I can pick up Ulysses by James Joyce, open it at random, and get sucked in every time. Plus, it's often very funny. Another plus: I always find things that I didn't understand at all previously, but seem to understand a bit better with additional reading.

So that's my favorite book.

Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume. I loved her books as a child. My Dad died when I was 11 and I think I read Tiger Eyes when I was about 13. I could relate so much to the main character. I also had family in NM but had never been there so enjoyed that part of it too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middlemarch was one of the few books I could not get through (at a time in my life when I would finish books whether they appealed to me or not). I re-read Gone With the Wind, as an adult, and was absolutely appalled that I liked it so much as a teen. Lesson learned, don't re-read pieces that haven't evolved as you have.

As someone that does not prefer to re-read books, my favorite is Ha Jin's Waiting. I can re-read it and still enjoy it. Pretty much anything PG Wodehouse has written falls into that category as well.

That's odd. I was the opposite. I wouldn't have had had to maturity to enjoy and understand such a rich and remarkable book when I was a teenager.

I'm with the first PP. GWTW is appalling.

These are my faves of all time. I know some may not stand the test of time, but I loved them at the time I read them as they were very relevant to me then - such as Devil Wears Prada. Anyone have similar taste?

Harry Potter
Demon Copperhead
The Glass Castle
Gone with the Wind
The House of the Spirits
Circe
Rebecca
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
The Mists of Avalon
The Golem and the Jinni
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Poisonwood Bible
In Cold Blood
What Alice Forgot
City of Girls
Shutterbabe
The Art of Fielding
The Fountainhead
The Devil Wears Prada
Good in Bed
Atlas Shrugged
The Five Star Weekend (forthcoming 6/13/2023)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of favorite books but when I go back and look at the ones I read in my 20s I kind of baulk and think "how did I think that??" That list includes

Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice
William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
George Elliot's Middlemarch

Thank you. I don't think that's a baulk-worthy list at all.

Anonymous wrote:Middlemarch was one of the few books I could not get through (at a time in my life when I would finish books whether they appealed to me or not). I re-read Gone With the Wind, as an adult, and was absolutely appalled that I liked it so much as a teen. Lesson learned, don't re-read pieces that haven't evolved as you have.

As someone that does not prefer to re-read books, my favorite is Ha Jin's Waiting. I can re-read it and still enjoy it. Pretty much anything PG Wodehouse has written falls into that category as well.

That's odd. I was the opposite. I wouldn't have had had to maturity to enjoy and understand such a rich and remarkable book when I was a teenager.

Austen’s Persuasion is always my top choice. I read it almost every year. It’s the best written of her books IMO and I always felt a connection to the more mature Anne than some of her other heroines.

Close runners-up:
SJM’s House of Earth and Blood (all 3 series are favorite re-reads because they’re fun and gut-wrenching at the same time)

Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind (love his world-building and characters; wish he’d finish!)

I love all of the books mentioned and have reread them all at least once. (Agree that GWTW is problematic as my world-view has evolved).

But I always come back to Jane Austen. I've read all of her six completed novels at least 3 times and I'll stick with the somewhat cliché Pride and Prejudice as my favorite book. It has fantastic character building, a fun plot, romance, and wide social commentary the more you read it.

Middlemarch was one of the few books I could not get through (at a time in my life when I would finish books whether they appealed to me or not). I re-read Gone With the Wind, as an adult, and was absolutely appalled that I liked it so much as a teen. Lesson learned, don't re-read pieces that haven't evolved as you have.

As someone that does not prefer to re-read books, my favorite is Ha Jin's Waiting. I can re-read it and still enjoy it. Pretty much anything PG Wodehouse has written falls into that category as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of favorite books but when I go back and look at the ones I read in my 20s I kind of baulk and think "how did I think that??" That list includes

Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice
William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
George Elliot's Middlemarch

Thank you. I don't think that's a baulk-worthy list at all.

I left the major baulk books off, just in case.

Another vote for Middlemarch.

Beside that, I love Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. Currently on my third circumnavigation and loving every minute of it.

Middlemarch. Possibly the best novel written in the English language. So many great insights into human nature. Every time I reread it, I find something new to appreciate and enjoy.

Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of favorite books but when I go back and look at the ones I read in my 20s I kind of baulk and think "how did I think that??" That list includes

Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice
William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
George Elliot's Middlemarch

Thank you. I don't think that's a baulk-worthy list at all.

I have a lot of favorite books but when I go back and look at the ones I read in my 20s I kind of baulk and think "how did I think that??" That list includes

Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice
William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
George Elliot's Middlemarch

Mine is Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, because of how well it illustrates that the world isn't neatly split into "good guys" and "bad guys".