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 — 4,897,316 ratings
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2

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4.47 avg rating — 11,586,980 ratings
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3

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4.26 avg rating — 6,988,829 ratings
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4

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4.31 avg rating — 1,263,471 ratings
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5

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4.41 avg rating — 3,194,158 ratings
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6

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4.16 avg rating — 2,363,958 ratings
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7

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3.80 avg rating — 883,533 ratings
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8

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4.20 avg rating — 45,281 ratings
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9

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4.41 avg rating — 22,844 ratings
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10

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4.09 avg rating — 509,699 ratings
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11

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4.02 avg rating — 4,663,649 ratings
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11

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4.45 avg rating — 666,255 ratings
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13

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3.68 avg rating — 7,400,461 ratings
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14

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4.04 avg rating — 158,254 ratings
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15

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4.17 avg rating — 371,168 ratings
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16

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4.10 avg rating — 2,739 ratings
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17

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4.22 avg rating — 2,042,389 ratings
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18

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4.27 avg rating — 1,167,642 ratings
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18

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3.91 avg rating — 309,922 ratings
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20

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4.24 avg rating — 3,186,105 ratings
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21

by
3.97 avg rating — 563,043 ratings
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22

by
4.05 avg rating — 75,908 ratings
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23

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 10 ratings
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23

by
4.13 avg rating — 83,046 ratings
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23

by
4.07 avg rating — 263,231 ratings
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23

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4.14 avg rating — 370,911 ratings
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23

by
4.16 avg rating — 13,425 ratings
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23

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3.91 avg rating — 298,836 ratings
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23

by
3.84 avg rating — 4,540 ratings
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23

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4.06 avg rating — 17,972 ratings
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23

by
3.99 avg rating — 393,253 ratings
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23

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4.14 avg rating — 42,394 ratings
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23

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4.33 avg rating — 1,047,414 ratings
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23

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4.13 avg rating — 55,049 ratings
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23

by
4.31 avg rating — 734,272 ratings
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23

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,175 ratings
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23

by
4.24 avg rating — 62,561 ratings
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23

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4.07 avg rating — 64,532 ratings
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23

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3.90 avg rating — 2,218,519 ratings
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23

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3.93 avg rating — 520,249 ratings
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23

by
2.75 avg rating — 4 ratings
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23

by
3.86 avg rating — 36,996 ratings
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23

by
3.66 avg rating — 31,769 ratings
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23

by
4.24 avg rating — 340,316 ratings
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23

by
3.92 avg rating — 3,650,357 ratings
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23

by
4.35 avg rating — 79 ratings
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23

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4.15 avg rating — 130,827 ratings
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23

by
4.15 avg rating — 67,054 ratings
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23

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4.08 avg rating — 512,637 ratings
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23

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4.31 avg rating — 8,615 ratings
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51

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3.74 avg rating — 2,014,753 ratings
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51

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4.26 avg rating — 43 ratings
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53

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3.62 avg rating — 2,152,110 ratings
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53

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3.82 avg rating — 15,031 ratings
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55

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3.76 avg rating — 1,892,942 ratings
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56

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 11,997 ratings
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57

by
3.72 avg rating — 621,407 ratings
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58

by
3.84 avg rating — 246,109 ratings
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59

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4.32 avg rating — 308,823 ratings
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60

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4.36 avg rating — 300,834 ratings
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61

by
4.30 avg rating — 328,359 ratings
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62

by
4.10 avg rating — 684,259 ratings
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63

by
4.33 avg rating — 382,587 ratings
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64

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4.25 avg rating — 373,781 ratings
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65

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4.20 avg rating — 191,647 ratings
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66

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3.85 avg rating — 177,673 ratings
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67

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4.31 avg rating — 122,508 ratings
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68

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4.23 avg rating — 54,219 ratings
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69

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4.34 avg rating — 64,732 ratings
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70

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4.35 avg rating — 107,290 ratings
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71

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4.33 avg rating — 80,535 ratings
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72

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3.92 avg rating — 103,814 ratings
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73

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4.03 avg rating — 60,445 ratings
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74

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4.09 avg rating — 62,150 ratings
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75

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4.14 avg rating — 55,058 ratings
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76

by
4.15 avg rating — 49,045 ratings
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77

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4.20 avg rating — 50,015 ratings
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78

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4.18 avg rating — 40,793 ratings
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79

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4.20 avg rating — 40,041 ratings
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80

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4.25 avg rating — 38,189 ratings
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81

by
4.21 avg rating — 31,494 ratings
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82

by
3.98 avg rating — 126,568 ratings
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83

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3.96 avg rating — 263,987 ratings
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84

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4.12 avg rating — 268,015 ratings
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85

by
4.02 avg rating — 245,877 ratings
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86

by
4.01 avg rating — 225,608 ratings
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87

by
4.02 avg rating — 212,015 ratings
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88

by
4.05 avg rating — 208,547 ratings
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89

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4.01 avg rating — 195,817 ratings
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90

by
4.02 avg rating — 195,836 ratings
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91

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3.91 avg rating — 170,764 ratings
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92

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3.82 avg rating — 133,951 ratings
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93

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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 — 65,931 ratings
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96

by
4.30 avg rating — 25,980 ratings
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97

by
4.24 avg rating — 20,552 ratings
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98

by
4.11 avg rating — 49,741 ratings
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99

by
4.14 avg rating — 39,657 ratings
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100

by
3.75 avg rating — 108,111 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 8584 books
349 friends
Adrien 887 books
18 friends
☆Ruth☆ 5223 books
45 friends
Candace 1413 books
152 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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