Books

Having worked my way through the 2003 BBC Big Read Top 100 books, I am creating my own list of "must-read" books. Instead of basing it on the votes of the great British public however, this time I want books that have been personally recommended to me by the readers of this blog, books that have had rave reviews, or those classics that we can't do without.

Which books do you think everyone should read at some point in their lives? To add to the list, please leave a comment and if I like the sound of your idea (and haven't already read it!) I'll add it to this page. Thanks!


The List

1. A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness (Catherine) READ! 9/10
2. Afterwards - Rosamund Lupton (Helen Walker)
3. American Gods - Neil Gaiman (S.P. Clark)  READ! 7/10
4. An Equal Music - Vikram Seth (Meg)
5. Art and Lies - Jeanette Winterson (Nomi)
6. The Amnesiac - Sam Taylor Wood (Nomi)
7. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (Ceve)  READ! 10/10
8. The Brontes - Juliet Barker (billyblogger) 
9. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (Emma)  READ! 8/10
10. Dear Life - Alice Munro
11. The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery (Abby) 
12. The English Teacher - RK Narayan 
13. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green  READ! 9/10
14. Gilead - Marilynne Robinson (Marie) READ! 7/10
15. The Girl With a Pearl Earring - Tracey Chevalier (Willa)
16. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn READ! 10/10
17. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood (Bethan) READ! 9/10
18. The Help - Kathryn Stockett (Abi) READ! 9/10
19. The House on the Strand - Daphne du Maurier (Ceve) READ! 7/10
20. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy (Derek)
21. Kim - Rudyard Kipling (Derek)
22. The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness READ! 9/10
23. Last Night in Twisted River - John Irving (Nomi)
24. Life After Life - Kate Atkinson (Costa 2014)
25. Light a Penny Candle - Maeve Binchy 
26. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (David) READ! 8/10
27. Marathon Man - William Goldman (billyblogger)
28. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris  READ! 9/10
29. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides READ! 8/10
30. Mr. Chartwell - Rebecca Hunt (Nomi)
31. Music and Silence - Rose Tremain (Ceve)
32. Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (Bruce Fletcher) 
33. Norweigan Wood - Haruki Murukami (Ben DuPree)
34. The Old Curiosity Shop - Charles Dickens (Various)  READ! 8/10
35. One Day - David Nicholls READ! 10/10
36. The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford  READ! 7/10
37. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro READ! 10/10
38. Room - Emma Donoghue READ! 10/10
39. The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes READ! 6/10
40. Stolen: A Letter to My Captor - Lucy Christopher
41. The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
42. Tell No-One - Harlan Coben (Derek)  READ! 8/10
43. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe READ! 7/10
44. To The Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf (Ian) 
45. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal - Jeanette Winterson
46. Wild Swans - Jung Chan (billyblogger)