What should I read next?: The book ending support group discussion
Do you have a favorite Book?
If I really thought about it, I dont think I could pick ONE favorite, as i read so many different genres.... they are hard to put one up against the other...HOWEVER, the one that always jumps to mind first is The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Un-put-down-able!
A lot of what makes a book my favorite has to do with my own mindset when I read it. "The Lake of Dead Languages" comes to mind when I think of favorite books, but I read it again a few months ago and didn't find the same charm I'd found originally. However, I stick to it as my favorite because I was hard-pressed to think of one when someone asked me, and that's what I chose. Now it's stuck in my brain.
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom RobbinsJitterbug Perfume has a large and exotic cast of characters, all of whom are interested in immortality and/or perfume... Go see for yourself; you'll have a good time.
I am new to the group...HI ALL.
Lori, I loved The Road, too.And Jitterbug Perfume was the first book I'd read by Robbins. Janet, what would you suggest next?
It is too hard to pick just one. I think books just speak to us in different ways when we read them. Something could be a favorite at that time and not mean so much if we were to read it five years later or had read it five years earlier. What we bring to the books when we read them is half of it...
Hear Hear Andrea!I always say my bookshelf is like a photo album. I can pick up a book and remember at what phase in my life I was at when i read it. I switch genres according to mood.
There have been many times where Ive looked at a book in the bookstore and thought, no way would I read that, and then a year or two or maybe just 6 mnths down the road, I have come back to and bought it.
Its all in the timing.....
I agree with just about all of these comments! I've never been able to pinpoint a favorite book, until recently, and I really think that it was due to my mindset when I finished reading it. I just never reacted as strongly to a book as this one. But, that may change as time wears on...it usually does!!
I also want to add Blindess by Jose Saramago. I was really pulled into that book, and its one of the few that remain crystal clear in my mind...
I think favorite books change all the time and mostly reflect what was going on when you read it ... one of all time favorites was Norman Mailer's The Naked and Dead which I read in college ... I reread it recently and it was pretty interesting to see it from another perspective
I think I have a favorite HOLIDAY book... that would be The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore. that book was an absolute Hoot!!! It will definetly be something I read every christmas....
timing is really important. I hated Grapes of Wrath when I first read it, but loved it ten years later. I think that you have to have tried to support yourself for a few years and grappled with bills and householding to really empathize with the characters. Also, the strong female characters didn't make sense to me in my hellraising stage but do now that I am part of an extended family and community. Ma Joad, you rock! My favorite book changes with the seasons and with my experiences, but a few that I have always and will always love:
1) The Secret Garden -- I don't care if it was written for children. It's about regeneration and renewal, love and the little things that make life worth living.
2) Jane Eyre -- NOT a love story first and foremost. (Go ahead and disagree -- it's about sin, repentence, redemption, and becoming who you were meant to be in this world. Amazing, and deeper every time I pick it up.)
3) Gone With the Wind -- yes, in many ways politically incorrect. But doesn't Scarlett just rock?
(P.S. Hey everyone -- isn't my lovebird cute?!)
I think my all time favorite is Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. I read it in college and chose to write about it for my final research paper for my women writers class. I loved the book after my first read, but really developed a respect and admiration for Woolf and was amazed with her lyrical abilities after I read all the criticism.
Hey guysGosh, isnt easy as I thought it would be choosing a favourite book hmmmmm, arghhhh, ohhhh...okay if I had to choose, I'd say The Kite Runner is now on top of my lost...that was one heavy book, had me riding on an emotional roller coaster - can't remember the last time a book had me crying soo much - memorable book with the line that I can't seem to shake away 'for you a thousand times over.'
school days fav book was 'to kill mockingbird', college it was 'notes from a samll island' and at work it became 'Life of pi'
I just seem to have a list that is endlessly growing...I have no storage space :o(
xx
I got a few favorites. Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, My Sergei, Harry Potter, and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
I have so many favorites, it's so hard to choose. I'd have to say that so far, the Red Tent has been my favorite - but that's only because I forced myself to choose just one. I do have plenty of others (too long a list).
I also have so many favorites, it's hard to choose. I haven't ever read a book more than once (aside from Sons and Lovers for school and some childrens' books), but I'd have to say the one that stands out in my mind as one I'd like to read again (and maybe even again and again!) is A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin. I suppose that fact might just push it to the top of my list!
Hi Heather,A Soldier of the Great War was also one of my favorites! Love to see you book list!
Shannon
my most recent favorite book is "sellevison" by augusten burroughs... i love all of his work, but this one was absolutely hilarious... i could not put it down...
I'm like everyone else it is hard to name just one book. I love a lot of Stephen King books. My favorite of his are Carrie, Salem's Lot, and It. I also love all of the Harry Potter books. They are my keepers because I know I will read those books again. Along with all my Stephen King books.
My favorite book at present is "The Hobbit". It was fun, funny, whimsical, fantasy, and very neat characters.
I love The Hobbit. My favorite book(s) would have to be: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, at present I also love The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer, Harry Potter series (of course), Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zabon, and Chasing the Devil's Tail by David Fulmer. I know, I know it's more than one.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I'm partial to the Gunslinger Series by Stephen King as well.
Funny how this works -- I just finished The Road and agree that it's incredible. I will be reading 100 Years of Solitude this summer. Both are on my reading list for my AP English students.Has anyone here read Angle of Repose? It's definitely one of my favorites, and is anything by Haruki Murakami. I'd seriously read his shopping lists if they were printed. My favorite is Dance, Dance, Dance (which is also on my reading list....)
Geez, this is easy for me - Charles Dicken's DAVID COPPERFIELD. However, I would not reccommend it to anyone, friend or otherwise (my wife hated it). It may have simply fallen upon my lap at just the right time in my life. I've read it since several times, and loved it again, but not for some ten years or so now. I'll always adore it, though.Larry Kimport
I feel the same way about this book. It was chosen by my book group and I had no interest in reading it even though I am a huge fan of McCarthy's. I read this in one sitting a year ago and I still think about it every week. The conversations between the father and his small son were heartbreaking and so sweet at the same time.
My favorite has to be "East of Eden" by Steinbeck. It was like all other books were junk food and this was a perfect filet mignon and vegetables....it nourished me, every word was important, there was not ont throw away sentence - a masterpiece. I also loved "A Fine Balance". It took a couple pages to fall in love but I was HOOKED. I cried, I thought about it when I was not reading it, and then end was a suckerpunch to the gut. Masterful.
I have just recently gotten into McCarthy and my brother was foaming at the mouth telling me to read "The Road". I did. It was good. But it just did NOT match the absolute BRILLIANCE of "Blood Meridian".
I recently read OUTER DARK after reading THE ROAD.I too enujoyed THE ROAD. I liked the dream-like quality of the narrative - much like we have suck little choice in our dream worlds. I felt thia after having to get by the not a single insect left, yet peoplle roam.
OUTER DARK was spooky too, in McCarthy "voice."
Thanks, I haven't read, BLOOD MERIDIAN, but will do so soon!! Judy
I've been enjoying the comments about "The Road." I have friends who've been raving about Cormac for years and I've tried to read Blood Meridian, etc. but haven't been able to get into anything... until The Road. I really liked the clipped, sparse poetic feel it had to it. Also, I couldn't believe how he was able to squeeze so much description out of that grey, burned out landscape. I could see it and feel it and believe it.
It's hard to just pick one but I can narrow it down to the top 3: Ahab's wife, Choke, and Water for Elephants. I'm sure the list will change in a few months :)
Isn't that one of the MOST DIFFICULT question! Choose a favorite book?!?!? Oh no! It should go without saying, for me anyway...my CURRENT favorite is....there are so many great books and so little time so I don't keep reading something I am not loving at the time...I will always go back to it however and re try it...because I have found that perhaps at the first attempt (sometimes second and third attempts as well) I wasn't in that time frame of mind perhaps..or have recently burned out on a particular historical figure...and need to CLEANSE MY PALETTE...with something a little different before I can go back and enjoy the heck out of a book I may pass over for one reason or another at the time! Do I make any sense? I know some people feel this way also. Currently I am LOVING the NON FICTION work of Barbara W. Tuchman and A DISTANT MIRROR! Oh what a fantastic learning experience about the 14th century! The life of the 14th century person..childhood, marriage, money, taxes war...noble, serf or clergy! Wow It is AWESOME READING! For non fiction it is as engrossing a read as if it were HF!
I would have to say I could re-read The Vampire Lestat and Middlesex over and over so...they must be my favorites.
Hi Mandy,I find the topic of re-reading books interesting because there is the, I do re-read group and the, I do a not re- read group. I fall into the do not crowd, even though there have been many books that when I ended the book I thought, "I could read this again," but never do. This is because when I began it again, it doesn't do for me the second time what it did the first time..What I am trying to get to, in my long winded annoying confusing way is...You say I COULD re-read the books..but do you? Did you re-read them? And,if so..Did it thrill you like the first time? I read to be thrilled, to be informed, to learn to be entertained,..I fall in love or fall in hate with the characters, and I am compelled to turn the pages because I MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO MY CHARACTERS, to the plot line, etc., and the 2nd time that compunction to turn that page is not there because I know already...Therefore, even tho I loved the book it will never be the same for me the next time. So DO YOU or DON"T YOU? Really re-read?
i would say that mine is On the Road by Jack Kerouac...if i had to pick one..a close second would be franny and zooey.
I've reread tons of times. It’s because the style can't really change, no matter how much you put into it to make sense, if you like the book or not. So even if I had read the same book more than a hundred times, i sometimes will still come to the same conclusion as I did the first time I’ve read it, it just doesn’t change. But there are some good books and better than others for sure. And I don’t just disagree with Elizabeth, I know it’s a lazy mooted point at the end of most books, so I just go on to another, disregarding it. Just a little more winded at each sitting. But not too confused. I rarely reread at all the past couple years. I confess. But I’ve reread Rienzi, the last of the Roman tribunes. But my favorite was Norah by Pamela Hill.
Hi Arthur, there really was nothing to AGREE of to DIAGREE to...I didn't understand what you were talking about when I read your post..Until I re-read LOL my own... I of course KNOW that a book IS ALWAYS THE SAME NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES, I WOULD READ IT! That goes without saying...I think you may have not understood what I had meant when I said "Therefore, even tho I loved the book it will never be the same for me the next time." I didn't mean the book wouldn't be the same I mean MY REACTION, MY FELLINGS, towards the book would not be the same...It is different because the thrill is gone for me in that I KNOW what will happen to the story line or characters....It is an emotional investment for me to read, I love my books, everything about them...I read about the author, I like to read the authors dedication, the authors additional notes on why they chose to write about the story. I will look up the artist and find where they are from etc. To re-read, FOR MYSELF, as this is a total OPINION generated topic, and it is always having a new meaning for each individual...Therefore, it is my emotion and reaction and even as far as what was going on in my life when I read a book that plays into it and my memories of a book. I can remember where I read some books as it had an important meaning in many ways in my life. I hope I have explained myself a little better. I tend to be long winded, and I still come up not making sense...sorry. I am happy to hear your response though.
Fairly true... I was thinking I was never going to post because there was no way I was going to say Norah was by far my favorite historic novel. But then it was no problem. I think a book read is still better than one on the burner but then I could be wrong. After all it’s just an opinion that matters to me. But thank you for your post.
Hi Elizabeth! I don't know how I never knew you had replied to me, but the whole groups aspect of goodreads is pretty new to me so...Anyway...I actually have not ever re-read a book...I guess to me a book is good that I would even consider re-reading, of which there haven't been but the two I mentioned. I guess it's just a gauge for me that will never be tested haha.
I do feel as if revisiting could somehow make a book less than how I absorbed it on the first time through...but then again, what if you hadn't read something in 10 years.
Like with both of my "favorites" I really couldn't tell you much about it except for some essential plot points.
I guess I won't know into which camp I fall until I ever DO re-read something...but that might be a long time out because there are simply too many other books I want to read :)
I don't generally re-read books because there are so many on my "to read" list that I seldom get a chance to go back and revisit a work. However, I have had to re-read books for book club that I might otherwise have never read again. This happened with "The Catcher in the Rye," "Neverwhere," and "The Hundred Secret Senses." I surprised to find that, even though I knew the basic plot of all three, I enjoyed the re-read as much--if not more--than the initial read. Knowing the plot frees one to notice subtleties and nuances that one might initially breeze over during a first reading in the rush to see what happens next. I appreciate the writer's language and technique more upon a second reading, also. I still don't re-read often, but I find it very rewarding when I do.
I think I'm going to re-read Ulysses by Joyce as I'm sure there is a lot I missed but first will read some books about Ulysses so that I don't re-read it again and miss the same things I missed the first timeI usually don't re-read but probably have read Shakespeare's s various plays many times
same with a lot of poetry books
I agree with Jim about re-reading Shakespeare, however there are not many novels that I re-read simply because I would rather be reading something new. One book that I have read several times and enjoyed more every time is 'slaughterhouse five' by kurt vonnegut. I love all of his books, he is so entertaining and thought provoking at the same time! As far as my favorite book...of all time...that's difficult, I think it's a tie between 'gone with the wind' and 'the grapes of wrath'
For sure, my favorite book, which I also mention in my profile is "Penny, A Freed Spirited Bassed Hound"I own four bassets so i really love it.
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. He's on tour right now with the movie doing book signings, so I have an autographed copy. AAAH.Second place is White Oleander. I can read it a million times and never get sick of it.
It used to be Peter Pan for a long time. But when I turned 18, someone sent me Nabokov's Ada by mail. It has been my favourite novel ever since.
I really like Never Let Me Go also. It was such subtle science fiction. I liked the slowly building sense of horror. Also recently I loved The Little Friend. Listened to it in the car for about a month. It lends itself to listening really well.
I have lots of favourite books for different reasons! However If I had to pick one! Then Dissolutions by C J Sansom would be number 1. I entered the world of Shardlake! I couldn't put it down & I had to get all the next four books! Devoured them all with the same glee! I wait in anticipation & hope that Mr Sansom writes another!
I just finished the "The Horse Whisperer" by Nicholas Evans - amazing! All time favourite & highly recommend to all. Enjoy!
There are too many... but "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova is my all-time favourite.
What should I read next?: The book ending...
Books mentioned in this topic
The Road (other topics)Gone with the Wind (other topics)
The Last Unicorn (other topics)
White Oleander (other topics)
Water for Elephants (other topics)
Now my favorite book is "Never let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro.
What is yours? Are you able to pick one out from the bunch?