Books

[wook77]

If you could pick one book, no matter how fluff or trash or random or scientific or educational or romantic or schmoopy - what would that book be and why?

It can be part of a series. It can be a book that's out of print. It can be a book with a movie based on it. It can be a child's book. It can be a book about serial killers. It can be raunchy poetry. It can be about string theory. It can be het. It can be gen. It can be slash.

It just has to be a real favorite book. Don't post what you think everyone else wants to read or what you think will impress other people. Post what the one book that you love and adore more than any other is. If it's a Nora Roberts book or a biography on Kennedy, I don't care.

What's the one book that you would rec to the heavens and beyond?

(It can even be more than one book)

Comments

[megan-sage.livejournal.com]

Almost Like Being In Love by Steve Kluger.

A love story about two boys who fall in love in high school only to part for twenty years; it'll make you grin like you've won the lottery and laugh until your sides ache. Easily my favorite book. I can pick it up any day of the week, flip to a page and start to read and know exactly what's happening and why. In fact, I recommend you read it yourself.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Oh man. Totally buying that. It sounds amazing.

Thanks for the rec!

Have you read Caught Running by Madeleine Urban? It's a fantastic book with guys that didn't get along in high school all that much but then they have to work together like 10 or so years later and end up having an affair and falling in love. It's a brilliant read.

[cornmouse.livejournal.com]

I don't really rec my favourite book because I love it for very intense personal reasons, but my favourite book of all time is The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. That book will be, for the rest of my life, at the top of my list. Every time. I don't rec it because I don't love it for it's lyrical writing, hidden meaning, or lovely story; I love it because I love it.

[lurkitty.livejournal.com]

Have you met Peter? He is a very sweet and kind man.

[zephre.livejournal.com]

I love this book, too - it's so wonderful, beyond explanations. It has to be experienced. :D

[yaycoffee.livejournal.com]

I can't choose only one. I will give three. Is that ok?

1. Till We Have Faces -- C.S. Lewis
2. About a Boy -- Nick Hornby
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban -- J.K. Rowling

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Three is perfectly fine! I'll have to check out the first one. I did enjoy About a Boy and Prisoner of Azkaban is the second most favorite HP book for me.

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. I love lots of books for lots of different reasons, but these are far and away my favorites. Epic, creative, and intelligent literary science fiction and a whole lot more. And John Keats. ♥

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Are these hardcore science fiction? Like old school scifi?

John Keats is lovely. I adore reading him.

[jean-c-pepper.livejournal.com]

The Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice.

[tjs-whatnot.livejournal.com]

jlsdkjfsdkfja

YES! Best book! I read it again like every other year and still adore it!!

[niennah.livejournal.com]

The book I always rec is Provinces of Night by William Gay. The prose is utterly perfect and I am in love with one of the main characters. I found it on a bargain table in a bookshop and bought it because I loved the blue colour of its cover. Then I read it, and after that I bought it for all my friends, too. :)

I also love Fateless by Imre Kertesz (another one I bought for friends), The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen. I rec them all.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, definitely checking these out!

I liked the Ron Hansen book but I loathed the movie. God, it was awful.

I love those kismet books, the ones you buy for no other reason than the cover or the title and it ends up being a favorite book.

[lurkitty.livejournal.com]

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This is the one that I've actually worn out the first copy rereading and am now on my second copy.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

That was one that definitely changed my interpretation of the world. Totally amazing book.

[abigail89.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Gets me every time.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Yes. That book is amazing. I'm totally in love with that one and GoF.

[true-masquerade.livejournal.com]

I would rec Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce (also called the Alanna series) to all and sundry :-) But I mostly don't, partly because it's fantasy-ish, but mostly because it's Young Adult.

But I love it. I've loved it since I was 13 and I still reread it now (in my twenties) and love it. It's got magic and action and knights and evil heirs to the throne and secrets. And it's got Alanna who is my favourite protagonist ever - smart, tough,loyal, awesomely stubborn and independent.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

I'll have to check that series out. Tamora Pierce is one that I tried and liked before but then, as things do, her name fell out of my head.

I love young adult books, tbh. They're exciting and they don't try to impress with giant words and overly purple prose.

Have you read the series that starts with The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima? Brilliant series of books. That author is amazing, too.

[froggie.livejournal.com]

"The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster

My favorite book as a kid, and even now it's still an existential trip/joy.

And recently, Haruki Murakami's "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" and "After Dark"

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Oh cool. Definitely looking into these, especially the first.

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. My love for this book cannot be measured.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Sweet! Thanks! It's now top on my check-it-out list!

[katmarajade.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire-- it's not everyone's fav HP book, but it has always been mine. I won't get into my rant about why this book is so powerful, but it's the only HP book that made me cry and it's just so amazing. I just reread it again because my slashfest piece takes place during it and, as usual, I ended up clutching the book to my chest after I finished it, partly crying and partly just awed by the entire story.

My fav book of all time though is probably Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. He's my fav author and there is so much to this book. Every time I read it I find more and it's so far ahead of its time and just hits me liekwoah every single time. I love it beyond description and have, quite literally, bought over a dozen copies that I've given out as gifts. It's my fav.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

This was the first HP book I read. GoF totally got me addicted to the characters and I couldn't stop reading it and then went and got the first three. It's such an awesome book. I love the movie, too, for the most part. I especially love the outtakes with Dean and Seamus dancing :D

[tjs-whatnot.livejournal.com]

The book I've recced more then any other in that last couple years is a book I discovered in an English class and it just surprised me just how much I adored it and how amazing it was because it was in a genre I don't normally read: sci-fi. "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell. OMG! It's spectacular and I loved every page of it, even the ones, ESPECIALLY the ones that ripped my heart out.

Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath and S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders pretty much tie for my favorite books of all time.

P.S. What's yours?

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Totally checking that one out. I love books that surprise you like that. I was forced to read Travels with Charley by Steinbeck and it was amazingly brilliantly fascinating awesome. Totally sucked me into his writing whereas before I hated anything considered "classic". Oh book rebellion.

The Outsiders was the best book ever, basically. Did you read her newest book? It was awful :(

My favorite depends on the mood, tbh. Caught Running by Madeleine Urban is a favorite m/m when I need a cheer up. If I'm in a fantasy mood, I love the Night Angel Series by Brent Weeks. If I'm in a romance mood, I love Born in Fire by Nora Roberts. A favorite from childhood is Caroline. Or Only Love by Susan Sallis.

Books that really influenced me when I was a young person - Blazing Embers by Deborah Camp and Cheyenne's Lady by Patricia Rice. Those books, oh man. I stole 'em from my older sister and oh god, they were romance novels with full out sex scenes and my eyes bugged out and I devoured them. I was like 10. I've worn out so many copies of both those books. They feature the old style romance hero where it's an almost rape and the girl falls in love with him anyway. I love them more for the nostalgia than for the plots, anymore.

[midnight-birth.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I have so many!! I always have such a difficulty choosing, but...

Gone with the Wind is one of my absolute favourite books. This book just has.. everything. Everything I've ever looked for out of a book, it's got it. Not to mention the main heroine is the one of the only fictional characters to date I was able to relate to almost completely.

The books that come close second are Harry Potters, Chronicles of Narnia, The Once and Future King (another book that has not only everything, but every imaginable genre), and Neverending Story.

LoL I would pay people to read those books. ;)

[wook77.livejournal.com]

The Once and Future King is definitely an awesome book. I try to re-read that one once a year because it's so good.

[zephre.livejournal.com]

Sati, by Christopher Pike, a book that changed my worldview.

with extra bonus of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, but I practically have that one memorized so I could likely do without the book (of which I have four copies).

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Christopher Pike. Oh man. I read so many of his books when I was a kid. He had this one book where the girl gets killed by a friend but turns out that she hid in the bathtub in scuba equipment or something. God, Christopher Pike. He was a favorite of mine.

I'll have to check out the second one. It sounds awesome.

[emiime.livejournal.com]

No book has ever touched me or moved me as this one has. I got a tattoo dedicated to it, for God's sake. I am changed by this book.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Holy cow, really? *buys*

[girlofavalon.livejournal.com]

What about Pride and Prejudice? Love it!

And On the Road, by Jack Kerouac?

Great reads!

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Pride and Prejudice. What a brilliant book. And it makes some amazing movies.

I really tried Jack Kerouac but I just couldn't get into him for some reason. I'm a failure at books.

[gala-apples.livejournal.com]

this is a ridiculously hard question, but i just refell in love with the borderland series. they're 4 books of short stories of what would happen if somewhere in the distance there was a bordertown between human major cities and an elf land. it's a city of runaways and gangs and drugs and people caring. and then two of the authors wrote full length books. they're all out of print and cost me major bucks to get, but they're so fucking good, and i love the shared universe between writers concept.

OMG DIES *DIESDIESDIES* I JUST LOOKED UP A LINK TO GIVE YOU, AND ON THE EDITOR'S WEBSITE IT SAYS A NEW ANTHOLOGY WILL BE OUT IN 2011. *DIES SO HARD*

i am like shitting a brick in excitment now. holy mother of god a new borderland book!

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Inorite? It really really is hard to pick just one. I can't do it.

I'll have to check out those books. I wonder if they're at the library?

And hee! So glad you discovered a new book in that series! Sweet! I love when you google old favorites and discover new additions.

[joirerson.livejournal.com]

I'd have to pick between The Hogfather and Jingo, or Witches Abroad, by Terry Pratchett. I always say that you get what you put in with Pratchett- if you want to read a funny story, or a serious piece of socio-political commentary, you can read the same book. He was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and you can kinda tell in his writing, but the middle books of the Discworld series are my favorites. I don't recommend the first four or so Discworld books, though, he hadn't hit his stride yet.

And The Return of the King, too- I could reread the battle for the Shire chapter over and over again, and indeed I have.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Terry Pratchett is one of the best writers ever. I love and adore his works.

I love the LotR movies but I cannot stand the books for some reason. I wish I could because the world is freaking fascinating and amazing. He's a talented writer and it's definitely my failing that I can't read it.

[jazzonia.livejournal.com]

Sabriel by Garth Nix.

It's the first in a fantasy trilogy that just lures you in. The worldbuilding is fantastic, and the characters are more real than any others I have read before.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Oh man, yes, such a good book. A friend got me to read that a couple of years ago and I loved and adored his worldbuilding and the books themselves. He did a fantastic job with the characters and everything. So much love for that series!

[shygryf.livejournal.com]

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede. i rec this to everyone and give the first book dealing with dragons as a gift all the time and always have great responses.

i have an extra copy lying around if you want it.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

Oooooohhhh, yes, I will definitely take a copy, if you don't mind!

[karaz.livejournal.com]

"Only My Life" By Louis de Wijze I sort of hate historical novels and autobiographical historical novels are REALLY not my thing but I got assigned this book for a class. I read it on a zerox copy the prof gave us and later had to buy it in hardback for myself. It's about a young Dutch Jew trying to survive in Nazi Germany. The DH, who reads only under threat of job loss, was unable to put it down and it's a quick read. I think I finished it in a day.

In a completely different genre, dude, I love "Summer Sisters" by Judy Blume. >.> I know we were all meant to give Blume books after we have our first period but when I saw this 'adult' book - however many years ago it was - I had to have it. This is in the vein of Beaches (god, I know! but feels a lot more realistic and less saccharine) but more about coming of age and becoming an adult then the BFF-ness, though that's there... eh, sorta. I've read it multiple times and I definitely get different things out of it each time.

And lastly, "The Mirror" by Marlys Millhiser This is an old book that belong to my mom. I think I read it the first time when I was about 12. I've lost count how many times I've read it since then. A young woman looks into a family heirloom mirror and finds herself transported into her Grandmother's body - nearly 100 years ago - and her teenaged Grandmother into her body now. The book has 3 basic parts: The girl living her life as the Grandmother, the life of her mother/daughter, and Grandmother living her life in current granddaughter's body. Um, did you follow that? lol.

[karaz.livejournal.com]

ps - I love when people ask their flist this, I get so many good recs too! :)