Hanna, big fan of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" here (waving vigorously)! So many times I've looked like a complete idiot laughing out loud while reading it on the subway! Alas, though, the only book of Neil Gaman's that I have read is "Don't Panic". Have read 1984, Dune, "2001: A Space Odyssey", "The War of The Worlds", "The Andromeda Strain","20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and a few others. I have heard so much about "Good Omens", I'll look for it at the library.

Ele, sounds like your mom and I would hit it off wonderfully! I don't know what it is, but I just love settling down in a corner of a library reading away to my heart's content. In some parallel reality I own a mansion in which 90% of the rooms are filled with books

Angie i remember My naughty little sister. Anyone remember Alfie books. I have a couple in my classroom at the mo and love reading these to the kids x

Louise- I read the Alfie and Annie Rose books! Wow, we're getting *really* far back now... I don't think I read those so much as had them read to me! My sister and I had loads of Shirley Hughes books- I loved the illustrations.

I vaguely remember My Naughty Little Sister, too. I think she stressed me out though, because she was just *so* naughty!

I've never really been into fantasy, so a lot of these titles are just going over my head. Of course I read The Hobbit, Narnia, etc.- but not so much more than that. Oh- I did love the vaguely fantasy-ish The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. They made a movie of it last year and I saw it on the plane in October- really horrible

Mrs Pepperpot anyone remember those? They're all flooding back now! x

Edit- and Pongwiffy another witch book i loved!

I have always been a huge fan of books as well, and my mom definitely taught me to love the public library!

As a kid I read constantly. I read a ton of classics (Rebecca, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, etc.), and also loved series books (Beverly Cleary, the Babysitters Club, Nancy Drew). As a really young child, I loved the Mr. Men and Little Miss books. I think that my all-time favorite book as a kid was The Westing Game. I was always a huge fan of mysteries and loved Agatha Christie.

I actually decided to re-read every single Agatha Christie novel now, as an adult. I am reading them in chronological order--I could never keep track of which I had read before! I like to alternate heavier books with lighter books (like mysteries). My two favorite books that I have read over the past couple of years are The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (a really excellent book that is well-written, suspenseful, and completely draws you in), and And Then We Came to the End, by Joshua Ferris (an absolutely hysterical book about a company doing layoffs during the last recession). I also love Jeffrey Eugenides, and have enjoyed a couple of books by Curtis Sittenfeld as well.

I'm a big fan of bookmooch.com for trading books. It's a great website--you post the books you own and want to get rid of, and people request them of you. You mail them out and get a point for each book you send. With each point, you can request a book from someone else. It's great for people like me, who don't have a ton of space, and it cuts down on the expense of books. I am a huge fan of the public library as well, and am lucky enough to have one less than a block away.

To say that I love this thread would be the understatement of the century! And I love it even more that there are soooo many other book worms on YLF. I've read and loved many of the authors mentioned here, so I'll try not to repeat those.

I was also one of those kids that couldn't get enough of boarding school books, or anything with orphans or abandoned children in it (Cynthia Voigt anyone?-) There are loads of excellent Dutch and Belgium writers too of course (the publishing company Lemniscaat had particularly good ones when I was in my early teens). And I can't believe nobody has mentioned the Adrian Mole diaries, they were hilarious at the time.

Truth be told, I'll read anything I can get my hands on (except horror stories, just don't like them very much). I'm a "mood reader" really, sometimes I get into one particular genre and read little else, sometimes I'm all over the place. I'm a big fan of mysteries, travel and culinary writing. On my book shelves you'll find lots of the classics and a lot of "fluff" too, it's all great;-)

Let's see what I can see from the couch: Kazuo Ishiguro, Alessandro Barrico, Enrique Vila-Matas, Italo Calvino, Roddy Doyle, Nick Hornby, A.S. Byatt, Julian Barnes, Elizabeth George, Carol O'Connell, P.G. Wodehouse...

I could never really get into Terry Pratchett, but I'm going to give him another go now. I'll add Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick and Heinlein to the sci-fi/fantasy list that Hannah and others have started. Has anyone read "Little, Big" by John Crowley. A friend recommended it to me, so it's on my to read list now.

Jeez, I've already written a novel and I haven't even gotten to my *favourites* yet: books about books and writing. If I had to name one book that is totally me, it would be "Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader" by Anne Fadiman. It's a compilation of essays on the love for books, quirks of book worms, "an extended love letter to language and the wonders it performs". With every chapter I would shout out loud "yezzzzz, me too". Yes, dear ladies, I'm a book geek!

If you want to try the genre, I'd also recommend a delightful little book by Alan Bennett, "The Uncommon Reader" in which Queen Elizabeth II goes searching for her runaway corgi in a mobile library van.

The sci-fi/fantasy fans might also enjoy the Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde ("The Eyre Affaire" is the first one in the series).
Another very good one is "Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters" by Mark Dunn.

On my own (endless) to read list now are e.g.
- The Solitude of Prime Numbers, Paolo Giordano
- The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery
(I'm often attracted to a book because of the unsual or quirky title, or because of the gorgeous cover design alone, sometimes they turn out to be excellent books, sometimes not, that's ok, I don't mind going on a little book adventure;-)
- The Invention of Everything Else, Samantha Hunt
- Man Walks Into a Room, Nicole Krauss

Oh and I cannot let Persephone Books go unmentioned: http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/
I *love* this concept, the books are truly gorgeous, there are some outstanding stories among them, and I just want them all;-)

One more thing, and then I'll shut up for tonight. If you enjoyed the Harry Potter books, then the audio book versions, narrated by British actor, comedian and writer Stephen Fry come highly recommended. In fact, pick any audio book narrated by him, he's extremely good at this!

Oh- what about The Boxcar Children, and the Nesbitt books? (Five Children and It)?

Inge- I completely agree about the Harry Potter audio books. I usually can't stand to listen to audio books, but I love those. The other series that I love on audio are the Lemony Snickett ones- a Series of Unfortunate Events, but only the ones that Tim Curry narrates.

Gaah, how did I forget to mention P.G. Wodehouse? LOVE all his works. Growing up I was the only child I knew who knew and read PGW.

Inge, I have listened to a few audiobooks narrated by Stephen Fry. If it weren't for the fact that I was driving at the time (long cummutes) I would have fallen off my chair so many, many times. The man has such a finely tuned sense of humour. Haven't listened to the HP series though. His narration of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is my absolute favourite.

Hmm...on my shelf right now are:
The God Delusion & The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
War & Remembrance by Herman Wouk
Biocosm by James Gardner
Outliers, Tipping Point, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
The Complete Saki by HH Munro
1000 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Man & Superman by George Bernard Shaw
The Tin Drum by Günter Grass

and a few others.

My favourite Indian authors are Rabindranath Tagore, Shashi Tharoor and Rohinton Mistry.

Wow this is the best thread ever!!! I share so many of your childhood faves:

- #1 of course being Enid Blyton
- Judy Blume (ah Deenie!)
- Gordon Korman - Bug Potters books always had me in stitches no matter how many times I read them
- Anne of GG
- Narnia
- Roald Dahl
- Babysitters club......ah cheesy
- Billy Bunter books by ??? (more boarding school shenanigans)
- The "William" books by ???
- Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys etc

I would love to go back and read some of these again. I know all my Enids are somewhere in my parents garage still. No way I could ever part with those!

Inge ever since I saw that HP was narrated by Stephen Fry I have wanted to get my hands on them. I have such a major crush on him!! His books and TV shows are great!!

I can't believe I forgot to mention The Princess Bride. My favourite book of all time!!

Oh my gosh! I'm late coming to this thread. Curling up with a good book is one of my favorite things to do. The reason we bought the house we are in now is because the previous owner turned the formal living room into a library with built-in book shelves from floor to ceiling along every wall. We have a couple of leather chairs in there with a good reading lamp, and it's our favorite room in the house!

I can't remember alot of what I used to read when I was younger - I'm that old! I think a lot of Bobbsy Twins, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys. I loved Little Women, Heidi, and Gone With The Wind.

I recently reread The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings several years back and love to get lost in a good fantasy book. I'm also rereading some of the classics.

Dawn - I also loved The Secret Garden and just finished The Count of Monte Cristo a few weeks ago. My son had to read it for 10th grade English so I picked it up when he was done - a great story! Also reread Farenheit 451 last year after he finished it for class.

Steph - I LOVED Joshua Ferris' And Then We Came to the End! Wish they would make it into a movie. You might also enjoy Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan, a funny but poignant tale about the manager of a Red Lobster that is going out of business four days before Christmas.

Inge - I like your taste in books! I also enjoyed Ella Minnow Pea - cute, whimsical book. I've read "The Uncommon Reader" and agree, it's a delightful book and a quick read. I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog recently and enjoyed it so much that I passed it on to my daughter. I just finished Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denin by David Sedaris.

Vani - my daughter was reading The Tin Drum when she was home visiting for Thanksgiving. That's on my reading list now!

Ele - thanks for starting this fun thread! I love to hear about what everyone else is reading!

And, of course, I've read every Harry Potter book!

Debora, I just read Last Night at the Lobster a few weeks ago, and I did enjoy it!

Speaking of the HP audiobooks: I actually own the HP audiobooks with Jim Dale (another British actor!) as the reader. He is really superb. I guess the US versions of the audiobook are with Jim Dale and the UK ones are with Stephen Fry. Now I'm tempted to try to get my hands on the UK version to compare.