Kath, I think some children's books have universal appeal and would suggest

'Little Women' and 'The Secret Garden'

Anyone NOT like these?

Never read 'Mockingbird'.

Or 'Secret Garden'.

And, Vee, I hate 'Little Women'! 'Birds in their little nests agree....' Yuk!

No, I don't thing we can all agree on one book. I'd say 'Jane Eyre', but I know some as would shout 'Yuk'! to that and label it simply superior Chicklit.

Dido

To Kill A Mockingbird is a wonderful choice; I re-read it recently, and will again soon for my bookclub. One might add The Grapes of Wrath and The Good Earth as runners-up, but TKAM has such universal appeal and I've never heard someone criticize it.

Sorry, Vee, but I did not like The Secret Garden, thought it went on forever, and ever...

I would say 'Franny and Zooey' by J.D. Salinger, or perhaps 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' by Carson McCullers. What do you think?

Tom Sawyer?

To Kill a Mockingbird is my all-time favorite novel, the one I've reread more times than any other. I've heard plenty of people criticize it, but not here at RP -- not that I remember anyway.

I've never been crazy about Grapes of Wrath; never read The Secret Garden. I loved Little Women as a child, but I reread it as an adult and was quite irritated with Marmee, in particular. I read The Good Earth a long time ago, but have never had any particular desire to revisit it.

One book that I especially loathe seems to get very widespread acclaim: Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. I recognize its influence, grudgingly, but I've never understood why so many are bowled over by it. In spite of it, though, George Orwell is one of my favorite writers. Except for Animal Farm, which I also detest, I consider almost everything else Orwell wrote superior to those two, his most popular works.

I agree with AstroKath about TKAM - well-written, great plot, lots to think about...

But then I also like Secret Garden as well. But to me, TKAM wins over that one.

Evidently, we all cannot agree....

I think Tom Sawyer is an excellent choice. Read it as a child and re-visited it as an adult. Also To Kill a Mockingbird.

What about The Diary of Ann Frank?

I normally don't like to say I don't like someone else's favorite, but since someone has already dissented, I'll admit that I loathed The Secret Garden.

Loved TKAM, Tom Sawyer, and Diary of Anne Frank. No dissent there.

mine rhyme
lucky jim
huckleberry finn

What about Harry Potter? I would say that Tom Sawyer and Lord of the Rings would be good choices too.

I second To Kill a Mockingbird.

Little Women ? hmm, may be because IÂm (was) a boy. I used to read Little Men over
and over again, how many times? I canÂt remember, ten, fifteen maybe more; but as far LW is
concerned IÂve read it only one time.

Tom Sawer is ok for me

Never heard of The Secret Garden

I have no doubts that Lord of the Ring is wonderful, but fantasy is not my cup of tea

I did like Salinger, when I read his books, but I think his writing is too peculiar to gather an
unanimous consensus

The author IÂm dropping is Graham Greene wich title?

The Heart of the Matter
The Quiet American
Travel with my Aunt
The Power and the Glory

grelobe

So far, no one has nixed To Kill a Mockingbird and I agree. It's one of my all-time favorite books so it gets my vote here.
Never cared much for The Secret Garden. Loved Little Women as a child but it's not so real-life meaningful today. Jane Eyre might be my second choice to rate the silver.
There are so many books I enjoyed and maybe learned something from but for pure loveability, TKAMB's characters are unforgettable. As a matter of fact, I recently "assigned" it to my daughter-in-law since she had never read it. And yes, she's still speaking to me.

Mockingbird was the first one that came to my mind, too. Although I have heard one person say they didn't like it. I think it was here at RP, but I can't recall who it might have been.

Anyway, so far it looks like that's the winner.

Interesting when I gave my selection (above) I wasn't thinking of the book I love the most/my favourite book but books that other RP'ers might have found enjoyable.

Frieda reading LW as an adult I would agree that Marmee is a pain in the rear end but as a child I quite believed in her and even thought there must be sisters that got on well together . . . I only had younger brothers.

Never read L of the Rings or H Potter and haven't read Mockingbird since 1960 something.
Anne Frank? Difficult because of the delicacy of the subject matter so, for me not something I could describe as 'enjoyable' . . . perhaps 'necessary' would be a better word for it.

Sorry, I got off track above. I should have made a suggestion of Nineteen Eighty-Four without my own opinion. But thinking about it I shouldn't have chosen that one because I would have been a dissenter to my own suggestion! I'd guess, though, that I would be the only one because of the high esteem toward Orwell's dystopian tale.

The Diary of a Young Girl -- I'd never known anyone who didn't have admiring things to say about it until Cynthia Ozick wrote an essay that made me cringe (it's in Quarrel & Quandary, I think) because I recognized myself as one of those readers in whose direction Ozick points her finger. Cindy, do you remember the flap about it over at Readerville? I read the expanded version of Anne's diary after that and I felt creepy the whole time.

I agree that TKAM is up there. Never read Little Women and frankly, never likely to. Just feels too much like a girl book. (Sorry!)

I loved The Secret Garden but I can see that others might not.

I never liked Anne Frank - I always felt I was being manipulated. Is that unfair? It's a long time since I read it.

Has anyone actually vetoed Jane Eyre yet?

What about Animal Farm by George Orwell? That was the first book I ever read which actually got to me, in what I now see as an adult sort of way. So perhaps I'm a little biassed. But I was fifteen, and it was the first time I'd discovered that literature could mean more than just a good story.

Of course, there's the opposite. Can we all agree on something we think is total and utter tosh? Can I put in a vote for The Bridges of Madison County?

Aargh!

Frieda - I just noticed you are not that enamoured of Animal Farm to say the least! Oh well.

How about A Christmas Carol by Dickens? Does anyone here not like that?

I really disliked Bridges of Madison County and have never read anything by that author since!

I must have read TKMB at one time, but I really don't remember much about it, although I do remember Gregory Peck in the movie.

I really enjoy Dickens, but that is not my favorite of his books!

Pat

Completely detested Bridges of Madison County. Probably the only book I would happily use to make a bonfire.

siobhan, while I'm thinking of it---and this is completely off topic--how is your name pronounced?

I never read Bridges of Madison County. Watched a little of the movie, and that more than enough.

How 'bout Grapes of Wrath?

Grapes of Wrath, that would be a good contender.

I've never read The Grapes of Wrath but I loathed East of Eden, could not get very far into it. Of Mice and Men was readable, but not wonderful.

I've also never read To Kill a Mockingbird. My daughter who only occasionally reads is shocked at this, since it is a real favorite with her. I don't know why I haven't read it, but somehow I am reluctant to do so. No doubt if I live long enough, I will eventually. Peer pressure will get me in the end.

I don't at all like Salinger, never have, not even when I was a teenager. He most certainly did not speak for me. I didn't like The Heart is a Lonely Hunter either when I read it at about the same age. I was attracted by the lovely poetic title and felt seriously cheated by the book itself. Bait and switch. Deceit. I wanted some truth in advertising. Perhaps I would like it better now. I don't really remember the book at all, so it is hard to say.

I do like Dickens, A Christmas Carol and others. I liked The Secret Garden, Little Women, The Good Earth, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Jane Eyre . When I read it in my teens I liked The Diary of a Young Girl but when I tried to re-read it as an adult I was bored. I felt profoundly sorry for her and her companions, and angry at the great injustice done, but ultimately uninterested in the details of their daily lives. It was one of the great crimes of humanity, but I just don't consider it a book I want to read again and again.

Lord of the Rings works best for me as an oral work, a recorded book. It is one of my favorites of all times, but not everyone likes fantasy. Some people hate it. The Harry Potter books have almost as many detractors as admirers. I'm in the middle. I think they are clever and interesting but not wonderful.

Conclusion? There probably is not a book we can all agree on. But we can all agree that we love to read books, and that is something!

Rosefolly

Mockingbird is a book I would vote for as universally appreciated by those who have read it. If you have not, I would urge you to add it to your TBR list.

Tosh: Bridges absolutely. I don't classify Grapes of Wrath as tosh, which I think of as sheer unadulterated nonsense...I would put GoW, and As I Lay Dying as torture by written word, since so many American students are forced to study them.

Ummmmm .... at the risk of sounding a tad juvenile, does ANYONE have a problem with Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham?

Granted, they're not exactly high literature but wouldn't you agree that these are good books (for their age group)? Would you agree that these two are both well-written and worth reading (again for their age group)?

:-)

Well, I always bill Graham Greene's The Quiet American as "the perfect novel." In fact, in another hour, my book group will be meeting to discuss it.

I long ago learned that it's difficult to agree on the merits of a book, even in the small setting of a book group with 8 members. So I'm prepared to be hooted out of the parlor. (One of my all-time favorite books is Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, but I see that it's classified as "torture by the written word" above.)

I agree that TKAMB is solid-- a fine book.

I vote no for Bridges of Madison, yuck. As for kid books, I'd go with Green Eggs and Ham.

Probably, we aren't going to be able to find a unanimous winner.

Siobhan is pronounced "Sh'VAHN," (properly) or a more Americanized - Sha-VONNE. It is Irish for Joan.

I love Dr. Seuss and mentioned recently on another thread that I have Cat in the Hat memorized. I also own an anniversary edition. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is regularly read out loud in this household, and there are no children here. (Oh dear, I'm revealing too much.)

I agree with To Kill a Mockingbird and Jane Eyre. I read Little Women a zillion times as a child, but I also liked Eight Cousins about as well. I also love Gone with the Wind.

I don't care for fantasy and hated Bridges over Madison County. I also cast a negative vote for The Notebook.

To Kill A Mockingbird gets my vote-it is my all around favorite novel. I could never quite get through Little Women and hated Secret Garden-Harry Potter and any other fantasy type stuff could never be my favorite.
If you have never read TKAM you need to do so!

There might be a problem with all this lauding of To Kill a Mockingbird, though, for people who have never read it. It might be setting the expectation bar incredibly high, and that could mean a letdown. Personally, I don't see how anyone could dislike TKAM or be disappointed, but one of the reasons Kath started this thread was instigated by a conversation about dashed expectations. Lots and lots of praise can misdirect impressions.

And vice versa. I may have to read Bridges of Madison County just to see why most here at RP hate it so much. Somebody must have read something in it they liked for it to have sold so well...but then The Da Vinci Code sold well too.

Frieda, universal praise and admiration is probably why I have not yet read TKaM. I feel mulish. No one can make me like it. I know this is a silly attitude, and that I may someday read it and wonder why I denied myself this pleasure all these years, but who said logic was required? But I won't vote against it. By all means, select it as the universally liked book.

BTW, I do like Green Eggs and Ham, but I never liked The Cat in the Hat. I know children who were horrified at that mean cat getting those poor, innocent children in trouble for the things he did, so it wasn't just me.

Rosefolly

I loved The Secret Garden and Little Women as a child, but then I also loved the Famous Five *g*

I haven't read Faulkner, thought The Grapes of Wrath was very good, haven't read any Twain (I should remedy that some time) and like the Dickens I have read.

I don't like Dr Suess much, although I understand the attraction of the rhythm and rhyme. I just think there are better books for children out there.

siobhan, thanks for the pronunciation. It's a beautiful name.
As for the Suess books, I never cared much for Cat in the Hat but Green Eggs and Ham taught my children to read long before they went to pre-school. They were read aloud to from many, many books but I believe that one with its repetition of sounds was the key to breaking the code.
Carolyn, I ditto all your yeas and nays.

Chiming in to say that I loathe any and all of the Dr. Seuss books. (sorry, Dyno!) I also loathe any of the books by Waller, ("Bridges of Madison County", et al.)

Please, let's leave out fantasy, e.g. LOTR and Harry P. some of us don't care for that genre, while we may admit the artistry of the authors. I agree that almost anything by Faulkner is torture to read, as is "Ulysses" by Joyce. ("Stream of consciousness" is difficult to write, as well as to read)!

As I rule, I do not like Dickens (although he shares my birthday). However, I adored "A Christmas Carol." Go figure....

No one's mentioned A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It's a nice book. I know many people who put it with their favorites.

I loved Little Women and also enjoyed The Secret Garden. I never read TKAM though. It is just sooo hard to choose. One author who I read almost everything she wrote was Mary Stewart. "The Crystal Cave" was one of my most favorite but everything she wrote was good. I can't imagine though that most guys would enjoy her books. As far as Dickens goes his stuff was Ok. I liked "A Tale of Two Cities" the best I think but it really is almost impossible to think of a book that would please everyone!

As far as children's literature I loved "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe". I was also a great lover of the Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew!

Hi ghoghunter,

I loved the whole Narnia series but most specially Voyage Of The Dawn Treader and The Magicians Nephew and The Last Battle. A Tale Of Two Cities is my favorite Dickens and I read it once a year. Sydney Carton is my favorite literary character.

To Kill A Mockingbird I first read in English class in tenth grade. Liked it then but have more appreciation for it now, years later.

Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes kept my kids laughing and myself. I think I liked them better than the original tellings! I always liked when the Prince in Cinderella gets some spine and when being pressured by the ugly step sister cries 'Of with her nut!' and she's beheaded it fit!! (You have to read it to understand) I love a Christmas Carol though I don't celebrate Christmas. All of Laura Ingalls Wilder is close to my heart. I own Little Women and keep it out of loyalty but find it hard to take it to heart, though I do like the movie with Winona Ryder. Hated the one with Katherine Hepburn though I like her in other movies.

Taylor Caldwell has been a long time favorite of mine. Ceremony of the Innocent and most especially The Glory and the Lightening. I loved her descriptions of places and decor and what a person was thinking as they did whatever they were to do. The inner dialogue.

Enjoyed all your likes and dislikes.
Kim

Kim-I don't think I've ever heard anyone mention Taylor Caldwell here. I read all her books in the 70's and loved almost every one.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about her and I love her books!