It's really hard for me to pick a favorite book, so I'll have to pick a couple. Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende, A Thousand Years of Solitude by Marquez, and The Red Tent by Anita DiAmant are my favorites.
Post by sporklemotion on May 15, 2012 17:47:43 GMT -5
Definitely The Great Gatsby. I've seen it performed on stage (as Gatz in NYC) and it was awesome. Also The Things They Carried, and Everything is Illuminated, two books that I have multiple copies of because I've lent them to everyone I know (yeah, I'm that pushy friend, sadly).
You cannot ask an avid book reader and lover of nearly all genres to pick only one!
I love (in no particular order) and have re-read several times: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn Pride and Prejudice East of Eden Jane Eyre Angela's Ashes all of Octavia Butler's books Life of Pi To Kill a Mockingbird A Thousand Splendid Suns Chronicles of Narnia Lord of the Rings books 1984 Fahrenheit 451 and probably several more I'm forgetting!
I enjoyed A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but I liked Joy in the Morning much more -- though it may be hard to find. If you haven't read it, I'd say give it a shot if you can find it.
All right--thanks to all the replies here I'm moving my To Kill a Mockingbird re-read (haven't read it since high school) up to the top of the list and adding Gone with the Wind. I can see how this board is going to end up bad for my other hobby time.
I need to keep a list of books I've read because I can never think of a favorite right away. I have to think about it. One book that stands out right now is Never Let Me Go. I just read the Handmaid's Tale and really liked it.
I really want to read Sarah's Key but I'm afraid it will be too sad.
Post by chicacocodrilo on May 16, 2012 9:01:07 GMT -5
Oh, too many to name just one. But the current list would be:
Next, James Hynes Queen of America, Luis Alberto Urrea A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith Lavinia, Ursula K. Le Guin Delicate, Edible Birds, Lauren Groff 1776, David McCullough The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, Eric Ives
I really enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale. Enjoyed is probably the wrong word - extremely disturbed and fascinated. It opened my eyes to a lot of things (Iranian revolution being one).
I also enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird, The Count of Monte Cristo (even though there were peirods of inactivity, it was a great story) and Shantaram (also long but it never felt like it went on to long for me).
I really enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale. Enjoyed is probably the wrong word - extremely disturbed and fascinated. It opened my eyes to a lot of things (Iranian revolution being one).
I also enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird, The Count of Monte Cristo (even though there were peirods of inactivity, it was a great story) and Shantaram (also long but it never felt like it went on to long for me).
I also love Handmaid's Tale. That would be one of my favorites as well.
I'm with you on LOTR! I read it for the first time when I was 11, too, and there were times when I would literally turn the final page of ROTK and immediately pick up Fellowship to start them over again. If I had to pick just one favorite, that would have to be it.
Pride & Prejudice. And the miniseries and my love for the characters keeps growing through the huge realm of Jane Austen FanFiction.
2 books that I love, that I had read before years ago and reread within the last 2 years - Jane Eyre and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Both of these are so good it is ridiculous. I easily think that Jane Eyre is the best novel ever written.
Post by ladybrettashley on May 20, 2012 13:56:33 GMT -5
I'm enjoying reading all the responses... you are giving me lots of new books to put on my reading list.
I also love To Kill a Mockingbird.
My other two favorites are All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and The Sun Also Rises (hence the SN) by Hemingway. I am fascinated by WWI and The Lost Generation.
Post by gullterre15 on May 20, 2012 21:24:13 GMT -5
You ladies have mentioned so many books i love...Anne of Green Gables, To Kill a Mockingbird, Kite Runner, Little House series Gone with the Wind. But my favorites of all time are Memoirs of a Geisha and the YaYa Sisterhood series.
Hi I've been long time lurker on TN/TB and I'm really liking pro boards here ;D
My go to favorite book right now is Peony in Love by Lisa See. I've read this book a number of times and I find something knew about it each time. Through a Glass Darkly along with Now Face to Face are also probably two of the best historical fiction novels I've come across. Harry Potter is also a winner of course. As for fluff I can not put down the Sookie Stackhouse series even if the writing for those isn't the greatest.