Favourite & Least Favourite Books

No. 41 in our running order but No. 1 in our hearts, Patrick Hamilton’s Hangover Square reigns as the top choice from our first 10 years — our ‘Favourite Book’, as voted by all LBG members.

It marks a strong showing from 2007, the only year to feature two titles in the top five of our voting. Jonathan Coe joins Hamilton with his book, What a Carve Up!, selected from the same year.

Charles Dickens is the only author who enjoyed two titles in the top 20 on our favourites list, with Great Expectations and David Copperfield.

Our Favourite Titles (2003 – 2013)

TitleOwner
1Hangover SquareAnthony
2One Flew Over the Cuckoos NestEmmaJ
3Great ExpectationsAnthony
What a Carve Up!EmmaJ
5All Quiet on the Western FrontCatherine
6Christie Malry’s Own Double-entryJohn
7Bonfire of the VanitiesKay
Brideshead RevisitedJohn
David CopperfieldJohn
Never Let Me GoDKB
Tender is the NightJohn
The White TigerBaljit
13The Sense of an EndingSue
Alone in BerlinEmmaT
15Brighton RockJohn
If on a Winter’s Night a TravellerDKB
The Sisters BrothersEmmaJ
18Black Swan GreenMiranda
In Cold BloodJohn
One Hundred Years of SolitudeJohn
The Wind-Up Bird ChronicleNate
22Death and the PenguinJohn
Ethan FromeEmmaT
LolitaEmmaT
The Big SleepAnthony

Our Least Favourite Titles

Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller is named our ‘Least Favourite’ title from our first decade, a book read by the group in 2003.

Joining Calvino in the bottom three is The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon and, intruigingly, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, the author whose books feature twice in the list of favourite titles and who tops our Favourite Authors list. The four-way tie for No. 3 also includes John Updike’s Rabbit, Run, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and Ways of Hearing: A User’s Guide to the Pop Psyche from Elvis to Eminem by Ben Thompson.

Our Least Favourite Titles (2003 – 2013)

TitleOwner
1If on a Winter’s Night a TravellerDKB
2The Crying of Lot 49DKB
3Hard TimesCatherine
Rabbit, RunAnthony
The AlchemistKay
Ways Of Hearing: A User’s Guide To The Pop Psyche From Elvis to EminemJohn
7One Hundred Years of SolitudeJohn
7 Habits of Highly Effective PeopleKay
A Canticle for LeibowitzEmmaT
The Invention Of MorelJohn
We Need To Talk About KevinDKB
12BlinkKay
DiaryNate
NeuromancerNate
Quantity Theory of InsanityKay
16Letters from the EarthNate

You can also see the full list of books we’ve read and the author league table.

Scroll to Top