Today:
The Wind in the Willows - Grahame
La Nausée - Sartre
Night Watch - Pratchett
God Emperor of Dune - Frank Herbert
Steel Beach - John Varley
Bridge of Birds - Barry Hughart
Without thinking about it too much:
1 - The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
2 - The Overstory - Richard Powers
3 - Atonement - Ian McEwan
I came up with four. I’m still deciding which one to kick out to get top 3. This has two of the four. Based on this I’m adding Jitterbug Perfume to my “to read” list. Thanks!
In no particular order, since that would change day by day:
Blindness - José Saramago
The Crossing - Cormac McCarthy
Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
Piece of Cake - Derek Robinson
Black Sunday - Thomas Harris (of Dr. Lecter fame)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
- All the Light We Cannot See–Anthony Doerr
- Jayne Eyre–Charlotte Brontë
- Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry
I might lose friends over this.
The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger
Dandelion Wine, Bradbury
Catch-22, Heller
PS: A Prayer for Owen Meany is a lovely choice. I just recommended that book to my husband yesterday.
Also an excellent choice.
The Fool’s Progress Edward abbey
Snow Crash Neil Stephenson
Hitchhiker’s Guide Douglas Adams
The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
The Princess Bride, William Goldman
Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
I just don’t know if I can put a list together, this is a very tough question. Master and Margarita is an excellent choice.
Yeah, three is hard. I chose novels that I go back to again and again.
The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court - Mark Twain (or Huck Finn - aaargh!)
3 Men in a Boat - Jerome K Jerome
I used a little different criteria. Novels I go back to repeatedly are more my “comfort novels” that I know I can always enjoy re-reading, like LoTR or The Expanse series. But for favorite novels, it has to be something that really has an impact on me, and those tend to be novels I can’t read too often.
Either criteria is certainly valid depending on what “favorite” means to you.
Well, Catcher in the Rye helped me find my own writers voice at age thirteen, so I picked that one. I enjoy it every time I read it.
Dandelion Wine is my pick by my favorite author of all time, Ray Bradbury. When I first started reading it (it’s not fantasy) I thought, “What even are you doing, Ray Bradbury? This is more like a series of small town vignettes than a cohesive story!” But by the end, I was leveled. It’s greater than the sum of its parts. I think it’s a masterpiece.
Catch-22 is brilliant and funny and endlessly entertaining, while also making some pretty sobering points.
I can’t really explain why I elevated these above other books I adore (except Catcher. It’s my first love.) On another day I might make different choices.
Yeah, it’s murky. If I went with just comfort novels, I’ve probably read the Aubrey/Maturin series more than anything else. It’s my go to stuck at the cabin, don’t want to look at a screen choice. But those three novels are all kind of part of me and I’m just realizing that I the first time I read them was at important developmental moments, middle-school, early high school and when I was studying in Moscow.
The Dharma Bums-Jack Kerouac
Poisonwood Bible- Barbara Kingsolver
Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets-Dav Pilkey
Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
Starship Troopers – Robert A Heinlein
Metzger’s Dog – Thomas Perry
Ditto.
All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque
Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut
The Last Go Round Ken Kesey
Foucault’s Pendulum
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