World Book Day - what's your favourite book?

I love the Harry Potter series, am currently really enjoying the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series, but, the best book for me has to be Frank Herbert's Dune.

To those souless mortals who dismisss harry Potter as childish, they should read the series, several times. It is so well written, so many plots and sub-plots even now there are still new connections to make, clues to be uncovered - even after multiple readings.

Not only does it have incredible depth of plot and characters, it is set in an imagined universe that is entirely credible and thoroughly defined.  

I was given a battered copy by a friend at college back in the mid 80's, and it is my most treasured possession and would be my desert island book.

Did this in the pub on Saturday night, so I have at least one answer!

We found it easier to think of a favourite classic and favourite other

Classic has to be Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. For, amongst other things,  a beautiful description of a fiery sky, hanging over a wedding procession, full of portents of the pathway to tragedy that will surely follow. (whew)

Other - maybe Patricia Highsmith's Ripley trilogy. Perfect noir in every way (and not a Scandinavian in sight- although I do love nordic noir). A beautifully precise writer. 

I have 2

To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee and Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

The latter never fails to cheer me up and every time I read To Kill a Mocking Bird  I just enjoy it more.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Every time I read it I'm filled with tension, awe and excitement.  Will he manage to eat enough to satisfy his hunger?  Why is he so hungry?  Will this complex story be able to be completed in a mere 22 pages?

I won't give the ending away, but lets just say I consider it the most feel-good ending in literature.

Like Anne, I'm a fan of the idea of cheating a little bit and picking one from each category. For me:

• Classic: Brave New World - Aldous Huxley. A book with the same impact today as it had when it was first published in 1931. The follow-up essay is also equally etnertianing and more than a bit chilling, looking at the world we live in today.

• Contemporary: Old Man's War - John Scalzi. I'm a sucker for sci-fi and this takes a brilliant, shocking idea and looks at it through a wonderfully realistic, everyman point of view that's part Starship Troopers, part Douglas Coupland.

1984 by George Orwell bears repeated reads, not least because (arguably) it is a story of today too.

The Hobbit too is still entertaining and quite popular right now.  Sidenote - no way does this need to be 3 movies!

Pride and Prejudice for my classic read - I love a bit of Mr Darcy

I also love His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman and 1984 George Orwell

I agree with Sap with Pride and Prejudice and I would rate Wuthering Heights right alongside it.  Read both of these years ago at college.

Fairly recently I read the Book Thief, found it absolutely amazing so that would have to be up there too.

Terry Goodkinds Sword of Truth series, its about 8 books in all so I'm probably being a bit greedy here, but have read them all about 3 times now and know i will read them again.

From my childhood - I think i would choose Mrs Frisby and the rats of Nimh :)

I could go on.....

Ditto for To Kill a Mockingbird and my George Orwell would be Animal Farm (makes me shudder) - in audio has to be Under Milk Wood read by Richard Burton, but for a book that changed how I look at the world, and my place in it, it would have to be The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.

The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder. It's non-fiction, but takes you into the amazing world of creating the first 32 bit mini computer and it's operating system.

It may not sound thrilling, but it is, and you get caught up in the excitement, the frustrations, and the successes. It won many awards.

There's so many books to choose from that its so hard to just chose one. The Dan Brown books are my current favourite. I like most of the classics listed above. I could list out all my favourite childhood books but it would take too long. I think one of the first books to have an impact on me was The Colour Purple because it was so shocking and so different and yet it felt so real.

What a great selection already! Would agree in particular with Brave New World, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984.

Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge has always been a favourite. And Jane Eyre. Both make great films, as do so many of the 19th century novels.

I think Ian McEwan is one of our great contemporary writers, in depicting emotional tension. Atonement, or Saturday, or Enduring Love. The last of these, by the way, has one of the best opening scenes of any novel.

First time I read Frederick Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal (30 years ago?) I thought it the most exciting novel I had come across.

To pick a less well known story, William Horwood's Skallagrigg is compelling and one of the most moving novels I have read - a great storyline about a girl with cerebral palsy: not remotely depressing but I challenge anyone to hold the tears in.

And finally ... . As a Catholic, I thoroughly enjoyed Priest by Michael Rose. The church has (deservedly) been in the headlines for so many negative reasons, but this simple account of the real lives of 10 priests in the USA, quietly living out their calling to compassionate service to their communities, reflects the real day to day experience of most Catholics.

There's hardly a book mentioned here that I've not read and enjoyed but I have to second

tracybbs with The Book Thief  - brilliant!