What’s your favorite book?
There are a couple ways to think about which book is your favorite. Was it something interesting you read that changed your life? Or was it a deeply engrossing novel consisting of pure entertainment? Or maybe it’s neither. Perhaps your favorite book is something that made you think.
And of course, your favorite book changes over time. Back in Middle School, my favorite book was easily Jurassic Park by Michael Chriction. To this day, it probably remains the book I reread the most — up to seven times if I remember correctly. Then in High-School, I was introduced to Ender’s Game, and the series as a whole is still a favorite of mine. But although both do offer something beyond pure entertainment, I think you’d be hard-pressed to call them anything more than entertaining novels.
In college, though, I shifted somewhat with my favorite books being the Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCollough. They’re deeply engrossing and deeply interesting. The Masters of Rome series follows the fall of the Roman Republic to the rise of the Roman Empire — an absolutely fascintating period of history (and one that closely mirrors our own).
Nowadays, I don’t really have a favorite book, but if I absolutely had to choose one, it’d probably be The Road. It’s an elegantly written work that continues to haunt you with its stark but powerful imagery even years after you’ve read it.
Throughout all the years, though, do you know which book has consistently been my number two favorite book (number one in elementary school)? Oh The Places You’ll Go by Dr Suess. I still remember going to the bookstore with my mom to buy it the first week it was available, and it’s the only book I always make sure to have close at hand.
That’s it for me. What is your favorite book?
As much as I read and love reading, I don’t think I’ve found that one pivotal favorite book. I have favorite series (Harry Potter), favorite memoirs, etc. but can’t really break out one book that rules all. My most recent favorite book is Cinder; a young adult book retelling Cinderella. It was a book that I found underneath the dystopia hype of The Hunger Games and Divergent. Jurassic Park is a high favorite as well. 🙂
Although my favorite author is Flannery O’Connor, my all-time favorite novel is ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by Charles Dickens.
Firstly, it’s historical fiction, which is my favorite genre (it takes place during The Reign of Terror/The French Revolution).
In addition, Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay contesting over the heart of Lucie Mannette turns out to be an incredibly well-plotted love triangle (the best I’ve seen in literature).
Furthermore, the writing is wildly vivid. From pandemonic scenes of revolutionaries tearing apart aristocrats, to the haunting first encounter between Lucie and her prisoner father, the book is one of the most visual pieces of literature I’ve ever read. The pictures it creates are everlasting and have stayed with me to this day.
And finally, the novel is bloated with symbolism and allegory and ultimately alludes to the sacrifice and victory of Christ despite the powers of hell. The theme of personal redemption pervades the entire work.
So, briefly, that is why ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ is my favorite.
I usually go to Stranger in a Strange Land as the response to this question. The first time I read it, I absolutely hated it for what it depicted, but then I read it again and again, and it’s shaped me — it hit me at the right point in my life.
I also have a really strong connection to a book called Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha — it’s more of an artist’s book than an accessible piece of prose, but going through it in class with one of my favorite teachers was extremely rewarding. I hope I can find it when I go home for Christmas so I can read it again. 🙂
I might have to read A Stranger In A Strange Land again based on what you said, Hannah. I read it sometime ago, and didn’t really care for it. But, I think I had read it when I was in eighth grade, and the book is definitely not meant for that age group.
The first favourite book I had was The Children’s Book of Poetry and I can’t tell you off the top of my head who the author was, but it resides at my parent’s house and even now I can recall the cover, the pictures, some of the poems, even though I haven’t read it for more than ten years.
Second would be Just so Stories by Rudyard Kipling, that would have been from when I was about five years old and it was followed briefly by The Invisible Dog by Dick King Smith at the age of about seven, before I decided that actually Just So Stories was still the best. Around this age, Enid Blyton’s ‘Pretty Star the Pony’ was very fondly thought of and I always quite regretted gifting it to my cousin in exchange for another book.
Aged 8/ 9 upwards, I didn’t have a favourite book, but rather a series/ author: Brian Jaques; Redwall.
Somewhere in my early teens I favoured Terry Brooks and then David Eddings (though I think at age 11 Exodus by Julie Bertagna crept on to my radar and fought against Mary Hoffman’s Stravaganza for first place).
Mid/ late teens it was Jodi Picoult’s The Pact or Guards Guards by Terry Pratchett. I think at that age I had a favourite book for every genre and even had them written down. I recall that Just so Stories made the folklore spot, while Animorphs featured under children’s.
It’s more difficult to track the last five years of my life and I tend to like authors and series of books: Discworld, Wheel of Time, Game of Thrones.
The book which has pride of place on my bookshelf though is a very battered copy of Just so Stories. Not the original from my childhood, but one I rescued from a charity shop during my university years and despite it coming from the charity shop, it’s probably the most I’ve ever spent on a book.