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What is your absolute favorite book?? It could go all the way back to when you were a child or a teen, or even the most recent book you've read.

(oh ya, sorry if this has already been asked. You can delete it, if its already been discussed)

Frances,
That is a tough one. I believe I have different favorites depending on genre. I would have to say the favorite is Exodus, by Leon Uris. I know it is an odd pick, but I read it my senior year of high school and it entirely changed my outlook on the world and started my own little Israel obsession. I do not discount other novels as close seconds, such as Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Winesburg, OH, New Moon (which I know is YA and recent, but I am totally hooked on the Twilight series), A Handmaidens Tale...Oh I could go on and on. But to pull out the favorite, it would have to be Exodus.

Is it bad if I say that it's the Harry Potter series? I just really like it. It's not "literature" or anything, but it's fun and something that I can read over and over again without getting tired of. I also loved The Giver, ever since reading it in middle school, and try to read it every couple of years. Most recently, I did read Eat, Pray, Love and completely loved it!

That's the thing about Harry Potter, though... you CAN read them over and over and over and not get tired of them. That's pretty amazing in my book.

I could never do an all-time favorite. I can barely do a group of faves.

One of my favourite books ever is Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

My fave book ever is The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint.

Folks who know me know that my favorite book is East of Eden and that Steinbeck is my favorite author :)

Sera, that is why we get along so well! Ha!

My other favorite book is one I discovered through this group: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

You are so right, Sarah! And, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn has moved up to my top 5 so we are totally in psych :)

Or even N*Sync! Sorry, couldn't resist.

Anna, I loved The Virgin Suicides! Really great book. It surprised me with how amazing it was. Good choice.

Impossible question, but I'd have to go with...

Little Women
Wuthering Heights
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Jane Eyre
Pride & Prejudice
A Christmas Carol

Like I said, impossible!

looking for alaska -john green
SO GOOD.

Abbie, are you a nerdfighter? Because if so, that's pretty jokes.


My favorite book ever would probably be Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger.

whichwaydidshego?, I also love The Time Traveler's Wife and Peter Berling's books about children of Graal - I already have two out of five of them (of course bought in The Cheap Book Warehouse and still waiting for rest to appear there). I also liked Poles Apart. The Polish Airborne at the Battle of Arnhem and maybe this week I will buy it.

You have to have read The Song Reader to fully understand why this is an impossible question. Elliot and Potok, how could I choose between such geniuses?

At least half, if not more, of Alison's list would be in my current top 10.

And yes, despite the fact that I adore, worship and love George Eliot, I ALWAYS accidentally spell her last name with two Ls. Its the blond hair. No matter how many times I color it, it still makes me make silly mistakes.

Wuthering Heights and Middlemarch would have to be mine... Anyone who loves George Eliot and Middlemarch should really read Josh Emmons' The Loss of Leon Meed. Though it has nothing on the surface to do with Middlemarch, Josh did something structurally to model his first novel off of it... (I'll have to have him explain it to me more someday, but I've been too shy to ask.)

ryan,
well i wouldn't call myself that but i love the word :)

AH! So you haven't familiarized yourself with John and Hank Green's Brotherhood 2.0?

or am I misunderstanding?

i haven't seen it per say..
but i understand the whole nerdfighter vocabulary...
does that make sense?

mmhmm it does, sorta. But I promise, if you go to Youtube and watch some of those old videos, you'll get addicted - or at least I did. I suggest starting at the beginning and not eating or sleeping for like 24 hours straight (because that's enough time to watch all of them). It's what we in the biz (the college student biz) call cramming, haha.

On a side note, Looking For Alaska is quite a great book, I'm usually not into YA lit but John Green has made me think twice about dismissing it too soon.

My favorite book is The Hobbit. It is fun and whimsical. It is a great fantasy story.

My top 5 are probably:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (thanks to this book club!)
Gone With the Wind
Little Women
The Voyage
and The Official Preppy Handbook

I'm kidding about the last one. Kind of.

Who is The Voyage by, Rebecca? I don't know that one.

The World According to Garp, best book ever.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower-Stephen Chbosky...

It changes every few years, but my most recent fave is the Time Traveler's Wife. Amazing book.

A Separate Peace has got to be my favorite book. There's just something about it...

Did you first read it with us or had you read it before, Amanda?

I'm a HUGE Kurt Vonnegut fan, so choosing one of his is hard. The funniest? The one I've read the most times? One that has the most cultural or significant impact? Early or late career? (It would be like trying to pick a favorite Beatles anything--album, song, hairstyle)

So I'd probably have to choose the first one I ever read. I have read it multiple times, though not as many times as others. It changed my whole perspective.

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS.

I'd read it before. I haven't actually read anything with the group yet! I've not really been sure where to jump in.

I read A Separate Peace when I was in high school, but like a lot of books that we had to read, I don't remember this one so well. I have decided to put it on the "to read" list, so I remember to revisit it.
Like so many of you have said, it's so hard to pick an all time favorite. For now I will say Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coehlo. I just really loved this book, it really made me think about life and how it should be cherished. (sorry if that sounds cheesey)

I have read so many books in my lifetime that sadly, I can't remember them all. BUT, one of my all time favorites that I can never forget is The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. It's set during the Vietnam war, but deals more with the effects of war, and not the war itself.
I read a lot of different genres (ranging from chic-lit to murder & suspense) and to this day I still can't find a genre to file this book under... I guess that's a good thing. The chapters are short and deal with different characters all of whom tie in together.
6 stars on a 5 star scale!

The 3 books I have read over and over are Gone with the Wind, Rebecca and the Tolkien series. All very different but oh so great!

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I recently read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and I think it's going to be one of those books which I can't forget. It brought creepy to a whole new level.

Long awaited answer -- The Voyage by Philip Caputo. It's all family drama and coming of age and brotherhood and sailing and narrated by a descendant, so it's all the best parts of my favorite novels put together :) I always consider the tone to be something along the lines of A Separate Peace meets White Squall (Jeff Bridges movie) meets any Southern dysfunctional family as written by Pat Conroy.

That's a hysterical description, Rebecca! Intriguing, but hysterical!

Okay, I don't have just one so hear goes...
Favorite of all time is a tie The Great Gatsby and Huck Finn.

Favorite to teach: The Outsiders

Favorite plays is a tie between those of Shakespeare and Arthur Miller

Favorite guilty pleasure is reading and rereading the Harry Potter books!

the perks of being a wallflower by stephen chbosky...nothing has been able to replace this book!

I can never answer "favorite" questions - be it music, movies, books... But, I'll attempt *some* of my favorite!:>

Thanks Wendy, for posting your love of Harry Potter! I, too, am a huge fan! And the more fantasy books I read the more I realize just how good the HP books are! (I'm currently rereading Deathly Hallows;>)
Other favorite authors/books include Jane Austen, L. M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, I love "Whinnie the Pooh," um.... oh! I've recently discovered the "Larklight" series by Philip Reeve - and while it's a recent discovery, I think it's well on it's way to becoming a favorite of mine!

Ann, I am a HUGE fan of HP, and have read all of both Austen and Montgomery's works. Totally different, but both wonderful.

I'm glad to know there's other people out there with as diverse tastes as me ;>

On the Road..or Franny and Zooey..tough choice.

I don't know ... maybe Harry Potter???

It's so hard to pick just one...

as a small child: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - Judith Voirst

as a slightly older child: The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

classic: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen OR The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

contemporary: Harry Potter OR Twilight (they're both just so good to get lost in)

Synova, I, too, LOVED "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"! I haven't read it in ages, but it's SO perfect! I believe my mom and I still quote it to this day;)

I read 'The Handmaid's Tale' after I read Atwood's more recent 'Oryx and Crake.' They are similar, but I enjoyed 'Oryx and Crake' much more. Maybe it is more relevant to the times? (I might think that because I work in the biosciences.) I picked it for my book club at work last winter, I recommend it to everyone. That being said, 'Oryx and Crake' is one of my favorite novels!

One favourite is hard to pick. Probably Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, or Anne's House of Dreams. I reread them over and over and never get sick of them. Oh, and My Name is Asher Lev is an absolute must-read. It's amazing.

On the other hand, my least favourite is easy; I HATED Wuthering Heights. Talk about drama. It's like a bad soap opera. If you've never read it and always wanted to, a word of advice: don't. All the characters are dreadful people who mess up each other's lives and deserve what they get. It is one classic you can skip.