A much-loved book is a precious thing, absorbing, exciting and even life-changing. Today is World Book Day and to celebrate we asked the Stylist team to reveal their favourite book of all time. Let us know your favourite book and why in the comments section below.
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Arrow, £6.99), a story of race struggles in the deep south of America during the 1930s, is made all the more poignant by being told through the eyes of a child. A book that I return to and love a little bit more every time. Stephanie Wood, Stylist Online Editor
Perfume
The quality of description in Patrick Suskind’s Perfume (Penguin, £8.99) takes you straight to 18th Century Paris. Read it and be transported to a different world. Natasha Tomalin, Stylist Junior Designer
Fingersmith
I love a good twist and turn and there are so many clever ones in Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (Virago Press, £7.99). It has you gasping constantly! Unputdownable and beautifully written. Megan Conner, Stylist Senior Writer
Rebecca
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (Virago Modern Classics, £7.99) has it all: a killer first line, a love story, romance, murder, intrigue and fashion. I’ve read it about five times and I could read it again right now. Amy Grier, Stylist Junior Writer
Travels With My Aunt
I love a spy novel, it’s my favourite genre and Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene (Vintage Classics, £7.99) combines aspects of the mundane with humour and plenty of pace and suspense. Alexandra Fullerton, Stylist Fashion Director
Style City: How London Became A Fashion Capital
Style City: How London Became A Fashion Capital by Robert O’Byrne (Frances Lincoln, £22.75) is an amazing fashion book about the journey of London’s fashions scene. Morag Paterson, Stylist Fashion Assistant
Diary Of A Chav: Trainers And Tiaras
Right now it’s Diary Of A Chav: Trainers And Tiaras by Grace Dent (Hodder, £5.99) I had to stop reading it on the bus as it was making me lol too much. Tom Gormer, Stylist Photography Director
The Rotters’ Club
The Rotters’ Club by Jonathan Coe (Penguin, £8.99): seventies Birmingham, terrorism, prog rock and missing swimming shorts. A truly great read. Francesca Brown, Stylist Production Editor
The Master And Margarita
The Master And Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (Penguin Classics, £8.99) is an amazingly imaginative and surreal novel – ostensibly it’s about a man’s time in 1930s Moscow in the company of a seven foot cat and Satan but it’s actually a deeply subversive allegory about Stalinism. Like Kafka but fun. JP Nicholas, Acting Deputy Production Editor
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (Penguin Classics, £9.99): It’s an amazing, epic of a book following the journey of a poor family in the 1930s from Oklahoma to California. It raises universal themes that would resonate with readers of all ages around the world. Tara King, Stylist freelance Web Editor