What is the one book you have read that you always recommend or would class as your favourite book of all time?

Please only vote for ONE book and if it's a series then just the first in the series.
1

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4.30 avg rating — 4,911,212 ratings
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2

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4.47 avg rating — 11,612,833 ratings
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3

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4.26 avg rating — 7,005,500 ratings
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4

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4.31 avg rating — 1,264,590 ratings
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5

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4.41 avg rating — 3,199,660 ratings
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6

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4.16 avg rating — 2,370,318 ratings
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7

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3.80 avg rating — 885,067 ratings
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8

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4.20 avg rating — 45,317 ratings
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9

by
4.41 avg rating — 22,863 ratings
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10

by
4.09 avg rating — 510,351 ratings
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11

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4.02 avg rating — 4,681,360 ratings
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11

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4.45 avg rating — 671,731 ratings
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13

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3.68 avg rating — 7,413,756 ratings
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14

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4.04 avg rating — 158,496 ratings
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15

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4.17 avg rating — 372,116 ratings
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16

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4.10 avg rating — 2,742 ratings
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17

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4.22 avg rating — 2,046,651 ratings
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18

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4.27 avg rating — 1,169,977 ratings
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18

by
3.91 avg rating — 310,536 ratings
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20

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4.24 avg rating — 3,191,301 ratings
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21

by
3.97 avg rating — 563,470 ratings
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22

by
4.05 avg rating — 75,968 ratings
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23

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 10 ratings
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23

by
4.13 avg rating — 83,225 ratings
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23

by
4.07 avg rating — 263,432 ratings
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23

by
4.14 avg rating — 372,711 ratings
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23

by
4.16 avg rating — 13,453 ratings
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23

by
3.91 avg rating — 299,292 ratings
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23

by
3.84 avg rating — 4,543 ratings
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23

by
4.06 avg rating — 18,015 ratings
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23

by
3.99 avg rating — 394,205 ratings
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23

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4.14 avg rating — 42,583 ratings
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23

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4.33 avg rating — 1,051,787 ratings
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23

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4.13 avg rating — 55,155 ratings
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23

by
4.31 avg rating — 736,461 ratings
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23

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,179 ratings
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23

by
4.24 avg rating — 62,624 ratings
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23

by
4.07 avg rating — 64,675 ratings
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23

by
3.89 avg rating — 2,230,151 ratings
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23

by
3.93 avg rating — 521,798 ratings
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23

by
2.75 avg rating — 4 ratings
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23

by
3.86 avg rating — 37,021 ratings
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23

by
3.66 avg rating — 31,970 ratings
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23

by
4.24 avg rating — 340,819 ratings
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23

by
3.92 avg rating — 3,662,730 ratings
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23

by
4.35 avg rating — 79 ratings
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23

by
4.15 avg rating — 131,055 ratings
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23

by
4.15 avg rating — 67,128 ratings
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23

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4.08 avg rating — 515,709 ratings
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23

by
4.31 avg rating — 8,684 ratings
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51

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3.74 avg rating — 2,017,901 ratings
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51

by
4.26 avg rating — 43 ratings
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53

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3.62 avg rating — 2,155,695 ratings
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53

by
3.82 avg rating — 15,092 ratings
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55

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3.76 avg rating — 1,895,934 ratings
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56

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 12,017 ratings
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57

by
3.72 avg rating — 621,928 ratings
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58

by
3.84 avg rating — 246,261 ratings
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59

by
4.32 avg rating — 309,056 ratings
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60

by
4.36 avg rating — 301,054 ratings
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61

by
4.30 avg rating — 328,587 ratings
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62

by
4.10 avg rating — 684,888 ratings
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63

by
4.33 avg rating — 382,844 ratings
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64

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4.25 avg rating — 374,054 ratings
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65

by
4.20 avg rating — 191,738 ratings
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66

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3.85 avg rating — 177,783 ratings
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67

by
4.31 avg rating — 122,580 ratings
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68

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4.23 avg rating — 54,265 ratings
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69

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4.34 avg rating — 64,787 ratings
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70

by
4.35 avg rating — 107,353 ratings
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71

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4.33 avg rating — 80,608 ratings
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72

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3.92 avg rating — 103,859 ratings
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73

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4.03 avg rating — 60,478 ratings
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74

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4.09 avg rating — 62,174 ratings
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75

by
4.14 avg rating — 55,090 ratings
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76

by
4.15 avg rating — 49,055 ratings
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77

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4.20 avg rating — 50,035 ratings
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78

by
4.18 avg rating — 40,803 ratings
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79

by
4.20 avg rating — 40,054 ratings
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80

by
4.25 avg rating — 38,206 ratings
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81

by
4.21 avg rating — 31,501 ratings
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82

by
3.98 avg rating — 126,680 ratings
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83

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3.96 avg rating — 264,201 ratings
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84

by
4.12 avg rating — 268,181 ratings
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85

by
4.02 avg rating — 246,064 ratings
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86

by
4.01 avg rating — 225,788 ratings
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87

by
4.02 avg rating — 212,174 ratings
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88

by
4.05 avg rating — 208,691 ratings
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89

by
4.01 avg rating — 195,956 ratings
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90

by
4.02 avg rating — 195,975 ratings
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91

by
3.91 avg rating — 170,898 ratings
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92

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3.82 avg rating — 134,067 ratings
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93

by
3.45 avg rating — 82 ratings
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94

by
3.63 avg rating — 35 ratings
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95

by
3.98 avg rating — 65,963 ratings
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96

by
4.30 avg rating — 25,998 ratings
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97

by
4.24 avg rating — 20,558 ratings
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98

by
4.11 avg rating — 49,769 ratings
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99

by
4.14 avg rating — 39,689 ratings
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100

by
3.75 avg rating — 108,229 ratings
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149 books · 79 voters · list created December 17th, 2014 by Carlyn (votes) .
11 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Clare 8644 books
348 friends
Adrien 892 books
18 friends
☆Ruth☆ 5223 books
45 friends
Candace 1416 books
153 friends
Malika 430 books
50 friends
Griselda 725 books
50 friends
Les 5752 books
11 friends
Virginia 944 books
57 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-20 of 20 (20 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Marquise (new)

Marquise This is the most difficult list to vote on! Listing all your favourites takes long enough, at least for me, but . . . just one book? Impossible! :)


message 2: by ``Laurie (new)

``Laurie I'm afraid I had to cheat Marquise by voting for 2 books, but I really couldn't choose between them.


message 3: by Diane Lynn (new)

Diane Lynn I agree it's tough to pick just one. I'll have to read both of yours, Laurie. :D


message 4: by ``Laurie (new)

``Laurie I hope you will love them as much as I have over the years.


Meanwhile, someone just added the book "Watership Down" and I was tempted to vote for my 3rd book now AARRRGHH!

I didn't see your vote Diane? Are you having trouble choosing a favorite?


message 5: by MomToKippy (new)

MomToKippy If I was limiting to my teen years I might pick Watership Down too. I had to look twice at it.


message 6: by Marquise (new)

Marquise Laurie wrote: "Meanwhile, someone just added the book "Watership Down" and I was tempted to vote for my 3rd book now AARRRGHH!"

Why not make it a Top 10, then, Laurie? We all are in a dilemma to choose just one.


message 7: by ``Laurie (new)

``Laurie I have started making a favorites shelf Marquise and WD is on that list. Were you suggesting making a Top 10 list then?


message 8: by Marquise (new)

Marquise Something like that, yes. I was suggesting to broaden the number of choices allowed to vote on for this list.


message 9: by Diane Lynn (new)

Diane Lynn Laurie wrote: "I hope you will love them as much as I have over the years.


Meanwhile, someone just added the book "Watership Down" and I was tempted to vote for my 3rd book now AARRRGHH!

I didn't see your vot..."


I voted for The Far Pavilions. It's been a favorite for gosh, 35 years. <3


message 10: by ``Laurie (new)

``Laurie Oh I see now. That is a good idea for a new listopia I agree, should be a lot of excellent choices to vote for.


message 11: by Hana (new)

Hana Okay. I finally forced myself to narrow it down to the ONE book (actually series) that I re-read the most over the last ten years. And the winner is....*Hana fumbles with envelope*...Master and Commander!


message 12: by MomToKippy (new)

MomToKippy \o/ Woooo Hoooo!!! \o/


message 13: by ``Laurie (new)

``Laurie Hana wrote: "Okay. I finally forced myself to narrow it down to the ONE book (actually series) that I re-read the most over the last ten years. And the winner is....*Hana fumbles with envelope*...[book:Master a..."

Hana, Master and Commander is one of my favorite movies of all time but I haven't read the book. If the book is as good as the movie I definitely want to read it.


message 14: by ``Laurie (new)

``Laurie I'm so tempted to add the Little House Books to this list - I suppose that could go under a separate list of Your Very Favorite Childhood Book Of All Time.


message 15: by Hana (last edited Nov 24, 2015 02:24PM) (new)

Hana Good point, Laurie and thanks for the applause, Gita :) The Little House books would be strong competitors for the vote cast by Childhood Me.

The big question inside the question is "what defines my all time? If I was Teenage Me the vote would be for The Fellowship of the Ring.

Sigh. I'm having a sort of Groundhog Day moment.


message 16: by ``Laurie (new)

``Laurie I just made a new list where you can vote for your top 5 favorite adult fiction books of all time to narrow down the choices even more since I have so many favorite childhood books. I hope you have time to vote on it.
After the holidays I'll probably do a children's top 5 list when everyone isn't so busy.


message 17: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Nov 24, 2015 07:37PM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Laurie wrote: "I just made a new list where you can vote for your top 5 favorite adult fiction books of all time to narrow down the choices even more since I have so many favorite childhood books. I hope you have time to vote on it. ..."

A link to your list would be helpful... :-)


message 18: by ``Laurie (new)

``Laurie Booklovinglady wrote: "Laurie wrote: "I just made a new list where you can vote for your top 5 favorite adult fiction books of all time to narrow down the choices even more since I have so many favorite childhood books. ..."

Oops! Sorry, I must've been having a senior moment :D

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...


message 19: by ``Laurie (new)

``Laurie Marquise wrote: "Laurie wrote: "Meanwhile, someone just added the book "Watership Down" and I was tempted to vote for my 3rd book now AARRRGHH!"

Why not make it a Top 10, then, Laurie? We all are in a dilemma to c..."


Marquise wrote: "Something like that, yes. I was suggesting to broaden the number of choices allowed to vote on for this list."


Here's the link Marquise when you have the time to vote:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...


message 20: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman I kind of want to remove all the books from this list that were voted on by only one person - but that person voted for more than one book - and it was not first on their list


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