inglenook discussion

As this bookclub is all about sharing novels the others might not have read and inspiring other members, we would like to know what your all-time favourite book (or books, let's be real) are.

All the love.

I never feel like I've read enough books to determine favourites, to be honest. I always think that the best is yet to come and looking at the amount of books I've read versus the amount of books out there in the world, I think that is going to be true. Furthermore, I have read a lot of books that really entertained and moved me while I read them, but that all in all didn't have enough of an impact on my life and my way of thinking to make a longterm favourite list. Anyway, that certainly makes it hard to give a definitive answer. I might come back in a day, a week or a month and add another book to this list, but for now, looking back at the few books I've read so far in my life, the following I'd count to my most beloved:

Forever and always the Harry Potter books, because I've grown up with them and they helped me through each and every rough time I've faced in my life.
Then, the Captive Prince trilogy by C. S. Pacat, which contains everything that I love in a good romance story, which in the end isn't too much of the romance-stuff at all, but lots of plot to give a bit of depth and a good amount of hate and pain to round it all up (if that makes sense to anyone).
So far, I also enjoyed everything that I've read by Oscar Wilde. Really adore his writing style, so I'd consider him as an author one of my favourites!
Same goes for J. R. R. Tolkien, obviously.
As for stand-alones, I have to mention Atonement by Ian McEwan, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and about a dozen fanfictions that I'm so glad to have stumbled upon. There are some real gems out there - (someone should get into publishing these, honestly!)

This list seems so short and insignificant and random, which is why I really hope I get to add to it soon. Give me some life-changing books any day, please and thank you!

Well i might as well go ahead and add to this list myself :))
Favourites, of course, are hard to determine (and I will try to keep this short...) - picking favourite books always seems to me like picking your favourite child in a sense, completely inappropriate ! And yet, I do have a couple of books on my all time favourites list. These are books that inspire me, that move me, that make me ache(if you know what i mean you know what i mean).

I can never think of all the books I loved the first few seconds after someone asks me this very question ... but my reflex now has become to blurt (or practically shout) out: The Secret History (next to Harry Potter, a book I rarely mention in that context (and in that context alone, because I always manage to steer the conversation to HP otherwise) because I simply cannot fathom that Harry Potteris NOT someone's favourite book!). I simply adore The Secret History and I'm constantly in the mood to read it. I am currently listening to the audiobook and I want to pause it every second sentence to copy it down (which is stupid because it has already been written down obviously). The Secret History is the book I would have wanted to write, the book that speaks to all of my preferences, the ideal novel in a sense. This might seem a bit over the top for some people (especially for those who did not like this book), but I live in a world of black and white thinking - if I love something it's an over the moon - won't shut up about this book - kind of obsession (I look up playlists, pinterest aesthetics etc) ... and if I hate something, well you get the gist ...
A new favourite of mine is The Goldfinch (also by Donna Tartt) although I have a hard time figuring out if I adored this book because I idolise Donna Tartt or because I did find certain similarities to The Secret History in it (not plot wise really, mind you, but feelings wise) ...

Another author I greatly admire is Stephen King - The Green Mile is one of the most touching stories I have ever encountered (and people only ever think of King as a horror writer, which is such a shame!) and 11.22.63 or Itare just incredible books !

All Quiet On The Western Front is another fave, quite surprisingly, as I thought it was a boring book other kids had to read in school. Turns out: my sole aim now is to become a politician and force each and every person on this planet to read this novel. I am convinced that there could not be any wars happening if everyone read this book and understood what wars do to people ! It's a haunting story that I re-read every year.

I have a couple more favourites that I will simply list I think because in total I have jotted down 16 (!) in my reading journal.

Tragedy and heartbreak feature prominently in my favourites list, same as decadence and atmospheric-ness. I adore Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Atonementor The Likeness for example, but I do love fantastical and magical books like The Night Circus or The Neverending Story as well. Two other childhood favourites are A Little Princess and Island of the Blue Dolphins.

Books tend to inspire me, influence me (on a maybe unhealthy level) quite extremely. After reading a powerful novel I always want to turn my life around and live the way the people in the books live. I started learning portuguese because i read Night Train to Lisbon for example.
Books, for me, become favourites if they manage to evoke a certain type of feeling in me, and if they manage to stay in my mind for a while (it's been a year and a half and i still think about Atonementalmost once a week, not to mention The Secret History or Harry Potter, since i will NEVER let this story go, it will be with me until the very end ! ) and I am always searching for similar novels to the ones I have read ... so if there are any suggestions, hit me up please !