My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

[techie]

After careful consideration I have decided my favorite book is The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron. Sadly this brilliant author passed away a few years ago due to cancer. I have recommended this book often and have shared my copy with at least seven friends!

I am currently reading Donna Tartt’s, The Goldfinch

[Mulburry]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

After careful consideration I have decided my favorite book is The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron.

Thanks for the rec, I'll be sure to check it out.

I'd like to contribute my own favorite book but I don't think I can, picking just one out of the hundreds I've read, in different genres etc. seems like an impossible task to me.

So instead, maybe I'll list a few favorites (that I can think of right now) in a few different genres:

Classics: East of Eden by Steinbeck, A Farewell to Arms by Hemmingway; The Count of Monte Cristo

Modern Classics: On the Road by Kerouac, Bonfire of the Vanities by Wolfe

Contemporary Fiction: Shantaram by Roberts, The Goldfinch by Tart

Wilder stuff (involving substance use): Fear and Loathing by HST, Trainspotting by Welsh

Experimental Fiction: Infinite Jest by Wallace, Pale Fire by Nabakov

Science Fiction: The Dispossessed by Le Guin, The Circle by Eggers, The 3 Body Trilogy by Cixin, Use of Weapons by Banks

Fantasy: GOT by Martin (of course), Name of the wind by Rothfus, Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

I know I’m everywhere tonight…

but oh wow! I read The Shadow of the Wind last summer, in rehab, kind of ironically, and what a wonderful book!

My dad got me The Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler, for Christmas. I only recently read it, since I prefer kindle to actual books. (I know, I know. But I’m fully comfortable with my love for online books. ha) Anyway, everyone knows I don’t really read actual books anymore, and Octavia Butler is way outside of my dad’s wheelhouse, so it makes it all more special. Because it’s right up my alley, and a great book. And The Parable of the Talents is even better. Totally different genres, ftr.

I haven’t read Goldfinch, and I’m not sure I will. Iiirc, it’s a doom and gloom book. If I’m wrong, let me know! I’ll join you in reading it!

[Mulburry]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

Iiirc, it’s a doom and gloom book. If I’m wrong, let me know! I’ll join you in reading it!

I wouldn't say it's all doom and gloom, yes there is a lot of struggle in it; the main character is an opiod addict, so that goes without saying. But there are bright spots and glimmers of hope as well (and lot's of memorable characters, and a more fun adventure/"heist" element to it as well). For anyone that gets triggered by issues such as dealing with loss/grief or substance use/addiction, it may not be the best for you. I suppose I am more drawn to darker novels in general (as can be seen by my list), maybe I find that material more relatable...

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

[MENTION=24679]Mulburry[/MENTION] Honestly, it’s not often that I’m unfamiliar with books someone has mentioned as favorites. I’m not bragging, or anything like that. I’m just kind of compulsive about reading and always have been. But your list is off my charts. We may have to talk more about this…

I’ve never heard of Shantaram.

Infinite Jest was something I tried to read because [MENTION=16949]StuckinLA[/MENTION] recommended it a thousand years ago. Hell hath no worse joke than a book with no meaning and no resolution.

Haven’t read Nabokov, that sick some body. But should I give it a shot?

Haven't read The Circle, but I love Dave Eggers and want to be his friend. I’ll check it out soon. Actually, I haven’t read two of the other three, either. Love Le Guin. She’s a master of all things.

I take exception to authors who don’t finish their bodies of work. As someone who waited breathlessly for each new GOT novel, from waaaaay back in the beginning, I want my money back. All $70, since hardcovers used to be $10. lol But seriously. Patrick Rothfuss needs to stop selling his books as a trilogy and start selling them as “forever unfinished stories”. Grrrrrr. I know this is controversial in some worlds, but for those of us who are a bit obsessive about the many worlds we inhabit when we read, it feels like a best friend died when things are incomplete. Rothfuss was the last straw for me. I try not to start any book or series that doesn’t already have a conclusion.

maybe that started with reading about Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler, when I was a kid… conclusion made me want to throw up. Or Casablanca. lol Just COMMUNICATE people. Like that’s easy.

[Mulburry]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

[MENTION=12976]Ne/Neva Eva[/MENTION] Yup, I read a lot too! I'm sure there are dozens more novels I would put into that list if I remembered/thought of them. It's very hard to pick favorites (or maybe it's just me and my general indecisiveness, ha).

Shantaram isn't really mind blowing or anything, just a really good yarn full of great characters, adventure, also some drug addiction (hmm this seems to be theme in novels I like), and really vivid realization the area (Bombay) it takes place in. There's actually a TV show of it now as well (haven't watched yet).

You could say the book/ending was an Infinite Joke (Jest), haha. That book might have been one of the most difficult I've ever read, but also has some of the most brilliant writing in it I've heard read. It turned me into a pretty big DFW fan, have read almost all his stuff. I think DFW is much better at writing indvidual passages than putting an entire book together (which is why his short stories are so great), so I try to look at his books more as made up of individual pieces rather than a whole.

Nabakov has written a lot of other things aside from THAT book. I do find he also is an exceptionally talented writer and can write in an almost poetic way that's different than anything else out there.

I really like Eggers as well, have read quite a number of his. The Circle is such a great satire and hyperbole of social media culture. Yup Le Guin is great as well.

Yup, also a GOT reader, way way before the show came out. I've just slowly come to terms with the fact that the series will never get finished; it's sad, but at least the stuff he did write was pretty awesome. It's certainly frustrating that Rothfus has now decided to become the new Martin, but I do have some faint hope of getting the final book in that series eventually. Foolishly (yes I should have adopted your strategy of never starting an unfinished series) I also started Sanderson's Stormlight Archive but he's at least releasing a book couple years.

What are some of your all-time favorites?

[mollyka]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

Oh god folks..I admire your being able to choose...I've just been down a rabbit hole ' oh maybe this was the best - nope that was better...oh I remember that one brilliant....maybe not as brilliant as....'....I give up and go to bed!! I had the amazing luxury of walking into a room with 10's of thousands of books every day and getting paid for it so yeah....I think I love too many books!!!!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

[MENTION=8529]mollyka[/MENTION], are you a librarian? I don't think I could do my job if I was surrounded by thousands of new distractions daily. I did work in a bookstore for a minute and a half, and I loved shelving books. So neat! So orderly! So unlike my life. ftr, I like my stuff disorderly and all over the place. But I like other people's things to be nice and tidy. Anyway. What have you read recently that you like?

Mulburry, I couldn't even begin to pick favorites. With some exceptions. ftr, I like series and the longer the better.

Steven Erikson, the Malazan series and everything else he and his partner have written are way up there. The first novel is pretty difficult. By the time I got through the end, I started it over again. And I've read it again, since then. But it's huge. Briliiant and difficult and loooong.

The Sport of Kings was a great read.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

To add,

I didn't finish Infinite Jest. The person who recommended it is a PhD in english, and when he told me that there isn't a point to the book, I just quit in disgust. Reminds me of my first love's obsession with whats-his-name... Thomas Pynchon? ugh. Anyway. I'm actually posting again for two reasons. DFW was probably a pretty terrible guy, if you were a woman in his world, but didn't she publish his break up letters somewhere? And they were beautiful and profound and completely messed up...

Brandon Sanderson is both over and under rated. Is he brilliant like the others mentioned? Maybe not. Does he write a really great world and is genuinely about writing and his readers? Hell yes. I thought the Stormlight Archive was finished? He's always writing more, but at least I didn't leave that world feeling bereft. A bummer that he's personally in another world from where I live... not so much that I won't buy his books. But enough that I'm still left wondering what this world is coming to. ha

[mollyka]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

[MENTION=8529]mollyka[/MENTION], are you a librarian? I don't think I could do my job if I was surrounded by thousands of new distractions daily. I did work in a bookstore for a minute and a half, and I loved shelving books. So neat! So orderly! So unlike my life. ftr, I like my stuff disorderly and all over the place. But I like other people's things to be nice and tidy. Anyway. What have you read recently that you like?

Mulburry, I couldn't even begin to pick favorites. With some exceptions. ftr, I like series and the longer the better.

Steven Erikson, the Malazan series and everything else he and his partner have written are way up there. The first novel is pretty difficult. By the time I got through the end, I started it over again. And I've read it again, since then. But it's huge. Briliiant and difficult and loooong.

The Sport of Kings was a great read.

Yes Ne.....it was the job of dreams tbh...I love books..and not even the words in books, the physical essence of a book, the smell of pages, the joyful anticipation of what's inside...tho I do admit to loving my paperwhite kindle too!!
I could never ever name a favourite really..it would be like an act of betrayal to the others...you know?!! I suppose tho my 'most liked' is usually the current squeeze ;-)reading the Wheel of Time at the moment ...keeps me awake wanting to finish the next page-chapter-book!! I too love series...nothing like loving book 1,2,3,4....knowing book 5 awaits!!!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

Molly, I love me a library. (Am I suddenly speaking British? I've been reading the other threads...)

I love the tangible books, too. But between my eyesight, which is poor, and my inability to sleep, having a reader has been a life and wife-saver. Poor husband dealt with having the light on all night, or going off and on for years, when I woke up and needed to read to keep the demons at bay.

The Wheel of Time was one of my first loves. (ETA in long book series.) For decades I refused to reread books, because there are so many good books out there. But I've reread the Wheel of Time, GOT, and the Malazan series several times. For GOT, it's because he took so damn long to write the next book, I'd have to reread the previous ones just to catch up on all of the many twists and innuendos. Which has more to do with his writing than my memory, in that situation.

I had a Marie Kondo moment and got rid of most of my books. I can't exactly miss them, specifically, since I can't name them. But I do. And the ones I kept are ones that either rocked my world, and I've read a million times, or that I haven't read and will never read. The only thing I can say for sure that I'm glad I got rid of were my textbooks. I still have the ones I loved reading from nursing school, but the others? meh. And I didn't even donate my self-help books. I threw them away. I didn't want any other deluded fool reading them thinking it would help. Now I wonder if they might have helped someone else. Or if it would have been more cathartic to burn them. lol

Sorry to hijack your thread, techie.

[techie]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

Thanks for the rec, I'll be sure to check it out.

I'd like to contribute my own favorite book but I don't think I can, picking just one out of the hundreds I've read, in different genres etc. seems like an impossible task to me.

So instead, maybe I'll list a few favorites (that I can think of right now) in a few different genres:

Classics: East of Eden by Steinbeck, A Farewell to Arms by Hemmingway; The Count of Monte Cristo

Modern Classics: On the Road by Kerouac, Bonfire of the Vanities by Wolfe

Contemporary Fiction: Shantaram by Roberts, The Goldfinch by Tart

Wilder stuff (involving substance use): Fear and Loathing by HST, Trainspotting by Welsh

Experimental Fiction: Infinite Jest by Wallace, Pale Fire by Nabakov

Science Fiction: The Dispossessed by Le Guin, The Circle by Eggers, The 3 Body Trilogy by Cixin, Use of Weapons by Banks

Fantasy: GOT by Martin (of course), Name of the wind by Rothfus, Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

BTW the authors last bane is Zafon. Spell check corrected it incorrectly!

[Mulburry]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

[MENTION=8529]
Steven Erikson, the Malazan series and everything else he and his partner have written are way up there. The first novel is pretty difficult. By the time I got through the end, I started it over again. And I've read it again, since then. But it's huge. Briliiant and difficult and loooong.

I actually read the first two in Malazan series but I didn't have that much time to read back then, and they were so long, I never ended up coming back. Maybe I'll come back eventually but that is one insanely long series too. I'm maybe the opposite of you in that way, I'm a bit weary of the commitment to series that long (same goes for Wheel of Time), especially since fantasy isn't really my fav genre, but I do like to dabble.

I didn't finish Infinite Jest. The person who recommended it is a PhD in english, and when he told me that there isn't a point to the book, I just quit in disgust. Reminds me of my first love's obsession with whats-his-name... Thomas Pynchon? ugh. Anyway. I'm actually posting again for two reasons. DFW was probably a pretty terrible guy, if you were a woman in his world, but didn't she publish his break up letters somewhere? And they were beautiful and profound and completely messed up...

I'm not sure if it's true that there wasn't a point to the book, maybe not one coherent point but lot's can be drawn from it; maybe some of it is reading your own meaning into it etc. too. I'm not really sure about any of that (women/his breakup), I just know that he struggled with mental health issues most of his life and ended up committing suicide.

Brandon Sanderson is both over and under rated. Is he brilliant like the others mentioned? Maybe not. Does he write a really great world and is genuinely about writing and his readers? Hell yes. I thought the Stormlight Archive was finished? He's always writing more, but at least I didn't leave that world feeling bereft. A bummer that he's personally in another world from where I live... not so much that I won't buy his books. But enough that I'm still left wondering what this world is coming to. ha

His stuff to me is definitely somewhere between ok and pretty good, there times I'm reading it I'm really into it, and other times when I'm almost a bit bored and it seems to drag on. I actually wasn't sure if I would continue SA but happened to see Oathbringer (#3) at a used bookstore the other day. He has written one more (Rythm of War) and the 5th book has yet to be written. He's also planning to write 5 more books in the archive but I think that's supposed to be more of a sequel set. I'm pretty sure I'll be content after the first 5, lol.

I had a Marie Kondo moment and got rid of most of my books.

I definitely have to do that sometime, I have way too many and no where to put them. It's tough to let them go!

[mollyka]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

Anyone read The chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson? My first delve into fantasy of sorts many moons ago and still one of the best imo...deffo a treat in store if not!

[techie]

Re: My # 1 Favorite Book. What’s yours?

No, I have not but will check it out in Goodreads. Thanks Molly