What are your top 5 most favorite books of all time?

[PollyannaMom]

And, while I preferred Trixie Belden to Nancy Drew, I still read Nancy Drew. My fav Trixie Belden is The Gatehouse Mystery, & my fav Nancy Drew is Lilac Inn.

My favorite mysteries were the Meg series. (Meg and the Secret of the Witch's Stairway is the first title I can think of.)

 

[HeatherC]

Lifelong reader here as well. A couple of my favorites (way too many to list all) probably were

The Thorn Birds
The Charm School by Nelson DeMille
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
The Jason Bourne series by Robert Ludlum
The Lilac Girls

I could go on and on but these stand out in my mind.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

My favorites change all the time depending on my mood and what I've read most recently so I'm going to list the top 5 books that I love for nostalgic reasons; the ones that I have to own because when I pick up that treasured copy to read it again, it's like spending time with an old friend:

Gone With The Wind
Celia Garth
Wind in the Willows
Tea-Totally Dead
The Cat Who Went Underground
Mulch Ado About Nothing
Congo
The Martian Chronicles

I broke the rules and listed 8 and I honestly had to force myself to stop!

 

[Dotluvsdisney]

The Eyes of the Dragon (Stephen King's under appreciated best work IMO)
The Count of Monte Cristo (this one seems to be popular!)
Jane Eyre
The Phantom of the Opera (the musical is great, but the book it was based on is just so amazing!)
The Night Circus

It's so hard to limit to just 5 as there are others that I would also name as my favorites.

I loved the Night Circus too! Want to check out these others too.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Honour’s Splendor by Julie Garwood

I just started this one! I'm only a couple of pages in-it's an older one; my copy from the library has seen better days. Looking forward to getting into it.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I'm a Librarian and LOVE to read, but can't even begin to think of what my top 5 favorite books are - this is a hard one!!!

*Are you There God it's Me, Margaret and Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume are books from my childhood that I've read over and over.
*When people are asking for recommendations, I often recommend Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain and The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
*I love most everything by Elin Hildebrand and Jodi Picoult (Keeping Faith and My Sisters Keeper are a couple favorites)
*I really like memoirs

 

[dcassetta]

the “Trixie Belden” series

This was my favorite series as a kid also.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

I just added a Trixie Belden book to my library list to check out thanks to all of you!

 

[Wendy31]

I just asked my 2 adult children, & here are their favs - -

My daughter’s favorite Childhood Titles:

Nancy Drew series
”Dear America” series
”Little House on the Prairie” series
Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume
Isle by Swords by Wayne Thomas Batson

Honorable Mentions: Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare & the ”Magic Tree House” series

Favorite All-Time Titles:

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin
Gods of Jade & Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Honorable Mention: Beloved by Toni Morrison

My son’s Favorite Childhood Titles:

Geronimo Stilton series
Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
Isle of Swords by Wayne Thomas Batson
Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary
Racing in the Rain, children’s adaptation, by Garth Stein

Honorable Mention: Shark Wars by E. J. Altbacker

Favorite All-Time Titles:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
Dune by Frank Herbert
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Honorable Mentions: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne & Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

 

[Wendy31]

I just started this one! I'm only a couple of pages in-it's an older one; my copy from the library has seen better days. Looking forward to getting into it.

If you like it, one of my other favs of hers is Guardian Angel. Saving Grace is really good too. She used to be one of my favorite authors, & I would devour & reread all her books. Her more recently written books are not as good, in my opinion.

I'm a Librarian and LOVE to read, but can't even begin to think of what my top 5 favorite books are - this is a hard one!!!

*Are you There God it's Me, Margaret and Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume are books from my childhood that I've read over and over.
*When people are asking for recommendations, I often recommend Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain and The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
*I love most everything by Elin Hildebrand and Jodi Picoult (Keeping Faith and My Sisters Keeper are a couple favorites)
*I really like memoirs

I loved Starring Sally J. Freedman & came *thisclose* to including it in my Top 5 Childhood/Girlhood books!

 

[Beezle2]

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
Dune by Frank Herbert
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

I also love the Stormlight series <3 And Dune..I have read most of the House titles also, House Harkonnen etc. Enders Game and all the Shadow series that follow Beans story. I seriously have so many favorites.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

I also loved Henry Huggins and Ribsy! So many good books for kids of all ages and adults in this thread. Thank you, everyone, for continuing to share.

 

[2TxAgs]

As a kid, I read all the Nancy Drew books, lots of Hardy Boys and Bobsie Twins, as well as Cherry Ames - the nurse who had lots of amazing assignments Also loved My Side of The Mountain and Swiss Family Robinson. I was into independence and survival. Since we moved frequently, the library was a friend and books a refuge when it was hard to meet new friends.

 

[DVCjj]

- Bible
- Gone with the Wind (as a senior in High School I read it 11 times consecutively. When done, flipped back to page 1 and started all over again.
- The Man who Loved Cat Dancing (I have no idea why I was crazy about this book but it has never left me many, many years later). No logical reason.

My favorite reading, though, is hands-down non fiction.
Love true stories and articles or medical/health information.

 

[L.K.]

The Eyes of the Dragon (Stephen King's under appreciated best work IMO)
The Count of Monte Cristo (this one seems to be popular!)
Jane Eyre
The Phantom of the Opera (the musical is great, but the book it was based on is just so amazing!)
The Night Circus

It's so hard to limit to just 5 as there are others that I would also name as my favorites.

Agree with you on The Eyes of the Dragon.

 

[L.K.]

This was my favorite series as a kid also.

Mine, too.

 

[Jillpie]

Wow, thanks again everyone. I can tell you put alot of thought into your choices. I know its hard to pick!! I just finished "Where the Crawdads Sing". And wow. I had given up on this novel a year ago, it was going too slow. But with its popularity and it became a movie, I had to pick it up again. And I am so glad I did. The ending was shocking. And all so well written. So many good books out there!

 

[KatMac]

Harry Potter
Hunger Games
Handmaid’s Tale
The Stand
The Giver

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

1) Tie between Not My Fathers Son and Baggage by Alan Cumming (read the former first as it’s the order it’s meant to read it’s both his memoirs)
2) The Nickelback Boys by Colson Whitehead
3) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith


5 usually changes but my big recommendation right now is The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside story of the Epic Hit Series by Jessica Radloff


Honorable mentions: White Hot Grief Parade by Alexandra Silber, One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London, Disney Wars by James B. Stewart, The Late Shift by Bill Carter, and Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History by Glen Berger.


Yes I read a lot of behind the scenes and memoirs but I always love fiction and the classics.

I’m currently reading Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad and recently finished Hooked by Sutton Foster, Gemingnani by Margaret Hall, Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren, and three books by Colleen Hoover (It Starts with Us, It Ends with Us and November 9th). For the latter author I read before I found out about recent controversy and it’s a shame because she is a damn good writer. Trigger warnings abound though for November 9th.

 

[DeeBee3]

-Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
-Paradise Alley, Kevin Baker (NOT to be confused with something I found by Sylvester Stallone)
-Harry Potter series (my daughter is now reading and tempted to re-read), J.K. Rowling
-1776, David McCullough
-The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis

*If you are interested in Irish-American history/immigration or saw Gangs of NY, then Paradise Alley would be very enjoyable. First book that brought me to tears and I was in college!