What are your top 5 favorite fiction books? Any genre ,any author....share please!! :D I am in deperate for some new stuff, I am stuck in a rut.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott I read this once a year I love it soooo much
Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner soon to be a movie
Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner soon to be an HBO series
Anything by Jane Green
The Abrams Daughters Series by Beverly Lewis it killed me to wait for the next book in the series I even tried to find her address to write and beg for an advance copy! :LOL

NAK. There are so many to choose from. It was so hard to limit to 5 books! But here goes.....

I've linked to editorial reviews at amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com).

FAVORITE:

Outlander (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0385302304/ref=dp_proddesc_0/104-0779079-3014333?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=507846), by Diana Gabaldon (it's a series if you want more, and you will)!! :thumb

Other great reads:

The Time Traveler's Wife (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/1931561648/ref=dp_proddesc_0/104-0779079-3014333?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=507846), by Audrey Niffenegger

Chocolat (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/014100018X/ref=dp_proddesc_0/104-0779079-3014333?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=507846), by Joanne Harris (even better than the movie)! :yum

Sister of My Heart (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/038548951X/ref=dp_proddesc_0/104-0779079-3014333?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=507846), by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Fat White Vampire Blues (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0345463331/ref=dp_proddesc_0/104-0779079-3014333?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=507846), by Andrew Fox

Happy reading! :)

Top 5 is very hard indeed! I didn't do a good job of sticking to the limit...

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen -- an oldie but so darn sharp and witty!

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte -- I loved it as a teenager but now that I'm all feminist-y I wonder how I would feel when rereading it? ;)

My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok -- first read in high school but still one of my faves

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving -- actually, anything by Irving is right up my alley

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee -- every young girl should read about Scout

Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins -- not everyone likes Robbins' style, but I think he's hilarious

Just about anything by Margaret Atwood, though I haven't finished reading all her novels just yet...

Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger -- very different from Catcher in the Rye

In the "children's" realm...
A Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L'Engle
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Holes by Louis Sachar
Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren -- another great role model for girls

...oh, there are so many more. I better stop before it gets crazy! :wink

"The passion of new Eve" by Angela Carter - great English feminist writer.

"The temple of my familiar" by Alice Walker

Anything by Tom Robbins.

"The handmaids Tale" By Margaret Atwood

"Praxis" By Fay Weldon.


I could go on but I'd be here all night :)

I'm not sure I'd say these are my absolute favorites, but they are ones that I've really enjoyed and not necessarily typical recommendations (except for Kingsolver ;))

I have to second "Time Traveller's Wife", Audrey Niffenegger ~ keep with it - it can be slow to get into, but it was fantastic.

"Crow Lake", Mary Lawson

"The Bean Trees", Barbara Kingsolver (also love Poisonwood Bible & Pigs in Heaven by Kingsolver)

"Atlas of the Human Heart", Ariel Gore

"Who do you think You are", Alice Munro

I'm gong to have to seek out some of those mentioned above! :)

Any of the Preston and Child books but esp the ones with Special Agent Pendergast, *YUM*
I'm loving the Highlander (double yum) books by Karen Marie Moning.Cant wait for the new one at the end of the month!
The Janet Evanovich books
SciFi- Sara Douglas
Oh and for laughs, all the Louise Rennison books. Even though they are in the teen section, OMG! she has me ROFL. Very much like The Diary of Adrian Mole books, very Brit!
And of course A Confederacy of Dunces.

Im not a very deep thinker.. :wink

If I pay thee not in gold ---Mercedes lackey/Peirs Anthony

My sweet Audrina--VC Andrews

So speaks the heart--Johanna Lindsay

Kaleidoscope -- Daniel Steele

Witching hour --Anne Rice

The mirror -- Marlys Millhiser

Incarnates of Immortality series--Piers Anthony

Any book by Charlotte Vale Allen is good as well as John Saul

Ok so this is tough. Not sure if these are my actual top 5 but I'm indecisive. Anyway, these are all great books:

Blindness by Jose Saramango
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder (non-fiction but reads like a novel... I highly recommend this one to everyone)
and of course any Harry Potter books.

I heartily second the recommendations for Angela Carter, Tom Robbins, and Barbara Kingsolver!

And if you're not afraid of literature that is eccentric, poetic, bittersweet, then you might enjoy:

The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Couldn't quite keep it to 5.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Smith
A Northern Light, Donnelley
Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver
Hotel New Hampshire, Irving
Cat's Eye, Atwood
THe Golden Compass, Pullman
The Life of Pi, Martel

(I'm sure I'm forgetting some I liked more, but I do love these)

I just finished reading The Time Traveller's Wife and thought it was excellent.

Other books I particularly enjoyed are:

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
The Memory of Running - Ron McLarty
Punished by Rewards - Alfie Kohn
The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo

A totally random and incomplete list, but whatever was at the front of my mind...

I almost posted this same question last night! I haven't read the PP. Here are some of my favorite books:

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Great Santini - Pat Conroy (also loved The Water is Wide)
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Harry Potter books
The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck

My book club recently read These is My Words and everyone really enjoyed it. Me too.

For lighter reads, I like Maeve Binchy and Amy Tan.

Two of my favorite funny Southern reads are Daisy Faye and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg and Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns.

Now to post and then read the other posts :notes: adding to my ever growing list of books to read.

Snozzberry - Have you read Wide Sargasso Sea? It's about the wife and how she came to be locked up in the attic. Not necessarily a great read on its on, but interesting. I read and enjoyed Jane Eyre a few times and never gave much thought to the crazy wife locked in the attic until reading tis book.

I enjoy the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich on audio tape a great deal. Fun to listen to!

Snozzberry - Have you read Wide Sargasso Sea? It's about the wife and how she came to be locked up in the attic. Not necessarily a great read on its on, but interesting. I read and enjoyed Jane Eyre a few times and never gave much thought to the crazy wife locked in the attic until reading tis book. :bag: I tried to read it. It was a very interesting concept, but I must admit I didn't enjoy it much. I don't know if it was the writing style, or what. I've heard from a lot of people who liked it, so I think I'm just a weirdo. This wouldn't be the first evidence of that! ;)

It was definitely hard to name just five...

1. The Lions of al-Rassan Guy Gavriel Kay is my favorite author. Any of his books could have taken this first spot, but this is my absolute fave.
2. The English Patient Michael Ondaatje (sp?) I thought I loved the movie -- until I read the book, which is so much more poetic and beautiful.
3. The Princess Bride William Goldman. Also better than the movie, though I still cherish the movie.
4. The Lord of the Rings Tolkien -- I'd probably get kicked off our Tolkein tribe if I failed to mention it :D But no, it really is one of my favorites.
(shoot, this really is tough! There's tons more books I want to mention!)
5. The Red Tent Anita Diamont

My favorite Tom Robbins book (I love his writing, too!) is probably Skinny Legs and All. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Douglas Adam's Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the series, really). And I love David and Leigh Eddings... and Jean M Auel. And Agatha Christy. You see...this really is a tough question!

1. Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock
2. Poisonwood bible by Barbara Kingsolver
3. Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds
4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
5. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III

and for short stories my fave ever is Do Not Go Gently by Sherman Alexie.

oooo, this is a fun thread!

The Master and Margarita M. Bulgakov
Pride and Prejudice J. Austen
Lady with Lap Dog A. Chekhov
Love in a Cold Climate N. Mitford
Cannery Row J. Steinbeck

I'm reading the new Harry Potter right now...oh, and for pure fun it's hard to beat Outlander by Gabaldon, but I personally think the first book is the best. :)