My favourite books are Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell, the BFG by Roald Dahl and Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. Rather a mixed bag there.
I just rediscovered my love for Final Exam by A. Bates. Its a YA fiction novel and its short and simple. About a senior named Kelly who would love nothing more then to take apart and fix cars. While stressing out over Finals someone is playing pranks and trying to hurt Kelly and she has absolutely no idea why. She soon falls suspicious of her close friends and a popular guy who has taken an interest in her. I think the characters are great along with the relationships between the characters Can't seem to find much about the book online which gives me the impression that its a bit more obscure. But I am happy that I found this small gem. lol
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. It's a very "quiet" book, but the elements of psychosis brewing under the surface are entirely captivating; I spent the whole reading experience just waiting for everything to go horribly wrong. The writing is superb and evokes a "small town mindset" that is at once quaint and chillingly dark.
The Root Cellar. It's a historical/fantasy read. I love it. I've read it at least five times, and I need to read it again soon.
Agatha Christie's autobiography is my favorite book. I read somewhere, possibly on the back cover, that because of her age at the time she wrote it she had not done much editing to it and this made the text jump around a bit. That is what I enjoyed about it. She would be talking about one thing then she would say something like 'that reminds me of Mathew' and then she go on about Mathew. It was if she was having a personal coversation with me, her reader. It felt as if she was sat across the table from me; telling me her inner most secrets. I know this may sound silly but by the end of the book I felt I had made a new friend. No other author has made me feel this way.
Currently, I'd have to say The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I had to read it for summer reading but... I loved it. It holds the title of the only book to ever make me cry.
My top three: 1. I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan 2. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger 3. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy (also I will read anything by Stephen King, Gregory Maguire, and James Ellroy)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel is defiantly my favorite. I've liked everything I've read so far by Stephen King, too.
My favourite book is Pride and Prejudice. It was one of the books I did for GCSE and I completely fell inlove with it. I'm not even sure why because although I read a big mixture of books it wouldn't be something that I would usually go for but I thought it was amazing and completely fell inlove with Mr Darcy >.<
Hard to choose. I guess most of the ones above. If you are looking for some very good, not as popular books you should read The Viking Warrior, one of my all time favorites. It's historical fiction, but it seems like it is made up. It's a amazing story and very well written.
There are thousands of popular books. What genre do you most like to read? Hmmm...books for a 14 year old boy. Have you ever read Darren Shan's vampire and demon books? They're very popular, and really exciting. Most kids your age would like them I think; I certainly loved them at that age.
In the UK it is usually the Complete Works of Shakespeare and the Bible - I think of all time they still trounce Harry Potter
This year its Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy, all 3 have been on the best-seller lists in virtually every Western country since they came out. Last year (and this year, to a lesser extent) it was the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. Before that the Harry Potter franchise dominated best-seller lists. Then you have things like The Secret, virtually anything endorsed by Oprah, and a handful of biographies (Stephen Fry's is doing very well in Britain at the moment, for instance). Of course, none of that says anything about the quality of those books, but beyond sales, there isn't a good way to define 'most popular'.
"In the UK it is usually the Complete Works of Shakespeare and the Bible" I second that! I don't know about Shakespeare here in America, but the Bible is definitely one of the most popular.
