Your favorite Orange?

Just for fun...what are your favorite Orange books (so far)?

Now revised....see below. :)

I have only recently (since joining LT) started to track my Orange reading. Of the 19 Oranges read so far, my favorites have been:

The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews (2009 LL)
The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey (2009 SL)
Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Libenberg (2008 LL)
Unless by Carol Shields (2003 SL)
A Sin of Colour by Sunetra Gupta (2000 LL)
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (2010 LL)

Excellent topic!

Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Unless by Carol Shields
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Lots of great books! Here are my five-star Orange reads!

1) Homestead by Rosina Lippi
2) The Observations by Jane Harris
3) Room by Emma Donoghue
4) The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
5) The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
6) The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett
7) The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville
8) Scottsboro by Ellen Feldman
9) The Outcast by Sadie Jones
10) The Help by Kathryn Stockett
11) The Secret Lives of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
12) The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

What diversity in the list of favorites....love it! :) Except for Sarah Waters....everyone seems to love her books. Why I have I not read anything by her yet? I own several of her books, and they always get shuffled to the bottom for some reason.

>3 lkernagh: - I totally missed A Sin of Colour when I worked my way through the Orange lists to add to my TBR. I've added it now!

My 5-star reads from the winners & shortlists:
The Poisonwood Bible
The Idea of Perfection
Home
The Memory of Love

And coming in at 4.5 stars:
Half of a Yellow Sun
Purple Hibiscus
Wolf Hall
The Outcast
The Siege
The Colour
When we Were Bad

What a good question! I'm going to be very discriminating here, but I expect to be back soon with others to add....

The Poisonwood Bible
The Road Home
The Memory of Love
Alias Grace

We Need to Talk About Kevin {chills} - Lionel Shriver
The Invisible Bridge - Julie Orringer
The Idea of Perfection - Kate Grenville
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
The Memory of Love - Aminatta Forna
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver
Small Island - Andrea Levy
The Siege - Helen Dunmore

Great question! Here are my top Orange reads:

Lullabies for Little Criminals, Heather O'Neill -- my favourite by a lot, but I also liked:

The Girl with the Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
Accidental, Ali Smith
Unless, Carol Shields (except I read this right when it was published and don't really remember it anymore)
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood

I'm limiting myself to three titles (for now).

The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
The Giant, O'Brien by Hilary Mantel

My already overstuffed wishlist thanks you all for it's sudden expansion.

Oh, hooray, another fan of The Electric Michelangelo! I always feel like it's a book no one else has read. :)

Almost all of these titles are on my TBR, but I'm starting to re-think how soon I should read them. Like, maybe this year instead of 2018. ;)

So many wonderful books but all time favorite Orange is probably A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore. My other 5 star Oranges are:

Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Great House by Nicole Krauss
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna and
One by One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden

My 4 1/2 starred Oranges are:

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Seas by Samantha Hunt and
Gilgamesh by Joan London

And though I only rated it 3 1/2 stars, I loved, loved, loved When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant

This is my top ten which was tricky but fun to compile!

1. The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas
2. Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden
3. The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville
4. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
5. The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
6. This is How by M J Hyland
7. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
8. Gilgamesh: A Novel by Joan London
9. A Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
10. The Road Home by Rose Tremain

I also remember loving Brick Lane, Alias Grace and A Spell of Winter but read them too long ago to be sure where I'd fit them into this list!

In no particular order my top Orange reads have been:

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Secret Lives of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Small Wars by Sadie Jones
The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin

Looking forwards to adding more to my list during 2012

Some favourites and ones I would highly recommend.
Small Island, Andrea Levy
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
Sorry, Gail Jones
Burnt Shadows, Kamila Shamsie
Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
Old Filth, Jane Gardam

I think I might have to read Gilgamesh: A Novel and The White Woman on the Green Bicycle this January going by other peoples favourites ;)

Others I would also recommend that I read this year The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Room by Emma Donoghue and The Lacuna Barbara Kingsolver, but really I've found something worthwhile in every Orangy book I've read over the years:)

I haven't read a ton of Oranges, but my favourites are:

1. The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
2. The Rehearsal - Eleanor Catton
3. Burnt Shadows - Kamila Shamsie
4. Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
5. The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
6. The Night Watch - Sarah Waters
7. The Outcast - Sadie Jones
8. The Tiger’s Wife - Tea Obreht

Gosh this thread has been bad for my wishlist. My favourites are:

5 stars
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

4.5 stars
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Observations by Jane Harris
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson

And special mentions to The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas, The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, Case Histories by Kate Atkinson and The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

Here is my Top Ten Orange List. With the exception of #1 (which no one has mentioned!), the others are roughly in the order I've read them, with the most recent one read first.

1. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (LL '06)
2. The Road Home by Rose Tremain (Winner '08)
3. The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (SL '11)
4. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (LL '11)
5. The Siege by Helen Dunmore (SL '02)
6. Room by Emma Donoghue (SL '11)
7. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (Winner '10)
8. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (LL '10)
9. Half Of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Winner '07)
10. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (SL '99).

>20 Donna828: - I completely forgot that Gilead was an Orange! I think that is the only one I missed.....

I loved Gilead just as much as Home, and it's in my LT "Favorites" collection. I didn't list it here because from an Orange perspective, I've only been keeping track of winners & shortlisted books.

I totally forgot about Wolf Hall being an Orange. I always think of it in terms of the Booker.

I love this thread! :)

I have a new one to add to my list: The Hiding Place. This is a surprise to me since I tried to read it in 2010 and found it boring. This time it clicked.

>25 Nickelini: - I think several of us will be revising our lists at the end of this month!

LT now has a List Feature. (It seems to be well hidden. I only find out about it because someone posted about it in another group.) Someone started a list for "Favorite Orange Prize Contenders." Go add your favorites HERE!

>27 Her_Royal_Orangeness:: oh, that's totally fun. I added a couple books to the master list and created my own list and oooh, I LOVE LISTS! Thanks HRO.

ETA: I added a link to our group wiki.

I added some books too - and I even thumbed down a few selections - just because I was curious what that did (sorry, HRO, I think I thumbed down two of your choices!). I promise I wasn't picking on your selections!!!! =)

>29 mrstreme: - That's okay....not everyone likes the same books. :) And giving a book a thumbs down alerts others that the book doesn't have universal appeal.

>28 lauralkeet: - Thanks for adding it to the wiki! Aren't lists so addictive? :)

I went back and ordered my selections. Interesting how one change in my personal order affected the overall order of the list. And I hope more people use the thumbs down option - I think it adds a sense of "balance" to the list.

I also love how the lists give the overall star rating for the book. This will help me decide which books to read! =)

Thumbs-down, I didn't notice that before. Kind of therapeutic, isn't it? LOL ...

Thumbs-down, I didn't notice that before. Kind of therapeutic, isn't it? LOL ...

*chuckle*

Love this list!! How do I mark it so I can find it over and over? **Sorry -- still learning LT.

At the top of the page (under the title of the thread), you will see 'star this topic' - click on the little star that appears. Then, on the left side, you will see a list of under 'your world' - click starred and it will show you all the starred pages.

It took me a while of wandering around to get down the basics and I am still learning new things. Welcome!

Or do you mean the "Favorite Orange Prize Contender" list, Tina? If you mean that, the link for it is on the group's wiki page, and the link for that can be found on the main page for the group.

>>35 Yells: & 36 - Thank you! I appreciate both responses... I was looking for the wiki thing though! I didn't know what the wiki page was so I do now :)

With the announcement of the 2012 lists, I have to revise my favorites.

1. Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan - 5+ Stars (2012 SL)
2. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey - 5 Stars (2010 SL)
3. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris - 5 Stars (2012 LL)
4. The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall - 5 Stars (2004 LL)
5. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss - 5 Stars (2006 SL)
6. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - 5 Stars (2004 LL)
7. There but for the by Ali Smith - 4.5 Stars (2012 LL)
8. The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney - 4.5 Stars (2007 LL)
9. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - 4.5 Stars (2012 Winner)
10. Great House by Nicole Krauss - 4.5 Stars (2011 SL)
11. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - 4.5 Stars - (2010 SL)

Well, how about that! Things can change in a blink!

Fun thread! And Dangerous!

Here are my Top Ten (in no order whatsoever)

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
The Memory of Love - Aminatta Forna
Small Island - Andrea Levy
Fall on Your Knees - Ann-Marie MacDonald
Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Burnt Shadows - Khamila Shamsie
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
Case Histories - Kate Atkinson
Paradise - Toni Morrison
Bel Canto - Ann Patchett