Let's talk about our favorite books!

[faerywings]

It's time to grab a book and a favorite beverage and let's talk about books!

(Any guesses on what's in my mug? Is it coffee? or wine? )

I grew up loving to read. I'd read just about anything, including cereal boxes and the tiny comic strips on the Bazooka gum wrappers. I still love to read although I don't sit and read for hours like I used to.

What are your favorites in each of these categories??

Classics
Non-Fiction
Chick Lit
Horror
Literary Fiction
Children
Guilty Pleasure
Series
Young Adult
Author
Character


If you don't have a favorite in that category, feel free to leave it blank. If you have another category or Honorable Mention, share that too!

Here is mine:
Classics To Kill a Mockingbird
Non-Fiction The Woman They Could Not Silence, Hyperbole and a Half
Chick Lit
Horror The Handmaid's Tale (not a true horror but close!)
Literary Fiction
Children The Kissing Hand
Guilty Pleasure Stepanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich
Series Outlander, Harry Potter
Young Adult
Author
Character

The rest I am going to have to think about, add and/or change.

 

[vickyday]

I grew up loving to read, too. But I have a hard time with recall, and sometimes, even now, I can listen to an audiobook and realize about half way through it that I've already heard it!
So, I can't really complete your list above. All I can say is that currently my daughter and I are listening to audiobooks by Melanie Dobson and are really enjoying them. She seems to have done research on the Hitler era because 2 of the books I have listened to have been about that. Fictional but very good.

 

[tanteva]

Hey @faerywings you have 2 lists up there ... one for us and one for you. Are you some kind of special?
[merged them for myself]

Classics Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Non-Fiction Educated by Tara Westover (EVERYONE should read this!)
Chick Lit not my genre but I've laughed myself through a couple of books by Marian Keyes
Horror Färjan by Mats Strandberg [English translation is called Blood Cruise]
Literary Fiction usually too much "work" for me to read, but I loved The End of Eddy by Édouard Louis
Childhood Karlsson on the Roof by Astrid Lindgren
Guilty Pleasure Twilight Saga & the books about Sookie Stackhouse (the True Blood books)
Series Harry Potter by JK Rowling & Percy Jackson et al by Rick Riordan
Young Adult Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Author Mats Strandberg & David Levithan
Character Katniss Everdeen - The Hunger Games trilogy is the best books I've ever read. They have it all!

 

[faerywings]

Thanks Eva! I was editing my categories and kept mixing up the lists after I copy/pasted

 

[faerywings]

@tanteva Educated sounds fascinating! And Katniss is an excellent choice. The Hunger Games series could go on my list in the Guilty Pleasures, Series, and/or Young Adult categories. I read the first book in around days. Couldn't put it down.

When I was younger I loved Gone with the Wind - book and movie. As I got older, I realized how problematic it is in some ways. But I still think that Scarlet O'Hara is an incredible protagonist. I even had a cat named after her, she was a mouthy calico. LOL!

 

[LSlycord]

Ok...I am struggling to put these into categories! So I'm going to freestyle here.

My very favorite book of all time is Five Smooth Stones by Ann Fairbairn. I found it in high school and have made a point to re-read it every decade of my life since. I think I missed the decade of my 50's. Let's face it...I missed nearly everything in that decade if it didn't have something to do with raising a child and driving them to some kind of practice!

@faerywings if you like To Kill a Mockingbird which is definitely in my top five of all times. And I just found that this is on Audible Books so I have downloaded it and may change things up and listen to the book in my 60's. It's a good decision on my part because once I start reading that book, I cannot put it down!

 

[Cherylndesigns]

Classics:

Ok...I am struggling to put these into categories! So I'm going to freestyle here.

My very favorite book of all time is Five Smooth Stones by Ann Fairbairn. I found it in high school and have made a point to re-read it every decade of my life since. I think I missed the decade of my 50's. Let's face it...I missed nearly everything in that decade if it didn't have something to do with raising a child and driving them to some kind of practice!

@faerywings if you like To Kill a Mockingbird which is definitely in my top five of all times. And I just found that this is on Audible Books so I have downloaded it and may change things up and listen to the book in my 60's. It's a good decision on my part because once I start reading that book, I cannot put it down!

Oh my gosh, Linda - mine too!! I don't know anybody else who has ever heard of that book, let alone said it was their favorite! I'm listening to it on Scribd now.

 

[LSlycord]

@Cherylndesigns are you kidding me? The only other person that I know who read it was my mom. I found it and told her how wonderful it was and that she needed to read the book. She loved it as much as I did! I absolutely cannot believe that this is your favorite book!!!

 

[pachimac]

I don't know if I can answer them all, but here goes;

Classics: To Kill a Mockingbird

Non-Fiction: "Killing..." series byBill O'Reilly

Chick Lit: I used to read Danielle Steel and Harlequin Romances as a teen, but not anymore

Horror: Steven King's "Salem's Lot"

Literary Fiction: Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre - they're tied.

Children: The Westing Game

Guilty Pleasure: I don't think I have one - I used to sneak People and The Enquirer.

Series: Ramses by Christian Jaq

Young Adult: The 39 Clues or Rick Riordan's Red Pyramid Series, Harry Potter

Author: I don't have a specific author I collect and read, but as a younger romantic, I had every Victoria Holt romance novel.

Character: Winnie the Pooh

 

[Cherylndesigns]

@Cherylndesigns are you kidding me? The only other person that I know who read it was my mom. I found it and told her how wonderful it was and that she needed to read the book. She loved it as much as I did! I absolutely cannot believe that this is your favorite book!!!

That is SO crazy, Linda! I don't know anybody else who has ever read that either. When I saw your post I was like

Linda, here's another one of my favorites - have you read this: "Lady" by Thomas Tryon?

 

[faerywings]

@Cherylndesigns and @LSlycord I never heard of that book before, just added it to my Want to Read shelf on Goodreads. I am going to see if it's available at my library

 

[faerywings]

I don't know if I can answer them all, but here goes


Chick Lit: I used to read Danielle Steel and Harlequin Romances as a teen, but not anymore

Danielle Steele as a teenager. Yup, same here and they always made me cry

 

[Jam-on-toast]

I love stories. These days I prefer audiobooks to actual reading - a good narrator really makes the story come alive! Here's my list:

Classics -The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Non-Fiction - Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Chick Lit -Daniel Steel and Nora Roberts were my go-to when I was younger.
Horror -The Cthulu Casebooks (Sherlock Holmes) by James Lovegrove - loved it though I only read it because I didn't know it was technically horror
Literary Fiction - books by Maeve Binchy
Children - Winney the Witch
Guilty Pleasure - Circle Trilogy by Nora Roberts - the three books have been read and re-read countless times and are a permanent presence on my bedside table- there is something about his whole 'I'm a vampire but I'm not a monster' thing...
Series -Chronicles of St. Mary's by Jodi Taylor and Gabrielle Allon by Daniel Silva
Young Adult - Caraval by Stephanie Garber (love the story, but the writing is atrocious though)
Author - don't have one, but there are a few I would trust, other that the one's I've mentioned above - Peter May, P.D. James (I think I read everything she's written), Robert Bryndza, Fredrik Backman...
Character - hard to tell these days... but for a long time it was Athos from the Three Musketeers

 

[EvelynD2]

Classics: I always loved short stories by Guy de Maupassant. I especially loved "The Necklace" and "The Last Leaf"
Non-Fiction "Miracle at Carville". A young women gets diagnosed with leprosy. This is her story of life at the leprosarium.
Chick Lit "Catching Christmas" by Terri Blackstock
Horror
Literary Fiction "The Nightingale"
Children "The Velveteen Rabbit"
Guilty Pleasure
Series Any series by Carrie Stuart Parks, Colleen Noble or Terri Blackstock
Young Adult "The Outsiders" and that series by S.E. Hinton
Author Carrie Stuart Parks and Colleen Noble
Character Gwen Marcey and Bree Nicholls

 

[faerywings]

The Velveteen Rabbit-- I cried every time I read it!

How did I forget about The Outsiders?? -- what a fab book!

 

[faerywings]

@Cherylndesigns and @LSlycord I never heard of that book before, just added it to my Want to Read shelf on Goodreads. I am going to see if it's available at my library

Guess what???!!!! I found it on Hoopla and started reading it last night!

 

[EvelynD2]

Can we add the category MYSTERY? If so, my favorite mystery book of all times is "And Presumed Dead" by Louise Fletcher. YOU MUST READ THIS IF YOU LOVE MYSTERY BOOKS! Best mystery book ever! You will never have imagined the plot line and ending! It is out of print but there are about ten copies available on Amazon.

Amazon.com

 

[LSlycord]

Guess what???!!!! I found it on Hoopla and started reading it last night!

I cannot wait to see what you think. My prediction—-you will ugly cry more than once.

 

[scribler]

Classics Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (considered a classic of science fiction)
Non-Fiction Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure by David Rosenfelt
Chick Lit The Mechanics of Mistletoe by Liz Isaacson (Chosen as it is the first book in the Shiloh Ridge Ranch series but truly all three series set in Three Rivers are so good. Liz Isaacson is so good at world building.)
Horror The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (I dare you to read it and still tell me that it's not a horror book. lol)
Literary Fiction To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Children The Tale of Three Trees as told by Angela Elwell Hunt
Guilty Pleasure The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer
Series The Andy Carpenter Mysteries by David Rosenfelt
Young Adult The Hundredth Queen by Emily R King
Author David Rosenfelt and Liz Isaacson. I just could not choose between the two.
Character Julian Delphiki II aka Bean from the Ender series

 

[Jeannette]

Okay, here I go
Classics Gone with the Wind
Non-Fiction Sybel, written by Flora Rheta Schreiber, about a young woman with multiple personalities
Chick Lit don't really read that, is The Rosie Project Chick Lit? Don't thnik so, but it's a great book
Horror Stephen King of course: Carrie, Christine, Cujo, Misery and so many of his others
Literary Fiction A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, it made me cry and I don't cry often about a book

Children Kruimeltje, a Dutch book about a young orphan who searches for his father and also finds his mother, War without Friends, about a boy whos parents joined the wrong party in WWII, and Alone in the World by Hector Malot and Donald Duck. Sorry, couldn't just pick one.

Guilty Pleasure I used to read those romantic love novels back in the days I wasn't in love myself yet
Series Harry Potter of course! Mind you, the books, not the movies. I did not like the books from the Handmaids tale, I loved the series though!
Young Adult guess I'm too old for this one
Author Khaled Hosseini, love the way he writes.
Character Scarlet O Hara!
Satire One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

Now I'm off the see what others have read, to get some new book ideas

​

 

[Cherylndesigns]

Guess what???!!!! I found it on Hoopla and started reading it last night!

You'll LOVE it, Chris!! I'm listening to the audiobook again. I haven't read it for awhile and after talking about it on here, I wanted to liste to it. Let us know!!!

 

[faerywings]

This thread makes me happy
I love books and escaping into a good story. I love learning about new places and people. And I *love* that you are sharing your favorites with all of us.

Linda-- @LSlycord I read To Kill a Mockingbird a few times over the years. A couple of years ago, I listened to the audiobook narrated by Sissy Spacek. She was perfect as that even though my heart dropped and my stomach clenched every time she said the N-word. As I am reading Five Smooth Stones, I am shocked that so little has changed in society considering the book was published in 1966! As for Ugly-Crying -- I haven't done it yet, but I have a feeling I will. Right now I am mostly angry at the injustice of it all.

@pachimac I read Pride and Prejudice - in full, not the synopsis that we did in HS- about 10 years ago. I had read a book named Abe Lincoln, Vampire Slayer that was pretty quirky and funny. The author also wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I figured I should read the original or I wouldn't understand the jokes. That led me through a period of rereading a bunch of books that we had to read in HS to better appreciate them. I reread Lord of the Flies, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid's Tale, and a few others that I can't remember off the top of my head. The typical English Lit course from the 1980s LOL!

@Jam-on-toast I can't tell you how many of the NR Trilogies I have read! I had to search which books were in The Circle Trilogy, and-- yup, loved that one! I enjoyed all of her Ireland/otherworld stories.

Cindy-- I don't think I have read anything by Liz Isaacson, I am going to keep my eyes out for them. I haven't read The Prince either, but the little bits I know of it, I would say are horror.

@Jeannette Did you see my LO for Jenn's Dark Side challenge this month? It was based on the times I would babysit in the 80s and read Stephen King novels and scare myself LOL!
hahaha!! I am glad that you added Donald Duck to your children's category! The other ones aren't "light reading" at all.

Thank you all for sharing your lists!