What's your favorite book of all time?

[mirramar]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 6:57pm

It's very hard for me to narrow it down... I'm always coming up with new books that I can read multiple times.

I think the books I love (and have read multiple times) are:
Where the Red Fern Grows
The Lovely Bones
Rascal
Anything by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman
Number the Stars
The Secret Life of Bees

[Over_the_Moon]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:04pm

All Quiet on the Western Front

or

Anything by Francesca Lia Block

[ConvinceMe2]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:04pm

THE DAUGHTER OF TIME by Josephine Tey

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:15pm

The Blind Assasin by Margaret Atwood.
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving comes in second.

[Kringas]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:17pm

Wicked (Gregory Maguire)

The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

Flavor of the Month (Oliva Goldsmith)

The Basic Eight (Daniel Handler)

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:22pm

The Kite Runner
The Other Boleyn Girl

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:22pm

100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

A Prayer for Owen Meany is a close second...

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:26pm

On the road

Shelly aka Shirley

a home at the ned of the world

New York Unexpurgated

Wisecracker

Visions of Gerard

[mirramar]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:26pm

100 Years of Solitude - an incredible book.

Many times when I want to find good books, I just find something from Oprah's book club list. It's almost a failsafe way to find great reading material. Does anyone else do that?

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:27pm

The Wild Party
The Exorcist
Madame Rosa
Rashomon

[Millie42]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:30pm

The Great Gatsby
My copy is all beat up and highlighted (I *may* have color-coded it...)


Followed by The Age of Innocence

and, yes, I do love Harry Potter

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:30pm

WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte

THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE by Thomas Hardy

THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald

THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck

[GibsonGirl]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:35pm

Well, I can't pick just one now, but I will try to keep it very short.

-A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel (who doesn't love the French rev?)
-As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
-The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve
-Green Darkness by Anya Seton
-Katherine by Anya Seton
-The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
-Fortune's Rocks by Anita Shreve
-The Gods are Thirsty by Tanith Lee

And really, who doesn't love a good Teresa Medeiros every now and then? (Historical--somewhat--bodice-rippers for all you unenlightened...)

[jakebloke]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:40pm

LOVED The Time Traveller's Wife.
Dry by Augusten Burroughs.
The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper.

Those 3 are my favorites from the last few years anyway.

[mirramar]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:41pm

Thanks for mentioning Anita Shreve. I don't keep a reading log, but awhile back I read The Pilot's Wife, and I'm really glad you brought her name up because I'd love to read other books that she wrote (I completely forgot about her). I really love these threads, they help me find so many excellent books.

Thanks!

[GibsonGirl]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:58pm

"Thanks for mentioning Anita Shreve. I don't keep a reading log, but awhile back I read The Pilot's Wife, and I'm really glad you brought her name up because I'd love to read other books that she wrote (I completely forgot about her). "

No problem. :) I'm in LOVE with Anita Shreve even though she doesn't like to give me happy endings--although I guess happy endings aren't cool and profound... but don't mind my little aside there.

For some reason I've always bypassed "The Pilot's Wife" even though I've read several of her books (but I'll look into it again). However, if you like her writing, I would definitely recommend "The Last Time They Met." The back cover makes it sound like some mundane, even cliche love story, but it's not.. at all. I love it. You'll think you know where the story is going but the ending is a complete surprise.

[mirramar]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 8:01pm

I think it's possible that I've already read "The Last Time They Met" - it sounds very familiar, I'll probably realize that I've previously read it halfway through. I don't care, if it's good, I have no problem reading it again. I wrote her name down so that next time I go to the library I can check out some of her books. Thanks!

[cturtle]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 8:02pm

another vote for A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY! (and it's about time to read it again ...)

and everyone should read BOY MEETS BOY by david levithan.

and of course i love GONE WITH THE WIND

Updated On: 10/10/05 at 08:02 PM

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 8:04pm

"Phantom" by Susan Kay-must-read for POTO fans, I've read this book 4 times and I never read books more than once, not even Harry Potter-very well-written, every part becomes interconnected and it pulls you emotionally in.

"Sybil"-true story of a woman with 16 different multiple personalities. Very fascinating read, though childhood events that lead her to this condition are a tad disturbing.

Two lazy to write more, but these are definitely my two favs.

[Malice]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 8:09pm

The top three would be To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, and Little Women.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 8:11pm

THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand -that book changed my life like you wouldn't believe, and totally shaped me as an artist and human being.



I also really love Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Franny and Zooey by Salinger.

**edit** I did love a Prayer for Owen Meaney, but I haven't read it since 9th grade...I should read it again.

Updated On: 10/10/05 at 08:11 PM

[London Boy]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 8:12pm

Easy:

'Catch-22'.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 8:32pm

Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart

from Wickpedia

Earth Abides was published in 1949 by Berkeley English Professor George R. Stewart. The theme is one of Man vs. Nature, and the plot has the protagonist Isherwood Williams returning from a trip into the California mountains only to discover that a plague has wiped out nearly all of humanity and with it, human civilization.

Stewart's choice of the name Isherwood (or Ish as he calls him) for the main character is an anthropological reference to Ishi, a Yahi Indian (a subset of the Yana) who emerged from the California wilderness in 1911, only to discover that his people were all but extinct and he was the last member of his tribe. Stewart might also have been referring to the Old Testament name Ish, meaning "person, man, or husband

Updated On: 10/10/05 at 08:32 PM

[Elizabeth_DeBris]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 8:53pm

Les Misèrables, by Victor Hugo
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
Not as Crazy as I Seem, by George Harrar (not necessarily for literary value, but it sparked my interest in psychology)
Animal Farm, by George Orwell

And I confess: I really love the Harry Potter series.

[Therese]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 9:00pm

Charles Dickens' Sprawling Victorian Soap Opera, "Bleak House." I'm a Dickens fan in general, but that's my fave.

And mark me down as another Potterhead.