most difficult question anyone could ask an avid reader.

Monday, July 4, 2011

1 1/2 of blogging and I don't think I've ever asked you guys this! It's the most obvious (and most difficult question) anyone can ask a bookworm - What is your favorite book/s ever? Tell me what genre it is, and if you would you recommend it to me?

I've discovered many great books through hearing your recommendations, so I thought what better way, to find another good read through asking for your favorites. For me, if you've been a long time Random Ramblings reader, you'd know my ultimate favorite would be the Harry Potter series, Jane Eyre, The Book Thief, and Pablo Neruda's poetry. What about you?

28 comments:

  1. My favorite book of ever is GONE WITH THE WIND. Predictable, I know. Lately I've been trying to decide what my SECOND favorite is and I think honestly it might just be Susie Day's SERAFINA67. LOVE LOVE SUPALOVE that book.

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  2. As per my Goodreads list, I have more than 100 favorites Lol. Very difficult question.

    Literary Fiction
    - Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
    - The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
    - The Secret History by Donna Tartt
    - Atonement by Ian McEwan
    - Home by Marillyne Robinson
    - Oystercatchers by Susan Fletcher

    Fantasy
    - LoTR trilogy by J.R.R Tolkien
    - Harry Potter

    Classics
    - All Jane Austen books
    - Wuthering Heights
    - Everything by Charles Dickens

    Mystery/Suspense Authors
    - S.J Bolton
    - Agatha Christie
    - Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell
    - Tana French

    Historical Fiction
    - The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
    - Everything by Kate Morton

    Young Adult
    - Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray
    - The Book Thief
    - I Capture the Castle

    Lol Sorry for the gigantic list!

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  3. My top 5:
    -David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
    -Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
    -Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
    -The Princess Bride by William Goldman
    -The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.

    I see you already love The Book Thief - I'd definitely recommend the others, although David Copperfield is quite a hefty read (around 1000 pages), but all the others are quote digestible - and awesome!

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  4. This is hard! Okay, let's see:
    P&P by Jane Austen
    Emma by Jane Austen

    Books in the Discworld series by Terry Pratcett, MORT! ;)

    Madison Avery series by Kim Harrison
    Faeriewalker series by Jenna Black

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  5. This Is a hard question. The first book coming to my mind is The lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (fantasy), but then there are others:

    - Eucalyptus by Murray Bail (contemporary/romance, Australian)
    - anything by Kate Mosse (historical/romance)
    - In Desert and Wilderness by Henryk Sienkiewicz (YA when there was no YA, classic)
    - His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullmann (fantasy)

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  6. Oh, and I forgot: recently discovered Random Magic by Sasha Soren (fantasy/adventure/YA)- love it.

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  7. Here are a few favourites of mine:

    The Song of Albion Trilogy by Stephen R Lawhead
    Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
    Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
    Shadow of the Moon by M M Kaye
    Ventia and Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer
    The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
    The Way to Dusty Death by Alistair MacLean
    Dracula by Bram Stoker
    A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

    Tolkien and Austen go without saying!:D

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  8. Mine would be (as of right now):

    Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
    I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
    Nation by Terry Pratchett
    Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (always my dear Jane)
    Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley (the "sequel" to Gone With the Wind. Possibly the worst book ever and I read it once a year with love!)

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  9. I probably couldn't say all of them, but here are a few of my favorites:

    The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

    Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling

    Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

    The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

    The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

    It really is a hard question to ask an avid reader, and I think that for all of us, this list will be ever growing.

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  10. I add new books to my list all the time, but here are a few of my favorites --

    -*A Separate Peace* by John Knowles
    -*The Hunger Games* trilogy by Suzanne Collins
    -*Inkheart* trilogy by Cornelia Funke
    -*Uglies* trilogy by Scott Westerfeld

    Happy 4th of July!

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  11. Favorite series (in which I like ALL books equally)

    - Lord of the Rings
    - Chronicles of Prydain
    - Percy Jackson series!

    YA
    - Jellicoe Road (favorite book ever)
    - Wildwood Dancing (love Juliet Marillier!)
    - Skellig
    - The Hollow Kingdom
    - Nevermore (ongoing series)
    - The Knife of Never Letting Go (definitely liked it better than the other books in the series)

    Non-YA
    - The Dark Mirror (JMarillier)
    - The Screwtape Letters
    - The Great Divorce
    - This Present Darkness
    - The Divine Comedy
    - Les Miserables
    & Edgar Allan Poe's poetry

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  12. Gosh, that's tough! I would have to say:

    - Anne of Green Gables- L.M. Montgomery
    - The Color Purple- Alice Walker
    - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time- Mark Haddon
    - Different Seasons- Stephen King
    - The Diviners- Margaret Laurence
    - The Firm- John Grisham
    - K-PAX- Gene Brewer
    - The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini
    - The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold
    - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- Ken Kesey
    - One True Thing- Anna Quindlen
    - The Time Traveler's Wife- Audrey Niffenegger
    - The Poisonwood Bible- Barbara Kingsolver
    - To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee
    - The World According to Garp- John Irving

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  13. It's so funny because we all are listing actual lists of favorites - not just one! haha. Thanks for sharing!! I've added many books to an actual tbr list and will try to borrow them when I go to the library at the end of this week! :)

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  14. I bet you could guess what mine is.

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  15. Hey Jillian,

    Before Blogging

    Master of the Game, Sidney Sheldon
    Still Alice, Lisa Genova
    The Gift of Shame, Sophie Hope-Walker
    Dibs in search of self, Virginia Axline

    Since Blogging

    The Manufactured Identity, Heath Sommer
    Prophecy of the Sisters, Michelle Zink
    I heart you, You haunt me, Lisa Shroeder
    Dan Wells series
    Twisted, Andrea Lane
    Fifty Shades of Grey, ELJames (review coming this week)

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  16. Marce - I like how you separate before and 'since' blogging! I have that too. I've discovered so many new ones through blogging.

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  17. I think you've read most of my classic and contempory faves-- so I will add some fave genre pick:

    Fantasy: Wheel of Time series Robert Jordan

    Shannara Series by Terry Brooks

    Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

    The Warded Man by Peter Brett

    Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

    Keys to the Kingdom Series by Garth Nix

    Good Omens and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman



    Science/history/paranormal thrillers:
    James Rollins- stand alones and Sigma Force series

    Pendergast Series by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child-- start with Relic (way better than the movie)

    Haunted Air by F. Paul Wilson (part of the Repairman Jack series-- I like the whole series) and Sims- genetic thriller

    Dark Inheritance by the Gears (genetic)

    Raising Abel by the Gears (genetic)

    The Prophetess by Barbara Wood

    Meg by Steve Alten

    The Expected One by Kathleen McGowen


    Historical:
    Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig


    some of the thrillers I read long ago and really liked at the time-- recalling them makes me want to reread them all again to see if they are as fun and good as I remember.

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  18. I like cozy mysteries but my very favorite book is Empire Falls by Richard Russo. I love the way he brings his characters to life. His writing is amazing.
    Ann

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  19. I have heard great things about Pendergast series also. I loved Relic, the book and movie, look forward to continuing.

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  20. Excellent question!

    Off the top of my head:
    The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
    The Odyssey by Homer
    The Giver by Lois Lowry
    Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
    The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
    The Color Purple by Alice Walker

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  21. Wow. What a hard question....
    My top 2:
    Chronicles of Narnia
    The Host

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  22. Lesa - Everyone keeps mentioning Pendergast. I haven't even heard of that one, but I really do think I should check that one out asap.

    Cozy in Texas - I may have to check that author out. I love a good mystery every once in a while, and always looking for awesome ones.

    Marce - I have not heard of those! I'll check them out.

    Allie - Yay for Ender's Game :) The Giver was also a favorite of mine.

    Juju - To be honest, I've never even read The Host but of course I love Narnia!

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  23. +JMJ+

    It's a difficult question for me at the moment because I spent several months figuring it out last year. =P

    My favourite novel is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. =) But you've already read it, aye?

    (And note that that's just the favourite novel. If you want to know what my favourite book is, covering all candidates from fiction to non-fiction, then I'll have to get back to you at some indeterminable time in the future!)

    Someone else just asked me for my favourite song and I really couldn't answer that. Narrowing such vast fields of choice to just one is really a daunting challenge, aye--whether we're dealing with books, or with music, or with movies, or even with food!

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  24. Seriously, everyone is listing my favorites! HP, Jane Eyre, The Book Thief, Ender's Game, I Capture the Castle... I'd also add A History of Love, Empire Falls, Persuasion, Travels With Charley and there are so many others!

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  25. E - Very exciting that your favorite is Jane Eyre :D LOve, love that book. Have you read or will you read Villette? I have heard many great things about it. Apparently, it has a very different style compared to Jane Eyre. It would be interesting to see their differences.

    Melissa - Oh I do love Ender's Game and I Capture the Castle. I also enjoyed A History of Love and Persuasion. And now that it's obvious we both have pretty similar taste in books, I must read Empire Falls and Travels with Charley.

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  26. E - Very exciting that your favorite is Jane Eyre :D LOve, love that book. Have you read or will you read Villette? I have heard many great things about it. Apparently, it has a very different style compared to Jane Eyre. It would be interesting to see their differences.

    Melissa - Oh I do love Ender's Game and I Capture the Castle. I also enjoyed A History of Love and Persuasion. And now that it's obvious we both have pretty similar taste in books, I must read Empire Falls and Travels with Charley.

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  27. +JMJ+

    I have no plans to read Villette soon, but I'll be open to the opportunity, if it ever comes. =)

    And I can totally believe that it's a completely different book from Jane Eyre! Another blogger I know said that Charlotte Bronte had gone through enough in life to be a completely different woman when she finally wrote her second book, so that definitely ties into it.

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