret wrote: A close 2nd is pillars of the earth by Ken follet, it's a story about stone massonary ,

I too really enjoyed this,and also the trilogy that followed,The Century Trilogy.

I liked the film Papillon until I read the book, now the film is tame in comparison and I can no longer watch it.

The Brothers Karamozov and The Devils (also known as the 'Possessed') by Fydor Dostoyevsky are both thought provoking classics. Hunchback of Notre Dam by Victor Hugo is also well worth the effort.

For the great American novel read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and Rich man poor man by Irwin Shaw.

RalphCoatesComb wrote:Lord of the Rings

A long journey in many respects

It took me a year to read Lord of The Rings first time....which just about runs in real time with the story itself from Bilbo's party at the beginning to the Scouring of The Shire.

morpheus2 wrote:It took me a year to read Lord of The Rings first time....which just about runs in real time with the story itself from Bilbo's party at the beginning to the Scouring of The Shire.

I was quite lucky. I had lots of "down-time" at work and I waded through in 3 months or so. Very enjoyable and addictive... the films were a let-down for me.

morpheus2 wrote:It took me a year to read Lord of The Rings first time....which just about runs in real time with the story itself from Bilbo's party at the beginning to the Scouring of The Shire.

First time I read it I was about 6 yrs old and it didn't take me a year to read it.

I'd listened to it previously on cassette, the BBC adaptation of it (showing my age now).

Barnaby Rudge by Dickens

Can't believe we are almost 40 posts in and no one has said To Kill a Mockingbird! Great book and excellent film.

Goalposts wrote:ummm reallu difficult this.

i'll answer it slightly differently the book i keep going back to and reading , read it three times now...is a short history of nearly everything by bill bryson

Agree, difficult question.

Most have picked out novels - and no reason why not.

At least 3 major classifications of books: novels (or all types), biographies/autobiographies and other factual books.

I'm not great at keeping a list of favourites. I can reference some from all three of my categorisation, above.

Slightly different angle. When I was a youngster I read "Knowledge Magazine" - a weekly (or fortnightly) children's encyclopedia. I was reminded of Knowledge this week by a report I heard about research in learning styles. A university had compared students' success with three different styles of learning material: (1) comic book style; (2) text only, no pictures; (3) text plus unrelated pictures. The research concluded that the comic book style achieved the best results - I believe the students were uni level and the programme ran for some time.

I really like Jeffrey Archer, and I'd say Prisoner of Birth, or As the Crow Flies.

I'm currently waiting for the next instalment of the Clifton Chronicles.

RalphCoatesComb wrote:Lord of the Rings

A long journey in many respects

Far to many adjectives for me. Wonderful for the film makers as everything is described to the nth degree but totally spoils the flow of the story.

King Cotton - Thomas Armstrong.
Any Hornblower book
Any Tom Clancy or Clive Cussler book.

What I like to read depends, like my musical taste, on my mood of the moment.

1984
Kes

"Stoner" by John Williams or "The Devil All The Time" by Donald Ray Pollock.

Sidney1st wrote:First time I read it I was about 6 yrs old and it didn't take me a year to read it.

I'd listened to it previously on cassette, the BBC adaptation of it (showing my age now).

That's good going for a 6 year old.

I was about 4 first time I read it, I was a bit of a slow starter hence that's why it took me a year or so, and I've always been very easily distracted.

morpheus2 wrote:That's good going for a 6 year old.

I was about 4 first time I read it, I was a bit of a slow starter hence that's why it took me a year or so, and I've always been very easily distracted.

I was very very ill as a child and couldn't go out much, so my reading abilities got a lot of attention to keep me out of mischief.

If I'm not doing much else I can usually get through LOTR in just under 2 weeks of evening reading, but I've read it so much I can skim a lot of it and know what's going on easily enough.

This is such a hard question. Of the ones mentioned above I would agree with To Kill A Mocking Bird. Must have read it 20 times. Recently read the sequel. Was good but it troubled me a bit. Had to go back and read the first one straight away

Two that made a big impression on me :
The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck...Fiction choice.
Nothing to Envy....forget the author's name but a female US journalist with inside knowledge of life in North Korea. Non-fiction choice.