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What is your favorite book and why?

I'll start!

Harry Potter series. This was probably the first book that really got me into reading. I love that it compels the imagination to transport me to a different world, one of connection and possibility.

I'll give you 3, Kat...

1. The Hobbit - the book that 1st got me into reading.

2. Count of Monte Cristo - read it about 10 years ago and it made a bigger impression on me than any other book, since I first read The Hobbit.

3. Shogun - just finished reading it for the 1st time and it blew me away. Unquestionably in this top bracket.

And, yes, I love the Harry Potter series too :)

Impossible to single out.
Since I reread The Master and Margarita few times, it must be one of the favorites.
Puzo's mafia saga, Jules Verne, Dumas, Harry Harrison, Jack London, lots of Soviet stuff.

Nik wrote: "Impossible to single out.
Since I reread The Master and Margarita few times, it must be one of the favorites.
Puzo's mafia saga, Jules Verne, Dumas, Harry Harrison, Jack London, lots of Soviet stuff."

And let us know why these are your favorites!

Favorite historical novel - probably a three-way time among Gone With The Wind, Shogun and We The Living

Favorite YA - Does Anne of Green Gables count as YA?

Favorite short stories - Those from O Henry, Roald Dahl, Flannery O'Connor

Favorite biographical books: Night, by Elie Wiesel, The Five, by Hallie Rubenhold, Savage Beauty, by Nancy Mitford

Favorite classics: The Sherlock Holmes stories, A Tale of Two Cities, everything by Jane Austen

Aztec by Gary Jennings. Published in 1980.

This historical novel presents the Aztec history so vividly, realistically, and in such an entertaining manner that I could never think of the Aztecs as anything other than a fascinating people who created a vast empire out of a seemingly uninhabitable swamp land populated by scores of different tribes with vastly different languages, customs, alien cultures.

The story's fictional Aztec narrator is so believable and endearing that one cannot help but empathize and sympathize with him as a person to be respected and admired.

Barbara wrote: "Favorite historical novel - probably a three-way time among Gone With The Wind, Shogun and We The Living

Favorite YA - Does Anne of Green Gables count as YA?

Favorite short stories - Those from..."

Thank you for sharing! I have read some of these and look forward to adding the rest to my reading list.

Jim wrote: "Aztec by Gary Jennings. Published in 1980.

This historical novel presents the Aztec history so vividly, realistically, and in such an entertaining manner that I could never think of the Aztecs as ..."

Love when you can really empathize and connect with the main character.

Barbara, I agree with your choices but haven't read Savage Beauty. It's on my list. It's been a long time since I've seen anyone admit to liking Ayn Rand - she's not socially acceptable these days - but I also enjoyed her novels. I'd add to the list Huckleberry Finn, which is also not socially acceptable currently.

Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. Although I have always avoided fantasy, it was portrayed as science fiction so I bought if from the science fiction book club when I was young. Despite it really being more like fantasy to me because of dragons, I loved the story. Re-reading it over the years many times, it is like comfort food for me.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. It was one of the first books I recall reading in school that portrayed the dark side of Victorian days and condemned treatment of the poor. It was full of social issues I had never considered but are still applicable to life today. Our school did the musical and having watched the 1968 movie, it has always stuck with me as my favorite book that school forced us to read. I like Dickens' writing style.

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn for my favorite childhood reading. Easy to read, exciting adventure, humor, and relatable characters. In 2015, I took a detour on my wayto WI just to go to Hannibal and see the town and most importantly - the cave.

My favorite fairytale - The Six Swans. I don't know why other than the story was very good and stuck with me all my life. My father read to me from a Grimm's fairy tale book and that was the one I always wanted most. Maybe the idea of keeping silent for six years and not being able to defend yourself and unlike all those disney stories, the ending wasn't perfect as the youngest brother had a swan's wing for one arm when she was unable to finish the 6th shirt.

Lizzie wrote: "Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey. Although I have always avoided fantasy, it was portrayed as science fiction so I bought if from the science fiction book club when I was young. Despite it re..."

I recently found fantasy books and never thought I would like them. I love them now too!

Favorite Books? Little Women and The Lord of the Rings, including The Hobbit, for me. But if you really want to be freaked out, read "Dark Rivers of the Heart" by Dean Koontz.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again: My first adult book and it changed my way of reading.

Dandelion Wine: The man taught me to dream. This book should be read three times. One when you are about 12, The second when you are in your forties and the third when you are in your late seventies. This book is that good it has something for all.

Scout wrote: "It's been a long time since I've seen anyone admit to liking Ayn Rand - she's not socially acceptable these days ..."

I get why people don't like Rand - I think of her two big novels, The Fountainhead and "Atlas Shrugged" as achievements rather than good novels. But "We The Living" is a very good historical novel about post-revolutionary Russia.

I guess the best measure of my esteem is how often I reread a book. My most reread books:

1.) Meditations: Sometimes it helps to hear another voice telling me to just keep moving forward.

2.) Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch: I know one of the coauthors has been accused of some disgusting things, of late. But it still reads as an incredibly human story.

3.) Dracula: It was the first novel I read for myself. (I was about 13.) A great hunt is always appealing to a sportsman. And a recent group read inspired me to start keeping Walpurgisnacht as a minor holiday.

4.) The Historian: Yet another hunt through the richly described haunts of that bloodthirsty revenant? Yes, read it and you'll understand.

Meditations is one I reread.

Some books didn’t just teach me, they woke me up.

The Secret introduced me to the power of belief.
Think and Grow Rich taught me the value of mindset over struggle.
The Four Agreements showed me how much of my pain came from things I agreed to without knowing.
All About Love made me question everything I thought love was supposed to be.
And Neil Strauss, his honesty, even when messy, reminded me that transformation is raw, not polished.

Then there’s The Soul You Forgot(my own). I wrote it during a season where I was losing pieces of myself to people who didn’t know how to hold me. Writing it felt like remembering who I was before I forgot.

What about you?
What book found you exactly when you needed it?

There are many books I love and frequently re-read but probably my favourite book - an absolute masterpiece - is The Stone Cage by Nicholas Stuart Gray.

I've never read a more perfectly written story - a retelling of Rapunzel through the eyes of the witch's cat.

Hard to find these days and I cherish my copy. If I could ever reach that level I would call myself a storyteller.

The Stone Cage