What is your favorite fiction book?
Daily | September 9th, 2008
The magic of a well-woven story…
Carrie says: I rarely read fiction because once I start a great novel life stops, late nights, no eating. So this summer on holiday I had the luxury of reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I was captivated by the words, the story. I love the character Scout, love this sentence: “As Atticus had once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem’s skin and walk around in it.” A Universal Teaching.
Danielle says: Initiation by Elisabeth Haich is apparently her true story of a past life as an Egyptian Priestess in training. But it’s so incredibly fantastical and non-linear that this book is often filed under “fiction”. It is one of the top five most important books that I’ve read in my life.Read today’s blog: Creative Strategies.
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September 9th, 2008 at 12:37 am
I always prefer Southern fiction, so GONE WITH THE WIND, which I’ve read 6 times before I was 30. Then PRINCE OF TIDES & BEACH MUSIC by Pat Conroy and also PEACHTREE ROAD & OUTER BANKS by Anne Rivers Siddons. I also loved LEONIE by Elizabeth Adler and when I worked in indie bookstores I must have sold 200 copies by personal recommendation. I love reading fiction because I think it tells more truths than non-fiction.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Fiction is my favourite escape, so I’ll base this on the books I re-read again and again – I tend to be an author-based reader. Though it’s fictionalized, Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast inspires me every time I read it. Runners up are: Gibran’s “The Prophet” for its life lessons; Faulks “A Fool’s Alphabet” for creativity; Diamant’s The Red Tent for its glorious story; Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being for its essence; Banks’ The Crow Road for the setting and characters; The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye for their simplicity; Superfudge for remembering my childhood. Fiction can change the soul, and that is a beautiful thing.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Oooooh that is way too difficult to pick just one as I have so many favorites. I would have to say The Kite Runner for sure and also Life of Pi continues to stay with me and has me thinking about it often. Generally I have enjoyed anything by John Irving as well as I adore his writing style. How I love being taken away by Fiction! I am such a downer on holidays as I have my nose in a book 24/7!
September 9th, 2008 at 1:14 am
An awesome read for anyone who is an anti-whaling suporter.
“Shallows” by reknown Western Australian author Tim Winton – its a fiction book but based on the story of the last operating whaling station in Australia and how the “greenies” protests effected the tradional town “Angelus”, a small town on the south coast of Western Australia which could be the real-life Albany.
http://www.jd-associates.com.au/authors/book/shallows
September 9th, 2008 at 1:25 am
I adore No more belongs here more than you by Miranda July. It is funny, witty, smart, highly original and moving. It has been a long time since i read a book like this!
September 9th, 2008 at 1:56 am
‘Amanda and the Eleven Million Mile High Dancer’ by Carol Hill. It’s about a physicist and astronaut Amanda. She’s a free spirit and raises a few eyebrows at NASA. It’s science fiction, ghost story and love story all in one.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:58 am
The Kite Runner is a wonderful book. It was so vividly written and gave an insight into a society that I didn’t know much about. But it was so sad. I don’t think I’ve ever been as upset by a book as I was by that one.
September 9th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Gone with the Wind is one of my favourites as well. I’ve never seen the film, but have re-read the book a few times.
September 9th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Two titles one continuous heroic story I have read dozens of times. The books are dog eared. Only read if you like much awarded science fiction.
The Sparrow and Children of God by Mary Doria Russell.
September 9th, 2008 at 2:29 am
A tough question, but a great one! But I can’t name just one book… The Sun Also Rises, The Sound and the Fury, Catcher in the Rye, Paris Trance (by a relatively little known British author, Geoff Dyer). I could go on and on…
September 9th, 2008 at 2:32 am
I adore Jane Austin – Pride & Prejudice and Emma my favourites. I recently read The Troy Game series by Sara Douglass – 4 massive books which you absolutely can’t put down. My Mum wants me to read her most recent series, but I’m not game to start as I know I won’t get any work done for weeks once I’m reading! As a child I loved Enid Blyton, she took me to such a wonderous places.
September 9th, 2008 at 2:42 am
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
September 9th, 2008 at 3:00 am
I could list books all day. But the few that always pop into my head when someone asks this question are: THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER by Stephen Chbosky, THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neale Hurston, BELOVED by Toni Morrison, and THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver. Ask me again tomorrow and I’ll probably have a different answer.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:25 am
Three of my favorite books right off the bat. I love Faulkner! Had to beg my way into a 400 level class on him as I wasn’t a Lit major. I would Have to add something by Ursula Le Guin, Perhaps one of her collections of short stories. And of course my favorite writer of all time, Annie Dillard. Who, by the way, I would gladly dote on for the rest of her life or mine whichever comes first. (I’m a really good cook by the way Annie, if you ever get wind of this).She doesn’t actually write much fiction but I love it when she does because the richness of her characters is somehow understated and so spot on. I’m continually wowed and then falling in love with fictional people. I loved the “Maytrees” which just came out this year(?). Such a refreshing break from the romance novel as we know it.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:30 am
Any of Wallace Stegner’s books but my two favorites were Angle of Repose and Crossing to Safety. For the last few years I have been reading novels by first time authors- they are often outstanding…
September 9th, 2008 at 3:47 am
A Thousand Splendid Suns. Sad and disturbing like Kite Runner but what a book.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:55 am
THE SEEDS OF TIME by Kay Kenyon tops my favorites list. An action-adventure, science fiction, w/ a love story included–this story could be a screenplay for a movie more exciting than ALIEN.
I found this several years ago in a basket of books at a Maryland vacation condo. Could not put it down, bought a copy when back home.
Then wrote the author (a first for me) with praise. Any movie moguls out there?? Then–check this one out!!!
September 9th, 2008 at 4:03 am
Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:22 am
Now I KNOW you’re a writer, Kristen.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:29 am
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett – nearly 1,000 pages – put off getting it for a long time then couldn’t put it down when I finally did!
A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:50 am
As a member of a monthly book club and a daughter of a publisher, I am surrounded by so many friends — meaning, my books. I am never lonely when I have a book as a companion. My most recent fave was Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth and World Without an End. A master storyteller, Ken Follet will not disappoint.
Any book clubbers out there? I have book club tonight and need suggestions for this year’s list.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:31 am
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Hands down.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:35 am
For some reason I am drawn to war stories.
I absolutely loved “All quiet on the western front” by Erich Maria Remarque. It is written so realistically, you feel you are standing right next to the soldiers.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Pride and Prejudice because I never get tired of it. Matilda because it made me want to read in the first place.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:45 am
My absolute favorite book in the entire world is “Barbie Her Life and Times” by Billy Boy. Despite the Barbie connection, this is not a children’s book. In fact it is doubtful that it would be appropriate for most children. It is a sophisticated portrayal of the world of fashion throughout the glamorous 1950’s and 1960’s. It is an absolutely beautiful book.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:51 am
There’s a show on tv in the UK at the moment called ‘Lost in Austen.’ It is about a young woman called Amanda who discovers Elizabeth Bennett in her bathroom one day. The pair swap places and Amanda finds herself living in the Bennetts household and meeting Bingley, Darcy etc. There’s only been one installment so far, but it looks promising.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:55 am
BONJOUR MES AMIS!!
Actually there are a couple. With me there is never just one… SCRUPLES (Krantz) and BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES (Wolf). I am not a fiction fan, but these two were “can’t put it down..”
Cécile
September 9th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Le Petit Prince
The Alchemist
The Passion (Jeanette Winterson)
Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)
September 9th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Carrie: I just started reading To Kill A Mockingbird aloud to my son. It’s a book I’ve read and re-read and reading it out loud is a whole new experience. Projecting Scout’s voice feels like such a privilege. I highly recommend reading favorite books out loud.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:19 am
I recently read THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER. It was awesome! Definitely on my list of favorites. A also love PERFUME by Patrick Suskind and Toni Morrison’s THE BLUEST EYE.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:28 am
A beautiful story of relationships. I hear that Rohinton’s next book is only 45-46 pages with illustrations. A flip from the heavy-weight Fine Balance.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:31 am
OH Wazzy, I just re-read Anne this summer, and she still delights. One of the best characters out there. I love how Anne was always wanting an environment that gave her ’scope for imagination’.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Narrowing this down is hurting my head. So I’m choosing two.
The Red Tent and A Thousand Splendid Suns.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:38 am
I recommend Mister Pip by New Zealand author Lloyd Jones. It won a number of awards. Reasons I believe it makes a good book club read:
1) Strong narrative voice.
2) Creatively interweaves Dickens’ Great Expectations into the plot.
3) Background issues of race, politics, war, mother-daughter, coming-of-age
I hope you enjoy it if it ends up on your list, or at least creates discussion!
September 9th, 2008 at 6:40 am
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – Michael Chabon
Middlesex – Jeffrey Euginides
Both astoundingly well written, both Pulitzer winners. Love.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:44 am
When I first read Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins, I felt so relieved. He broke rules and wrote in his own way and I suddenly felt good about writing in an offbeat way most of the time. I don’t know if I’d ever had the guts to write novels, much less sell any of them, if it wasn’t for that book.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Sweetness in the Belly by Canadian author Camilla Gibb.
http://www.camillagibb.ca/sweetness_excerpt.cfm
September 9th, 2008 at 6:50 am
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod.
Dr. MacLeod won multi awards including the prestigious Irish one for this book. It is Dr. MacLeod’s only novel. He is a writer of short stories. His writing makes you weep it’s so beautiful. He is considered, arguably, the best living Canadian writer of short stories.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Have you read Ferrol Sams or Michael Malone? I love them right up there with Pat Conroy.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:52 am
I couldn’t name one so I’ll talk authors:
Pynchon
Faulkner
Wolfe (Tom)
Walker (Alice)
Capote
Dante
Dickens
Eco
There are more I’m forgetting but you get the drift and wouldn’t that guest list make a swell cocktail party!
September 9th, 2008 at 6:55 am
I think this is my all-time favorite also. I will probably have grandchildren named Harper and Scout because my daughter loves it as much as I do.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:59 am
PRIDE & PREJUDICE by Jane Austen is the classic. GONE WITH THE WIND because it reminds me of reading with my great Grandmother. HARRY POTTER because it reminds me of my childhood discovery of reading. THE THORN BIRDS because it was the first adult book I read as a teenager.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Oh goody, a book question! Although it is impossible to come up with just one. I, too, tend to be author-driven in my favorites and many Southern (US) authors really float my boat, especially those two one-book wonders, Margaret Mitchell & Harper Lee. Other favorites:
Pat Conroy
Michael Malone
Ferrol Sams
JK Rowling
Faulkner
John Katzenbach
Greg Iles
Jane Austen
September 9th, 2008 at 7:00 am
I don’t have a “favorite” book. There are so many that I cannot pin down just one. If I have to choose something, I have a favorite author. James Patterson, the mind behind the Alex Cross novels, “Along came a Spider” and “Kiss the Girls” and also created the Woman’s Murder Club series, is a very prolific author.
He would have to be my favorite…
September 9th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Ooooh, so many books, so little time! I recently read In Cold Blood by Tuman Capote (after seeing the film, Capote, with Philip Seymour Hoffman) and it’s so incredibly written – each phrase creates a visual mood. I also loved Three Junes by April Glass, The Color of Light and Pieces of the Heart by Karen White, and anything by Anita Shreve.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:11 am
I’ve just starting re-reading it with my 12 year old daughter. I’m so glad she’s enjoying an old favourite – like introducing an old friend. I also love the lesser known “The Blue Castle” by LMM. Otherwise “The Lizard Cage” is amazing for another view of Burma – another book that stays with you.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Hands down, Gone With The Wind. Scarlet is a true inspiration. I received a beautiful 2nd edition for Christmas last year and it has not left my bedside.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:23 am
This is so great – I’m getting ideas for new reads – thanks all!
Can’t narrow it down to one, but these are my all-time favorites:
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
The Hotel New Hampshire (John Irving)
Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
And from my childhood: A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle)
September 9th, 2008 at 7:23 am
I love this question – it really excites me for some reason? I agree with many of the listed favourtites. I have so many and like Kristen I am going to choose the ones I’ve read more than once or intend to
-The Road by Cormac McCarthy – a masterpiece
-Ride The Wind by Lucia St. Clair Robson – an incredible story based on true events
-Talk Before Sleep & The Pull of the Moon – both by Elizabeth Berg
-Heartburn by Norah Ephrom
I love stories and movies about strong women and all but ‘The Road’ are about that subject. I could just eat them up they’re so delicious.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:24 am
I just listened to Pillars of the Earth as an audiobook. Wonderful!
September 9th, 2008 at 7:25 am
My girlfriend and I used to see ‘Wind’ on the big screen every year. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen it and have the DVD now. I have a copy of the book but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. It’s on so many lists here, I must move it to the top of the pile.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Oh, I love this, too! I need to pick this one up again. Thanks for the reminder! I think this book had quite an influence on my character, actually.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:28 am
I must have been southern in a previous life because I am so drawn to their stories. Pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides in particular and of course Harper Lee and Margaret Mitchell… yummy.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Dangerous Liaisons by Laclos. It is written in the epistolary style, and at the time of its writing was believed to be nonfiction. Its portrayal of the decadence and sexual depravity (voluptueses) of the aristocracy was just one more thing that led to the French Revolution.
I also really love Madame Bovary and the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Wow – I had the same reaction to Jitterbug Perfume – just amazing…I then went on to read a bunch of his other books, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Skinny Legs and All, Sill Life with Woodpecker, Another Roadside Attraction. Such a unique writer…
September 9th, 2008 at 7:31 am
What have you written Amy?
September 9th, 2008 at 7:52 am
I’m definitely going to come back to this Q&A for ideas on what to read next! I read continuously – I’m usually reading two books concurrently and listening to another – I love audiobooks for my walks to and from work. So, my favorite? Only one? Impossible. Neuromancer, The Diamond Age, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the His Dark Materials trilogy, anything by Haruki Murakami… And from childhood, books I have kept and still reread: the Moomintroll series, Anne of Green Gables, anything by Madeleine L’Engle, The Spider Sapphire Mystery, Five Children & It… I’m sure I’m forgetting things, but I actually need to stop thinking about books and go do some work now…
September 9th, 2008 at 8:01 am
The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford. I reread it at least once a year – unfortunately lent my copy to a gentleman friend, telling him how important a book it was to me, and he left it on an airplane. He is now a former gentleman friend!!!!
September 9th, 2008 at 8:04 am
A FAREWELL TO ARMS, by Ernest Hemingway. The power and economy of his writing style has always impressed me. His characters virtually lift off the page.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Going on my list!
September 9th, 2008 at 8:21 am
The Kiterunner.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Capote is one of my favorite films, love Philip Seymour Hoffman!
September 9th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Does anyone remember “The Celestine Prophecy”? That’s one I really enjoyed.
On a different note, Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast” is definitely one of my alltime favorites.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Memoirs of a Geisha is one of my favorites that comes to mind. I love books, sometimes I am reading 3 at a time, a novel, a self help, and a biography or memoir. Truth be told I read all the greats in High School & College, but I didn’t appreciate them then. I need to re-read To kill a mockingbaird and Clockwork Orange and more. By the way thank you all for the great list of books, I certainly won’t be hard pressed to find a new book now.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Ouuuuu me too Linda. Thanks for the reads!
September 9th, 2008 at 8:32 am
I loved Capote with Hoffman, so well done!
September 9th, 2008 at 8:42 am
I love this question!
Kissing in Manhattan by David Schickler. It’s a great read. Short stories that thread together at the end. Lots of hidden meanings, and just interesting all around.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Disgrace by JM Coetzee.
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty or Alice Munro.
Amazing.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:51 am
I agree, Pillars of the Earth is amazing with a great historical overview and appreciation of the vision and toil it took to build a cathedral when it was all manpower – and politics. The sequel World Without End is out and beside my bed. I don’t want to start it until I have the time to devote my life once again to one I can’t put down!
September 9th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Oh favourites – that’s a tough one – so many. But I do love Wally Lamb’s “I Know This Much is True”.
Read his beautiful ending:
“I am not a smart man, particularly, but one day, at long last, I stumbled from the dark wood of my own, and my family’s and my country’s past, holding in my hands these truths: that love grows from the rich loam of forgiveness; that mongrels make good dogs; that the evidence of God exists in the roundness of things. This much, at lest, I’ve figured out. I know this much is true.”
September 9th, 2008 at 9:00 am
A Thousand Splendid Suns had me sobbing. That book just hit a nerve. Not the best thing I ever read…but it really moved me.
I’m now reading The Road, Cormac McCarthy and it is truly making my heart hurt.
I need to read more upbeat stuff apparently.
Other favorites:
House of Mirth – Edith Wharton
The Sun Also Rises – Hemingway
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
The Speed of Light – Elisabeth Rosner
I could go on and on. I adore most fiction…even the “kind of good.” I’m in awe of a writer’s ability to create the worlds that they do and I adore the succint use of words to do so.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Definitely a tough question. The answer must be, clearly, the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I’ve read them many times, and I can always read them again – when I have a week to spare, since I can’t put them down!
I haven’t read many of the others’ favorites, mostly because I find anything that takes place in the real world too depressing. But I second Madelaine L’Engle and the Harry Potter books, and would also add Terry Pratchett as a no-fail author. His “Witches” series is the best, closely followed by the Wee Free Men – written for children, but so brilliant and captivating!
September 9th, 2008 at 9:03 am
One of my favorites is Family Happiness by the late Laurie Colwin. I also love Rosie by Anne Lamott.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:16 am
I rarely read new fiction, but when I do, it’s usually Anne Tyler or Miranda July… I love re-reading all the old classics!
So, back to the question… my favorite fiction book is Pride and Prejudice. I just love Elizabeth Bennett’s feistiness and Mr. Darcy’s brooding. So romantic!
September 9th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Now you’ve gone and done it! I just have to have World Without End. Oh my what will I do with the books I already have on my couch waiting to be read?
September 9th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Pride & Prejudice and the Harry Potter series
September 9th, 2008 at 9:58 am
YES, what a beautiful book!!
September 9th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Pat Conroy’s wife is from my city and I spent a lovely evening sequestered in a kitchen with him while we both avoided the rest of the people at the cocktail party. Delightful man.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:15 am
I have heard wonderful things about The Sparrow.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:17 am
The Passion is marvelous – I read it again and again. Jeanette Winterson is one of my favorites.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I want to have Tom Robbins’ children! I love him!
I also love Jitterbug Perfume and Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:20 am
She’s Come Undone is also good.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Too many to choose! Anything I can share w/my 10 year old son – Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings…
Thanks for the reminders of the many books I’ve loved – Memoirs of a Geisha, The Sparrow & Children of God, Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.
I really enjoy Lamb by Christopher Moore – hilarious look at Jesus’s life thru the eyes of his best friend – Biff! Very funny, with a Bibical background. Great reminder of the humanity of Christ.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Hands down…”Sense and Sensibility” – the restraint of the prose and the characters…the scene that always gets me is when Colonel Brandon is in the carriage with Mrs. Dashwood and he’s confessing his love for …(don’t want to ruin it for anyone). Good stuff.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:03 am
yes, as noted, many, many, many choices..
I first read Mrs. Mike by Bernard & Nancy Freedman when I was in grade 8. It captivated me then and does still today.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:16 am
These two books embody The Heros Journey to me. Out into the universe travelling at the speed of light and to the depth of the dark night of the soul.
They are cute and funny but are also very deep,dark in places. Russell topped them of in 2005 ( when her readers would have expected more scince fiction) and wrote A Thread of Grace It is set in North Western Italy during WW2. The only place in Europe where the civilian populace sheltered Jews in large numbers. Fiction based on true events.
A stunning read
September 9th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Try A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell. Set in WW2
September 9th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Aren’t you a lucky one, Ellen. What did you talk about??? He’s got another novel due out one of these months. I would love to meet him. His newest wife is an author too, I believe, but I haven’t read her.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Yes, I too read “The Celestine Prophecy”. I really enjoyed that book and all of the other books that go along with it. The movie was actually pretty good as well.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:41 am
I inhale books. It’s hard to pick one book – I can’t even pick a single genre. I’ve got my local library website open beside this so I can order all the great books listed here.
I guess I’d have to say my favourite series is Jean M Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear etc. I read them every time I need a good shot of girl power.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:43 am
His new wife is the one from here. Her books are okay but nothing to compare with his. Pat Conroy and I talked about all kinds of things – I was in the middle of grad school (at 40) and we talked about our demons and what has helped us with them. Great guy. Very real and unpretentious.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Oh – and his mom was from a small town about 15 miles from where I grew up.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code” and “Angels and Demons” and most of Jodi Picoult’s books. I also like Robin Sharma’s “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” – about a lawyer who becomes a monk; very engaging and it had a lot of great lessons. I will certainly be rereading some books from the past after reading everyone’s lists.
September 9th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Thanks, Pearl. I love Wallace Stegner, too. So grateful to my first year university literature prof for including Angle of Repose on our reading list – such a great novel!
K
September 9th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I went to PEI this summer, our family runs the house at Park Corner where LM lived. My hubbie’s gradma is her neice. Anyways, they are lovely books….I just rented the movie to show my boys tonight from the library. To see photos of PEI and Anne at Avonlea Village check out my blog http://www.snickerdoodles.typepad.com
September 9th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
My favorite book for sheer magic and inspiration is “Chocolat” by Joanne Harris. (Anything by her, really!) “Garden Spells” by Sarah Addison Allen is my latest read and I loved it! I also loved the “Emily” books by L.M.Montgomery as a girl. Looking at the common denominator here, I’d say I love anything with a little bit of magic in it!
September 9th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
There are so many books I have loved so I will stick to a couple recent gems I have read and loved…The Glass Castle and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Both swept me away to another world and the characters were all facinating. http://www.snickerdoodles.typepad.com
September 9th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Flyy Girl by Omar Tyree and others but I don’t have time to read fiction anymore…now it’s all about facts…and psychology books/articles. (I know lots about attachment theory between mother and infant)
September 9th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Loved the Celestine Prophecy.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Finally someone mentioned “One Hundred Years of Solitude”! This book, for me, is at once made from the ether of dreams and the dirt of the earth. I adore it, and re-read it every few years. A masterpiece. I also love Edith Wharton and Henry James. And “The Mists of Avalon” was an instrumental book for me and my understanding of the world.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Yes, “She’s Come Undone” is a great book.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I’ve been thinking about this all day and I’ve hardly even come up with a thought of a fiction book. I read so much motivational, spiritual, psycho-babble stuff (which I just love!) that I never seem to pick up a fiction book. But… I finally thought of one. “The Time Traveler’s Wife” I read it twice. I read it so quickly the first time, that I read it again as soon as I got to the last page. The second time I actually lingered a bit over the pages.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I will. Thank you!
September 9th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I would have to say “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coehlo.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman. The book consists of 30 small chapters, each exploring one dream about time. Some scenarios involve exaggerations of true phenomena related to relativity, and some are entirely fantastical. Such a gem of a book.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I LOVED her book, and especially loved how she promoted her book. Have you seen her film, “you, me and everyone we know”?
September 9th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Devastatingly beautiful book.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Oh! I just finished reading that. What a great surprise that book was. I thought from the cover that it would be some kind of ’sex-in-the-city’ type thing. Good thing I didn’t judge the book by it’s cover…
A nice, dark chewy read. Very fun.
September 9th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Another shout out for She’s Come Undone. Awesome.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Artemis Fowl. Its technically a Children’s/Young Adults Book, but that’s all the better. It really gets to the heart of things, not to mention the adventure, character banter, wonderful diverse relationships and Colfer’s quirky sense of humor! I just love it.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
right now, my new favorite is Twilight… my all time favorite is Gone with the Wind… other favs are Pride and Predjudice and Memoirs of a Geisha.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Like Carrie I have to choose where and when I’ll read fiction because life have a tendency to stop when I read. But one of my favorite was Ken Fowlett – Pillars of the Earth. Fantastic. Educational. Thought provoking.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
and
ANYTHING and everything by Ms. Edith Wharton
September 9th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I really enjoyed that film. Funny and unexpected. And sweet and sad at points too. She is a local LA lady. perhaps I’ll run into her one of these days…
September 9th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I love so many books: Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim, Shadow of the Wind by Zafon, Room with a View by EM Forster, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, Any Jane Austen, God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, The Secret history by Donna Tartt. But if I had to say just one, Freddy and Fredericka is the only book that’s ever made me laugh out loud and cry.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
THE most beautiful book….Memoirs of a Geisha….to have lived that luxurious and decadent life…
September 9th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
There are too many favorites to count, but today I choose, Lois Lowry’s The Messenger, which is something of a sequel to The Giver. Her spareness leaves so much room for reflection and imagination.
I read Barbara Kingsolver like I eat watermelon in July…and never get enough of her.
I discovered Alice Hoffman’s INCANTATION this year and it is amazing too. A story beautifully told.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Back again, it would just be wrong of me not to mention, THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak. It centers around a young girl in Nazi Germany who discovers the power of books. The characters and narrator are so real and so memorable. I was so sad to reach the end of the book.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I knew there had to be another Fantasy fan out there…you must try The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay (The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, and The Darkest Road). It’s probably the first book that I was both excited and depressed about finishing; a story I was enjoying so much that I didn’t want it to end.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
In addition to my previous entry (The Fionavar Tapestry) and some of the other novels mentioned above (Kiterunner, Life of Pi), I had to throw out a few others on my list of favs:
The Stand (Stephen King)
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents (Octavia Butler)
September 25th, 2008 at 3:21 am
Just a quick thanks to everyone for these inspiring reads. My list hath grown…
October 1st, 2008 at 8:32 am
My favorite fiction book is Barbara Kingsolver's “The Poisonwood Bible”. It tells a story of a missionary family (Father: Minister, Family: Wife and four young girls) that moves to the Congo to “save” people. My favorite part in the book is when the father is extremely disappointed in the village people because they won't get baptized in the river. A friend of one of the daughters simply points out to the girl that there are alligators in the river that will kill them. The father thinks that the village is full of heathens because they won't become “saved”. It's funny, beautifully written and really hit home for me.