I loved The Thorn Birds, and Shogun. I haven't read any of the others. I would add just about any book written by James A. Michener, Leon Uris, Susan Howatch, Taylor Caldwell, Norah Lofts. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. I could never pull off a list of just 10 favorites.
Yeah, it's hard to limit to just 10. I love historical fiction, but I find I can't read it all the time. The material is usually pretty heavy, and I find I need breaks from it.
As for James Clavell, I greatly prefer Tai-Pan and Noble House to Shogun, which I found so very interesting. On Memories of a Geisha, it was good but not a favorite of mine. I highly recommend Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, set partly in Ethiopia, wonderful; also A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth.
I was SO into Memoirs of a Geisha and The Other Boleyn Girl when they came out. Total page turners. I really enjoyed The Red Tent and very glad I read Pillars of the Earth. The Girl with Pearl was just ok. And I really need to read the older ones!
I don't know about the best of all time, but I thoroughly enjoyed The Thornbirds when I read it in my thirties. I also really enjoyed Girl With a Pearl Earring, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Book Thief, Gone With the Wind and Memoirs of a Geisha. The Pillars of the Earth is a definite winner!! I loved it! I own The Red Tent, but I've never read it. There are so many I've read through the years. I love historical fiction!
Pillars of the Earth a friend told me to read, loved it. Red Tent loved it, it is totally worth the read. The Other Boleyn Girl I liked, I’ve read several Phillipa Gregory books and I liked that period of history. I also recommend The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
I remember enjoying Memoirs of a Geisha years ago when I read it, but honestly couldn't tell you what happens in it. So it was a good read, but not one that stuck with me personally. It took me a while to finish The Book Thief and I would say that it has stuck with me. I don't know that I would say that there is no hope, but that the hope is different. I saw it in the small actions that retain the humanity and integrity of a person. So from that perspective from their ability to retain those aspects of themselves despite everything they were facing was what I connected to most in the book. I think I read the Other Boleyn Girl, but same thing. I enjoyed it at the time, but it didn't stick with me. Pillars of the Earth is on my TBR. Thank you for sharing.
That's an interesting take in terms of the Book Thief. I can see what you mean. I guess I just really didn't like the ending. Pillars of the Earth is fantastic! But I will warn that it does get off to a slow start. You honestly have to make it half way through, but then you won't be able to put it down. It's one of my all-time favorites, and I'm actually re-reading it for a third time right now.
Pillars of the Earth great, I’ll have to try The girl with the pearl earring just because of the painting, The Book Thief was a great idea but a narrator and the rest I agree with you.
I read The Red Tent years ago when it was very popular. I do not remember it all that well. I read The Book Thief and liked it but not crazy about it like others seem to be. The Pillars of the Earth is on my TBR as it is highly recommended by several in my book club. Loved, loved, loved Gone with the Wind. So much more in the book than in the movie and the book was much better, but I must add I read it at age 21. Personally, I like a historical setting but like it more when major characters in the book are real people. I recommend anything by Melanie Benjamin or Marie Benedict. I call that genre fictionalized history. I would put The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd in that category since 1/2 of the book is based on a real person. Surprised that The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah was not on the list. Great book and very popular. Currently reading Wolf Hall about Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII, so am intrigued By the Other Boleyn Girl which I did not know about.
@@FortheLoveofStory I am about 20% in and enjoying it. I know only the basics of British history of the time, so like that I am learning. The style of writing is particular in the way in which it indicates Thomas Cromwell (main character) is speaking, thinking or acting. Could see that as confusing to some, but I am ok with it. (Just checked Good Reads and indeed this is a complaint of many reviewers.)
I definitely listened to a lot of audiobooks to get to 100, but I also read a lot of really long fiction on the page, like Les Miserables, which is 1,500 pages but only counted as one book. It was a lot of work, lol.
I loved watching the Thorn Birds mini series back in the day! And I did watch the Shogun series and it was amazing! Of course I have also watched the movie Gone with the Wind. I would really like to re read Tale of Two Cities. I read that in high school and I do remembering enjoying it. I wonder if I would still like it. I have The Red Tent and The Book Thief on my shelf, but haven't read either one yet.
I've read all but one of these books, some more than once, the most recent a reread (47 years in-between - yikes!) of "The Thorn Birds," and loved them all. The one book I didn't read, "Tale of Two Cities," I tried to work through as a teenager and just couldn't do it. It remains on my TBR list but it probably won't be anytime soon. The changes I'd make to the list would be: "Shogun" was excellent but I liked "Tai-Pan" better, probably because I'd recently been to Hong Kong when I read it. " Pillars of the Earth," also excellent but I preferred the similarly themed "Sarum" by Edward Rutherfurd. I liked "The Girl With the Pearl Earring" well enough but I don't think it is a good fit for the "10 best of all-time" category. I think I'd add historical classics such as "Chesapeake" or "Centennial" by James Michener and "Trinity" or "Exodus" by Leon Uris. I smiled at your observation that you prefer books that give you hope. I'm thinking historical fiction seldom qualifies as HEA escapist fiction.
Thanks for the recs! Yes, a lot of people have commented that Shogun is great but Tai-Pan was better. I own Shogun, though, so I'll have to start there (one day, lol)
HF is my go to genre as well! I have most of these on my shelves but haven’t read them yet. I think I would put All Quiet On the Western Front on there.
Hello. My faves are: Moonglow by Michael Chabon Perfume by Patrick Suskind Shogun by Clavell (it's long, but it goes by really quicky) Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell Los Pichiciegos by Fogwill (I don't know the title in english) The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy The Cromwell trilogy by Mantel The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson A Tale of Two Cities (I've read eleven years ago, so I need a re-read) I also frankly don't give a damn about Gone With the Wind.
Shogun is on my shelf, and I really need to read it! I loved Lonesome Dove! Yeah, I agree on Gone With the Wind. I read it over the summer, and my feelings about it are lukewarm at best.
I read half the books on this list and agree with The Thorn Birds, Shogun and The Book Thief. I found Memoirs of a Geisha boring also, although I liked the movie. I would add The Aviator’s Wife, Loving Frank about Frank Lloyd Wright and Rules of Civility by Amor Towles.
Yes, to The Aviator's Wife. Learned so much about what celebrity was like in Lindbergh's time. Will check out the others you listed based on that recommendation.
Years ago I read The Red Tent. It was good, but just okay good. Don't think it deserves to be on this list. I would agree that A Tale of Two Cities and The Pillars of the Earth deserve to be on it.
I have read all the books on this list and enjoyed most of them. My least favorite, believe it or not, is Dicken''s Tale of Two Cities.. I think several of his other books are much better.
I loved Thornbirds when it was popular. I reread it recently and I didn’t love it as much. My daughter’s favorite books is Tale of Two Cities, I haven’t read it yet. I absolutely adore Pillars. Book Thief’s, Red Tent & Memoirs of a Geisha were only okay. I don’t think I’ve read any other. I have no interest in reading Gone with The Wind. I don’t mind long books but no interest in it.
I have read all of these books, except Shogun, but I have read other books by James Clavell and they are long, but page turners. Book Thief and Girl with Pearl Earring were good, but do not belong on this list. As a history buff I hated The Other Boleyn Girl, while entertaining, the portrait of Anne is historically incorrect. A Tale of Two Cities is a must-read; so many quotes abound from a short book. Memoirs of a Geisha is a good book, and the movie was equally good, so you can skip the book. Same for Thorn Birds - the TV mini-series was excellent. Gone with the Wind is an excellent book; if you find it difficult, watch the movie first, but you will find the book very satisfying. he Pillars of the Earth was outstanding, and while the mini-series was entertaining, the book is so much better. What you get in reading is the protagonist's thoughts and feelings which cannot be conveyed in a visual medium; that's why I love reading! This was an interesting video, and I have subscribed.
Yes, it's so rare when the movie or TV show is better than the book, because you don't know what's going on inside the characters' heads. I though the Pillars of the Earth miniseries was OK. Thanks for subscribing :)
The Red tent sucked. Enjoyed the Book Thief, Thornbirds as a teenager a long time ago. The other Boleyn Girl meh (so many Henry VIII books). Gone With the Wind is long and actually not about Scarlet O’Hara. Shogun was so long ago that I do not remember it.
@@FortheLoveofStory The real heroine of Gone with the Wind is Melanie. Melanie stays friends with Scarlet through everything horrible that Scarlet does to her. Melanie isn’t clueless but she sees Scarlet chasing her limp selfish husband constantly and stays her friend. She doesn’t ostracise her when everybody else does and even asks her to look after said awful husband when she is dying. Gone with the Wind is about how different people behave in different circumstances. Scarlet is not a heroine she is an anti-heroine. In a lot of ways it’s more about the people of the South than it is about Scarlet. Just like I do not think that To Kill a Mockingbird is as much about racism as it is about abuse.
@@linettewallbank Interesting analysis, and yes, I do agree with you. Melanie was an extremely well-wrought character in my opinion. It was also obvious to me that she wasn't as clueless as she made herself appear.
@@linettewallbank I loved your analysis of GWTW, it had some interesting characters and themes. And also, why wasn't To Kill a Mockingbird on this list - it's a classic.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Really enjoyed Shogun. Read it a few times. There was also a tv series in the 80's with Richard Chamberlain. Worth a watch. Happy reading.
I've really got to get started on Shogun. It's so long, though.
I loved The Thorn Birds, and Shogun. I haven't read any of the others. I would add just about any book written by James A. Michener, Leon Uris, Susan Howatch, Taylor Caldwell, Norah Lofts. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. I could never pull off a list of just 10 favorites.
Yeah, it's hard to limit to just 10. I love historical fiction, but I find I can't read it all the time. The material is usually pretty heavy, and I find I need breaks from it.
As for James Clavell, I greatly prefer Tai-Pan and Noble House to Shogun, which I found so very interesting. On Memories of a Geisha, it was good but not a favorite of mine. I highly recommend Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, set partly in Ethiopia, wonderful; also A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth.
I've heard so many good things about "A Suitable Boy." I'll have to put it on my TBR.
i second A Suitable Boy--wonderful read!
@@nancytrue7276 Thanks!
I was SO into Memoirs of a Geisha and The Other Boleyn Girl when they came out. Total page turners. I really enjoyed The Red Tent and very glad I read Pillars of the Earth. The Girl with Pearl was just ok. And I really need to read the older ones!
Haha. Yeah, my sister said "Memoirs" was boring, so I never tried it, lol.
Yes on Tale of 2 Cities; no on Book Thief , no on Nightingale, yes on Pillars, what happened to Moby Dick? THE Terror??
I don't know about the best of all time, but I thoroughly enjoyed The Thornbirds when I read it in my thirties. I also really enjoyed Girl With a Pearl Earring, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Book Thief, Gone With the Wind and Memoirs of a Geisha. The Pillars of the Earth is a definite winner!! I loved it!
I own The Red Tent, but I've never read it.
There are so many I've read through the years. I love historical fiction!
Me too! It's such a fantastic genre!
The Red Tent is a stunning book and an absolute must read!!
Absolutely a great read!!
Good to know!
Red tent was a great book. Dinahs story is engrossing. Biblical Genealogy hurts my brain 😂 but her story is worth getting through a little of it.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Pillars of the Earth a friend told me to read, loved it. Red Tent loved it, it is totally worth the read. The Other Boleyn Girl I liked, I’ve read several Phillipa Gregory books and I liked that period of history. I also recommend The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
Yes, Pillars of the Earth is fantastic!
I remember enjoying Memoirs of a Geisha years ago when I read it, but honestly couldn't tell you what happens in it. So it was a good read, but not one that stuck with me personally. It took me a while to finish The Book Thief and I would say that it has stuck with me. I don't know that I would say that there is no hope, but that the hope is different. I saw it in the small actions that retain the humanity and integrity of a person. So from that perspective from their ability to retain those aspects of themselves despite everything they were facing was what I connected to most in the book. I think I read the Other Boleyn Girl, but same thing. I enjoyed it at the time, but it didn't stick with me. Pillars of the Earth is on my TBR. Thank you for sharing.
That's an interesting take in terms of the Book Thief. I can see what you mean. I guess I just really didn't like the ending. Pillars of the Earth is fantastic! But I will warn that it does get off to a slow start. You honestly have to make it half way through, but then you won't be able to put it down. It's one of my all-time favorites, and I'm actually re-reading it for a third time right now.
Pillars of the Earth great, I’ll have to try The girl with the pearl earring just because of the painting, The Book Thief was a great idea but a narrator and the rest I agree with you.
Yeah, I wasn't a big fan of The Book Thief.
I read The Red Tent years ago when it was very popular. I do not remember it all that well. I read The Book Thief and liked it but not crazy about it like others seem to be. The Pillars of the Earth is on my TBR as it is highly recommended by several in my book club. Loved, loved, loved Gone with the Wind. So much more in the book than in the movie and the book was much better, but I must add I read it at age 21. Personally, I like a historical setting but like it more when major characters in the book are real people. I recommend anything by Melanie Benjamin or Marie Benedict. I call that genre fictionalized history. I would put The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd in that category since 1/2 of the book is based on a real person. Surprised that The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah was not on the list. Great book and very popular. Currently reading Wolf Hall about Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII, so am intrigued By the Other Boleyn Girl which I did not know about.
How are you liking Wolf Hall? I always hear mixed reviews about it.
@@FortheLoveofStory I am about 20% in and enjoying it. I know only the basics of British history of the time, so like that I am learning. The style of writing is particular in the way in which it indicates Thomas Cromwell (main character) is speaking, thinking or acting. Could see that as confusing to some, but I am ok with it. (Just checked Good Reads and indeed this is a complaint of many reviewers.)
100 books in a year. Wow! That’s a lot. My top number of books read in one year was 25 and some of these books were 500 plus pages.
I definitely listened to a lot of audiobooks to get to 100, but I also read a lot of really long fiction on the page, like Les Miserables, which is 1,500 pages but only counted as one book. It was a lot of work, lol.
I loved watching the Thorn Birds mini series back in the day! And I did watch the Shogun series and it was amazing! Of course I have also watched the movie Gone with the Wind. I would really like to re read Tale of Two Cities. I read that in high school and I do remembering enjoying it. I wonder if I would still like it. I have The Red Tent and The Book Thief on my shelf, but haven't read either one yet.
Good to know about Shogun! I want to read the book before I watch the series. Right now my series binge will be "Emily in Paris," lol.
I've read all but one of these books, some more than once, the most recent a reread (47 years in-between - yikes!) of "The Thorn Birds," and loved them all. The one book I didn't read, "Tale of Two Cities," I tried to work through as a teenager and just couldn't do it. It remains on my TBR list but it probably won't be anytime soon.
The changes I'd make to the list would be:
"Shogun" was excellent but I liked "Tai-Pan" better, probably because I'd recently been to Hong Kong when I read it.
" Pillars of the Earth," also excellent but I preferred the similarly themed "Sarum" by Edward Rutherfurd.
I liked "The Girl With the Pearl Earring" well enough but I don't think it is a good fit for the "10 best of all-time" category.
I think I'd add historical classics such as "Chesapeake" or "Centennial" by James Michener and "Trinity" or "Exodus" by Leon Uris.
I smiled at your observation that you prefer books that give you hope. I'm thinking historical fiction seldom qualifies as HEA escapist fiction.
Thanks for the recs! Yes, a lot of people have commented that Shogun is great but Tai-Pan was better. I own Shogun, though, so I'll have to start there (one day, lol)
HF is my go to genre as well! I have most of these on my shelves but haven’t read them yet. I think I would put All Quiet On the Western Front on there.
All Quiet on the Western Front is one of my all-time favorite books. An absolute classic.
I so agree - it is a profound read.
I guess it was because I read it at the perfect moment for me but The book thief is my absolute favourite book of all time.
Gone with the Wind is my all time favorite, next to that is Shogun.
I really need to read Shogun! I have it but it looks so intimidating because it's so huge!
Hello. My faves are:
Moonglow by Michael Chabon
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Shogun by Clavell (it's long, but it goes by really quicky)
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell
Los Pichiciegos by Fogwill (I don't know the title in english)
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy
The Cromwell trilogy by Mantel
The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson
A Tale of Two Cities (I've read eleven years ago, so I need a re-read)
I also frankly don't give a damn about Gone With the Wind.
Yeah, I can't believe Lonesome Dove wasn't on this list!
Shogun is on my shelf, and I really need to read it! I loved Lonesome Dove! Yeah, I agree on Gone With the Wind. I read it over the summer, and my feelings about it are lukewarm at best.
I read half the books on this list and agree with The Thorn Birds, Shogun and The Book Thief. I found Memoirs of a Geisha boring also, although I liked the movie. I would add The Aviator’s Wife, Loving Frank about Frank Lloyd Wright and Rules of Civility by Amor Towles.
Thanks for the recommendations!
Yes, to The Aviator's Wife. Learned so much about what celebrity was like in Lindbergh's time. Will check out the others you listed based on that recommendation.
Years ago I read The Red Tent. It was good, but just okay good. Don't think it deserves to be on this list. I would agree that A Tale of Two Cities and The Pillars of the Earth deserve to be on it.
I love Pillars of the Earth! So good!
I have read all the books on this list and enjoyed most of them. My least favorite, believe it or not, is Dicken''s Tale of Two Cities.. I think several of his other books are much better.
Interesting!
I loved Thornbirds when it was popular. I reread it recently and I didn’t love it as much. My daughter’s favorite books is Tale of Two Cities, I haven’t read it yet. I absolutely adore Pillars. Book Thief’s, Red Tent & Memoirs of a Geisha were only okay. I don’t think I’ve read any other. I have no interest in reading Gone with The Wind. I don’t mind long books but no interest in it.
I recently read Gone With the Wind, and I definitely wouldn't read it if you're not interested in it. It's a bit of a slog.
@@FortheLoveofStory Good to know.
Read gone with the wind
How did you like it?
I have read all of these books, except Shogun, but I have read other books by James Clavell and they are long, but page turners. Book Thief and Girl with Pearl Earring were good, but do not belong on this list. As a history buff I hated The Other Boleyn Girl, while entertaining, the portrait of Anne is historically incorrect. A Tale of Two Cities is a must-read; so many quotes abound from a short book. Memoirs of a Geisha is a good book, and the movie was equally good, so you can skip the book. Same for Thorn Birds - the TV mini-series was excellent. Gone with the Wind is an excellent book; if you find it difficult, watch the movie first, but you will find the book very satisfying. he Pillars of the Earth was outstanding, and while the mini-series was entertaining, the book is so much better. What you get in reading is the protagonist's thoughts and feelings which cannot be conveyed in a visual medium; that's why I love reading! This was an interesting video, and I have subscribed.
Yes, it's so rare when the movie or TV show is better than the book, because you don't know what's going on inside the characters' heads. I though the Pillars of the Earth miniseries was OK. Thanks for subscribing :)
The Red tent sucked. Enjoyed the Book Thief, Thornbirds as a teenager a long time ago. The other Boleyn Girl meh (so many Henry VIII books). Gone With the Wind is long and actually not about Scarlet O’Hara. Shogun was so long ago that I do not remember it.
I actually read Gone With the Wind over the summer, and I'm curious why you say it's not about Scarlet O'Hara. Why not?
@@FortheLoveofStory The real heroine of Gone with the Wind is Melanie. Melanie stays friends with Scarlet through everything horrible that Scarlet does to her. Melanie isn’t clueless but she sees Scarlet chasing her limp selfish husband constantly and stays her friend. She doesn’t ostracise her when everybody else does and even asks her to look after said awful husband when she is dying. Gone with the Wind is about how different people behave in different circumstances. Scarlet is not a heroine she is an anti-heroine. In a lot of ways it’s more about the people of the South than it is about Scarlet. Just like I do not think that To Kill a Mockingbird is as much about racism as it is about abuse.
@@linettewallbank Interesting analysis, and yes, I do agree with you. Melanie was an extremely well-wrought character in my opinion. It was also obvious to me that she wasn't as clueless as she made herself appear.
@@linettewallbank I loved your analysis of GWTW, it had some interesting characters and themes. And also, why wasn't To Kill a Mockingbird on this list - it's a classic.
ok bye, game of thrones??? haha thats a good one