Read A Book Day

in Random Crap

Today is National Read-A-Book Day (which avid readers just call “Thursday”) so I was thinking today you could tell me a great book (because I am voracious and always looking for a new read) and then we could do a giveaway.

What is a book you loved so much that you almost wish you could erase from your memory so you could experience it again for the first time?

I have dozens but one of my favorites is Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

It’s simple and complex and she perfectly captures the sense of otherness and of fear in a way that few people ever do.  It’s a strange book but one of my favorites.

Your turn.

(PS.  Tonight I’ll pick three commenters at random and send you a gift certificate for free books.  Just make sure you use an email address in your comment.)

 

924 thoughts on “Read A Book Day”

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  4. The World To Come by Dara Horn is a book I happened upon at exactly the right time in my life. It made me cry my eyes out on a plane trip, and I didn’t even care.

  6. East of Eden will always be my choice here.

    Fortunately, every time I re-read it, I find something new to love about it, so it’s a win-win. I don’t have to go through a memory wipe AND I get to experience it again for the first time, kinda.

  8. Right now i’m crazy into a novella series that has blown my mind. It’s by Seanan Mcguire and the series is The Wayward Children. It’s beautiful, short, and i will read a million times over. The characters are beautiful and flawed and complex and the world(s) they live in are fascinating.

  9. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. I read it in a grad level lit class and it just blew me away. I wish I could read it for the first time all over again. It’s a magical book. Simply magical.

  10. Definitely The Devil in the White City. I buy copies whenever I can to leave around town like some sort of (overweight) Book Fairy.

  14. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. I read it in a grad level lit class and it just blew me away. I wish I could read it for the first time all over again. It’s a magical book. Simply magical.

  16. Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Calculating Stars – it’s alt-history SF (what if a large meteorite struck DC in 1952 and we had to develop space flight faster to leave before Earth became unlivable?) with great characters diverse characters, especially the women.

  17. Christina Henry’s Alice. I love it, I will re-read it any time (right now. I’ll go do it right now. Dare me to go do it right now, because I will!) but I have already read it and know things. So that journey is forever different and I wish I could have the exact first experience back. The repeat is lovely, but that first read is full of WOAH.

  18. My all time favorite book is still Lord Of The Rings. I remember practically consuming it when I first read it. That would be great to reread not knowing how it was going to turn out.

  19. “Gaudy Night” by Dorothy L. Sayers. So much more than a mystery — it has wit and romance and great characters and Oxford and everything good.

  21. I’m not sure why but when I first read Watership Down it hit me so hard that I immediately reread it two more times.

  22. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed is relevant and important and helpful and beautiful, and I gift it to people I love who are doing hard things. <3

  23. I am dippy for the late Laurie Colwin’s food memoirs “Home Cooking” and “More Home Cooking.” I am forever grabbing one of these to reread an essay.

  26. Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I was surprised at how much I did like it.

  27. Hands down, The Hate U Give. I would read it a thousand times if I was someone who could read a book more than once. But sadly I am not. It’s a thing.

  28. Warning: My degree is in history.

    I love My Thoughts Be Bloody by Nora Titone. It’s about the rivalry between John Wilkes Booth and his then more famous brother, actor Edwin.

  29. Honestly? And I’m not just saying this because I’m your biggest fan, but both Furiously Happy and Let’s Pretend this Never Happened would be my choices. Doesn’t really help answer your question, Jenny, sorry about that!

  31. I love Just One Damned Thing After Another By Jodi Taylor. There is time travel and dinosaurs so what could be better! I’ve read it and listened to it so many times. The whole series is terrific!

  34. Red queen is by far the BEST book I have series I have ever read. I recommend it to literally anyone who enjoys reading.

  37. The Westing Game – Ellen Raskin. I know it’s for junior high kids… but it just sticks with me. Has since I read it the first time in 7th grade. I always buy it when I see it at used book sales to give to kids to read and they can just keep it.

  38. A Prayer for Owen Meaney. I wish I could have the whole thing unfurl before me for the first time again. All the twists and turns, joy and heartbreak would be amazing to experience again.

  42. I tend to prefer non-fiction, as it seems that there so many interesting people in the world, I love hearing their stories. I was sold on Bill Bryson when I read his book “A Walk in the Woods:, but that love was cemented when he described his vacation through Australia in “In a Sunburned Country”. I was positively rolling with laughter. David Sedaris’ “Me Talk Pretty One Day” comes in with a close section. The chapter “Jesus Shaves” is a particular favorite.

    Please enter me into your drawing: lorracs@yahoo.com

  45. Besides your books which still make me laugh, I loved Orange Is The New Black. But only the book, not the show. Also, the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich. Her granny makes me laugh every time.

  46. I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. I know he’s more well-known for The Book Thief (which is also great), but I Am the Messenger is my favorite.

  47. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (and its sequel, Children of God). Incredible books.

  48. Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. You have not truly laughed until you’ve read about how he’d react to a bear outside his tent!

  50. I have too many favorites, but top of my list right now would have to be Jodi Picoult’s Small Great Things. A lot of emotion in this one!

  54. Smoking ears and screaming teeth. It’s kind of hard to find but is on kindle. SO SO SO GOOD.

  60. I have soooo many fav’s its hard to choose so I will just go with 2 I read recently. The Cellar by Natasha Preston and The Broken Girls by Simone St. James.Both are excellent reads that I just couldn’t put down.

  61. Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw. Seriously fabulous book with vampires and ghouls and mummies and a human doctor.

  62. Either Good Omens or To Kill A Mockingbird. I’ve read Good Omens so many times, I know when all the jokes are coming, and I still re-read it and love it (and laugh out loud) every time, but there’s nothing like the first time. And To Kill a Mockingbird was the first book I HAD to read for school that I absolutely loved. It was a revelation that the classics could be interesting.

  63. There’s also an up and coming thriller author named Luke Murphy. His books are a good read and available on Kindle.

  65. The Art of Racing in the Rain
    A story about Life told through the eyes of a dog.
    Funny, moving, deep.

  66. OH MY GOODNESS ESS WAIT STOP THE PRESSES!

    I just finished reading the quirkiest most nostalgic book we all need right now. What is it? Well let me tell you!

    HOPE NEVER DIES: AN OBAMACARE BIDEN MYSTERY by Andrew Shaffer

    The book America needs right now.

  68. I am reading The Assistants by Camille Perri. It’s a bunch of admins working for very rich media moguls. They start diverting money to pay people’s student loan debt. I haven’t finished it yet but I can’t put it down so I’m betting I’ll finish it today.

    So glad it turned out to be National Read-a-Book Day so I have an excuse not to get to any housework.

  69. I read constantly it’s my escape from this crazy life. I had never read Dune by Frank Herbert and have gotten into them recently and I love them. Water is life. ❤️

  70. I cried so hard when I read “a little life” I had to stop reading because I couldn’t see the words through my tears- still finished the 700+ page book in 2 days. I read it three years ago and still think about it often.

  71. Water For Elephants, it’s a wonderful story. Everybody should get the chance to know an elephant. I also hold folks who live the life of a paragon schnizophonic close to my heart.

  72. I’m torn between Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut because it opened me up to ALL THE Vonnegut books and he was so damn funny and real and salty and Dogsong by Gary Paulsen because I was in 6th grade when I read it and it was so vivid and real and filled with honor and respect and courage that it just warped my mind and then I was okay with being the bookish kid because stories like that existed!

    But yeah, Shirley Jackson, too!

    Books forever. And ever.

  73. Hi Jenny!
    There are SO MANY wonderful books to choose from! Immediately I thought of “The Crooked House” by Agatha Christie. It’s so rich and detailed and completely leaves you guessing until the very end as only the best whodunnits can. You won’t be bored a moment with book! The characters are so fleshed out, by the time you finish the story you could swear you knew them all personally, but until the very end, you realize you didn’t as Agatha explains:)
    jdiehlund@gmail.com

  74. This is an impossible question but the most recent book I read that really blew me away was Emma Donoghue’s “Room”. I’d seen the movie already but the book is written from the little boy’s point of view and it’s just so much more heartbreaking that way.

  76. I second the discworld suggestion. Start with Small Gods and know that there are 40 more books in the series. They pulled me out of a major depression last spring.

  78. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. She’s getting lots of attention for Handmaid’s Tale lately, but I read that ages ago… and while timely for today’s sociopolitical climate, it’s not nearly as good as some of her others. Alias Grace is another (which was recently made into a Netflix adaptation). Atwood completely changed my life when I read Cat’s Eye in high school (as part of an English class) and her work has really influenced my thinking as a woman. Love her.

  79. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Fave movie as well. Every time I read it, it makes me furious, sad, and then at the end, tearfully hopeful.

  80. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. It blew my mind, it was beautiful, and all genres at once. The book is way better than the movie, and there are major plot differences, so you should still read the book even if you’ve seen the movie.

  82. Anything Margaret Atwood has ever written or will ever write because it’s all pretty much about how the world in maybe twenty years will be just as terrible and probably worse than it is now, but sex will be new and disturbing and almost undoubtedly involve robots or full-body condoms or blue genetically-engineered people with amazing penises, so it balances out.

  83. Hands down Gone With The Wind!! Margaret Mitchel…. I’m forever on Team Scarlet!!!

  84. I have several, The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub, The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, and the entire Gunslinger series by Stephen King.

  85. My top two favorites are The Mayfair Witches trilogy by Anne Rice, and She’s Come Undine by Wally Lamb. I love them so much! Ro is named after the main character in The Mayfair Witches series. Don’t tell Ray. He thinks it’s because of what the name means, which is partially true, just not all the way true. lol

  86. It’s hard to pick, but The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is a great one and fresh in my mind since the play is opening near me this month.

  87. I have been bingeing:
    “A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J Maas. YA fantasy
    “Poison Study” by Maria V Snyder. Fantasy
    “The Girl From Everywhere” by Heidi Heilig. YA fantasy
    “The Fringe” by Tarah Benner. YA Sci-fi

  89. A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. It is comfort food wrapped in a space story.

  91. Harry Potter. I know it’s cliched, but the 7 Harry Potter books. I was always a voracious reader regardless of the quality of the books I was reading, but the world JK Rowling created in the Harry Potter books was the first series I read that was so hugely intricate and well developed. It changed my outlook on what fiction could be.

    But, in terms of giving you a great book to read (as I’m fairly confident you’ve already read Harry Potter), I strongly recommend The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, by Jonas Jonasson. Well written and absolutely hilarious, I think it’s better than Jonasson’s more famous book The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. Both books follow characters who have unique ways of approaching the problems in lives, that cause them to wind up on rather extraordinary adventures.

  92. The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher is one of my favorite heartwarming reads. I love it so much, and when I am feeling down, I find my (third) battered copy and read it again. It’s like sitting down with an old friend.

  94. The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Honestly, though, it’s so complicated that I often DO feel like I’m reading it for the first time again!

  96. For me, that kind of book is either life-changing or just like only one M&M – what, no more? So in the spirit of the latter, I offer you The Squirrel on the Train, by David Hearne. Hilarious, set in Portland, Oregon (so I can relate) and the protagonist is an Irish Wolfhound. You’ll devour it in a couple hours and then wonder why you didn’t stretch it out because now it’s done and gone.

  97. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins. I liked it so much I got a cowgirl pin-up tattoo, with a belt buckle that says “Jelly” (for the protagonist, Bonanza Jellybean).

  98. Moloka’i by Alan Brennert. The subject of this novel was so fascinating it inspired me to read about 10 more (non fiction) books on the subject. I LOVE when that happens. I got to read a great book and..bonus…I am a little smarter as a result!!

  100. Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd. It’s a novel but covers the history of England from paleolithic to 1945, following 5 families throughout. It’s long but I couldn’t put it down.

  101. Matilda was and remains one of my most favorite books ever. It was SO glowing for me as a quiet child.

  102. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
    It was the first book I read that made me laugh out loud.
    At the time, I had NO idea that WORDS on paper could do that.

  103. I LOVE BOOKS, TOO! The best ever is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Not everyone will agree with me, but I think it’s great. One can never have too many books.

  106. The Princess Bride by William Goldman.
    Lucy’s Bones, Sacred Stones and Einstein’s Brain by Harvey Rachlin.
    Bourbon Kings series or Black Dagger Brotherhood series (and spinoff) by J.R. Ward.
    The Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones.
    The Night Huntress series (and spinoffs) by Jeaniene Frost.

    penniellington21@gmail.com

  107. Oh man, this is a seriously tough question for me. But I did stay up until 2AM last night to finish Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell and it was so so good I only put it down twice.

  108. House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. I’ve never experienced a book with so many dimensions. There is the tactile enjoyment of having to turn and twist the book to get into it along with the accompanying Poe album that added a whole new voice to the story. The fact that it is also one of the creepiest books I have ever read (and reread) doesn’t hurt either!

  112. Just One Damn Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor. The Chronicles of St. Mary’s is an awesome series to get involved in. Also, anything by Jim Buther

  113. The Monster at the End of This Book: Starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover. When I’m anxious, when I’m sad, when I need a laugh, when I think of my mom… this is hands down, the book that I will read eleventy million times.

  114. The Crisanta Knight Series by Geanna Culbertson is my new favorite. Crisanta is Cinderella’s daughter and decides to fight back against her story being defined by the author. The number of fairy tales and childhood stories they take on is amazing. There are adventures, battles, villains and fairy Godmothers. It is fabulous.

  115. That one is easy. Roses and Rot by Kat Howard. I bought it for myself as a Christmas gift a few years ago (it has since been lost to someone who borrowed it and never gave it back) and I have never had a book affect me so intensely. Not only did it hit me with the impact of a cast-iron frying pan to the face (but more-so in the heart region), it is easily the most beautiful thing I have ever read – to the point where it was one of the two things that inspired me to start writing again. It’s a realistic but fantastical tale about a pair of estranged sisters (one a writer, the other a dancer) who get accepted into an artist’s retreat and are given the opportunity to repair their fractured bond as they work on their magnum opus while being forced to deal with trauma from their pasts, the faerie world that encroaches on them and twists things in ways they couldn’t imagine, and their feelings about themselves and each other. I literally lost my breath at parts when reading the first time and would give almost anything for that again.

  117. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Harry Potter. And so many more.

  118. It’s so hard to choose! If I’m going with cute YA contemporaries, I’d have to go with any of Morgan Matson’s books because they’re mostly fun, happy stories, which is nice when you need to escape from real life. But they also deal with some hard hitting topics as well, so it’s not just fluff.
    wmkelly27@gmail.com

  119. Aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the Universe. By Benjamin Alire Sanez. I read it last months d loved it so much I’m listening to the audiobook now. It’s read by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who I’d like to read me every book from now on.

  120. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden was sooooo good. It touched a part of my actual soul that made me feel like the kid I was who absolutely LOVED to read. Totally reccomend this book. And the 3rd and final book of the trilogy comes out in January!

  123. “Now You See Me” by Sharon Bolton. I love it so much I have gifted it many times over the last couple of years just to have any opportunity to talk about it more. In fact, that’s probably what I’d do with free gift certificates. It’s a sickness! Haha!

  124. As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann, which is a historical novel about two soldiers who fall in love while serving in Cromwell’s Army. Gorgeously written and utterly heartbreaking. I was reading it on my lunch break at work with about 2 chapters to go, and when I had to go back to my desk, I pretended I had some photocopying to do and finished it in the copy room!

  125. Mr. God This is Anna by Finn is the most profoundly beautiful book I have ever read 20 or more times. It takes me a few days to recover. Also, Leaving Time by Jodi Piccoult broke my heart just a little bit. American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson gave me a particular insight on appreciating what it means to be an American.
    sandraburns602@gmail.com

  127. You know me – anything by Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant.

    If you want to feel better about finding a place you can call home, read The Wayward Children novellas. The first is called Every Heart A Doorway. Because when Wonderland and Narnia and all those other worlds are real, and imagine what happens to the children who “come home” to families who can never understand…

    If you want a saavy thought-provoking thriller that happens to have Zombies in it, then the Newsflesh books are for you. The first one – FEED – is a political thriller (with zombies). The Rising happened 20 years ago, and humanity survived but society was profoundly changed. And there are still people with a vested interest in keeping you afraid…

  128. I am currently reading “My Year of Living Danishly” all about why the Danes are so happy written by a British woman who moved there with her husband. Keeps making me laugh and waking up my husband when he’s trying to sleep.

  129. The first Harry Potter novel. I read it out of spite (I worked in a bookstore and experienced the Pottermania firsthand.) I was prepared to hate it as much as I loathed the Left Behind novels and Chicken Soup for the Soulless, but I loved it. I loved it so goshdarn hard.

  130. Uprooted by Naomi Novik is a beautifully written book inspired by Rapunzel. I don’t re-read a lot, but I checked it out from the library twice so I just bought it.

  131. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman is SO exquisite! I so wish I could read it for the first time (again). So far, just twice.

  132. Like Tracy, I would choose Good Omens. Or American Gods. To this day, they remain my favorite books I’ve read as an adult. Though when I finished Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos, I wanted to start it over again immediately. It’s just a lovely book, and it’s set in my hometown and surrounding area, so it spoke to me in a big way.

  134. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater or Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. I would LOVE to be able to read either of those for the first time again. Rereads are great, but to be able to have that first time back? Man, that would be great! bgraves81 (at) gmail.com

  135. Spindle’s end! It’s a retelling of sleeping beauty but the main character is badass and saves the kingdom by herself and it’s so amazing and has a great friendship ☺️

  136. The last great book I read is really several books – the Patrick Melrose novels. Brilliant. Bitingly witty, yet so poignant.

  137. Swan Song by Robert McCammon. I love it and I have always wished there was a reset button in the brain to erase my memory of the book so that I can go back and have that awesome feeling of enjoying a great book for the first time!!

  138. Oh man, anything by Jeanette Wells. Her books tear at my heart because they are her truth. The Glass Castle (now a movie), Half Broke Horses, The silver Star. Take your pick as they are all 3 impossible to put down.

  139. Being a dog trainer, I don’t read much outside of learning theory books, but one of my favorite books I have read was Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach. I just love his stories in general.

  140. All time favorite I think will always be The Stand by Stephen King. All of the Chief Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny. More recent (or recently read) loves are The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, Bird Box by Jose Saramago, Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, and The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Sorry, I can never keep a list of books to just one.

  143. It’s a cheat, but I read David Eddings’ Belgariad series so closely together (it’s five books) that I consider it one epically long book. This was the series that got me into epic fantasies in middle school and is now one of my comfort reads.

  145. I just read What Alice Forgot and it was wonderful.
    I don’t know that I have just one favorite book. There are far too many good ones out there.
    The Autobiography of Henry VIII
    The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (led me down a rabbit hole I’ve yet to crawl out of)
    The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
    The Fionavar trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay
    And Harry Potter. Always.

  146. i know that you’ve already read it, but i have to say that American Gods by Neil Gaiman is one of those books that i find refreshing every single time.

    my current obsession is focused on Celeste Ng and Fredrick Backman. they both weave such amazing characters in real world settings. Backman’s gonna have made me cry more than any other author.

  147. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon! I was ONLY a non-fiction reader before this book. But, this book TRANSPORTED me to 18th century Scotland. I smelled the smells (NOT always a good thing 😜), tasted the food, KNEW the people. I’ve never found another that could do that.

  151. Too many to pick a favorite of all time, however current great reads are The trouble with goats and sheep by Joanna Cannon. Exquisite writing . Also love all Fredrick Backman books but especially his last 2- Beartown, followed by Us against You (sequel). Not sure they fit into the categories of books you seem to enjoy, but if you appreciate great writing and character development, these are great and FUN reads.

  152. The one I say is my favorite book: To Kill a Mockingbird
    The ones I’ve read so many times i lost count: The Harry Potter Series

  153. The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving. It was really deeply personal to me, to the point that I sometimes get afraid to reread it, but, nope, I love it. Plus it helps me keep passing the open windows.

  154. Night Film by Marisha Pessl or The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. They aren’t books I read all the time, because I feel like I will not like them as much if I keep re-reading, but I could not get enough of them reading them for the first time, and I recommend both, often! Happy reading.

  155. The Fault In Our Stars (Although I’m not sure there are enough tissues to have a second go-round.)

  157. The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery
    Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
    Angels’ Blood by Nalini Singh

  158. Another vote for Good Omens as the intelligent laugh-out-loud novel that you can read over and over. Books I have read recently and like are The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman and The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I don’t know if you’ve read it, but since you like We Have Always Lived in the Castle, I think you will understand when I say that I see the character of Eleanor in Hill House as Merricat all grown up.

  160. I could NOT put ‘Gone Girl’ down – I LOVED the plot twists…and Amy is just SO evil!!!!!!!

  164. Hands down, the Harry Potter books. My daughter is reading them for the first time right now, and I’m SO JEALOUS she gets to read them for the first time. Literal magic.

    Also:

    Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel. Magic realism. If you haven’t read it, do yourself a favor and read it now! The movie is also so so lovely.

    A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness. It’s a trilogy, with Shadow of Night, and The Book of Life being the other two.) Witches, vampires, daemons, time travel, history. It’s a great story and Harkness is a great writer. It’s being made into a TV show to begin airing in early 2019 in the US, next week in the UK.

    A Court of Mist and Fury (Second book in Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses series.) You thought you liked Feyre/Tamlin after the first book? Well wait til you read the second one!

    And, of course, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. Reading the stories again is still amazing and I laugh and laugh, but reading them for the first time, laughing until I almost vomited, was the BEST. (The best best piece of writing I’d love to experience for the first time again, however, was of course And That’s Why You Should Learn to Pick Your Battles, right here on this very website, because it very nearly caused me to expire from lack of oxygen because of the laughing. I had to take breaks while reading it to breathe.)

  165. Im sure you have already read ‘Neverwhere’, but that is the one I wish I could forget and read again for the first time.
    (Have you done ‘Outlander’ yet? It is my favorite place to hide. I have read it 10+, I dont even remember anymore.)

  166. Dune is one of my favorites, as is Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. It was my first King read so it’s very special to me. And I’m in the midddle of The Last Hour of Gann. I know something terrible is coming up but I can stop myself. It’s really well written.

  171. Lamb by Christopher Moore – as a kid who was raised without religion (but not atheist or anything specific or definable like that), it did a shockingly good job of teaching me the basics of Christianity while also making me laugh my ass off in 9th grade trigonometry.

  173. Making this choice took over half an hour to make.
    I’d pick Watchers by Dean Koontz. I have specifically not allowed myself to re-read it since I graduated college in 2016 because I want to someday pick it up and rediscover certain pages I had forgotten.
    angelicedg@yahoo.com

  176. Disclaimer: I should start by saying I read purely for entertainment and stress relief. Mysteries and thrillers are pretty much my only reading material. With that said, Dewey the Library Cat was an amazing book. I love libraries and when you throw a cat in the mix (I am literally a crazy cat lady), well that’s my weak spot. I cried like a baby and hugged my cat while reading it. But I loved it. Also, all Janet Evanovich books, particularly the Stephanie Plum series. These hit the mark as far as a easy, take your mind off of everything, hilarious reads. Seriously, I can’t read them in public because I end up laughing out loud. And of course, the famous Harry Potter books. I’m currently re-reading them along side my mysteries. But apparently my reading taste is “trashy” as I was once told at a book retreat by some book snobs so maybe don’t take my advice. Your call. angel1671_99@yahoo.com (in case you pick me)

  178. I have loved all your books. I find them beautiful and funny every time. Rightnow, close to turning 47, I have decided to try stop hating the body I have, to stop trying to destroy it, and find some peace with it. As a result, I have found Jes Baker’s book Landwhale, and it has helped a lot. Body positivity is super hard, I know it is an uphill fight. I have checked it out twice and hope to own it one day. Thanks for being you, Jenny. And to everyone else for these great book recommendations.

  179. A Ciry in Winter by Mark Helprin and also The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo. Or anything by both of them, really

  181. My theee all-time favorites are A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, The Raw Shark Texts by Stephen Hall, and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

  182. Fiction novels? Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie and American Gods by Neil Gaiman and now Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
    Memoirs? Well – Let’s Pretend This Never Happen- the audiobook version 🙂 And Hyperbole and a Half. I’m positive I’ll love Furiously Happy but I’m saving it for when I need a good hug & some cheer in my life.

  183. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, The Shadow of the Wind and Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Stranger and The Plague by Albert Camus

  184. The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo…one of my all time favorites! A quick read, as it was one I would read aloud when I taught fifth grade. Beautiful imagery and characters you’ll fall in love with!

  185. Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Album. It’s the first book my then boyfriend and I read together. We laughed and cried together and learned a lot about each other and I’m happy say we are now happily married and have been for 8 years! Books are something we both have in common and love to share with each other.

  188. LOVE Shirley Jackson and especially We Have Always Lived in the Castle! I just checked this out (again) at the library a few weeks ago. <3
    Also my favorite is ALL THE BOOKS. Because I never know what I’m going to read (or feel like re-reading) next.

  189. Where the Heart is by Billie Letts. It’s a works I wanted to be a part of. I met the author in the 11th Grade on a Job Shadowing assignment. She was incredibly nice.

  190. The October Daye books by Seanan McGuire. I’ve read them all more than once, and they are soooooooo good.

  191. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil – Savannah is one of my favorite places in the world.

  192. I love getting book recommendations – Totally going to look into the book you mentioned… I need a good read to distract me from life!!

  193. All of the above and probably most of what comes next …books are wonderful no matter what kind they are – reading the comment list – i was thinking yes I love that one – oh yes i remember that one – ohhhh the book after that was wonderful – D – all of the above is my answer.
    ( this is what happens to chicks that manage books store for most of their adult life)

  194. Anything by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon in afake moustache) especially the Clocktaur War duology.

  198. I’ve always loved any of Friedrich Durrenmatt’s books for dark/interesting books but especially enjoy “The Physicists” as a short play. For more common books, the history lover in me enjoys the Sarah Vowell books – Assasination Vacation and .her most recent (Lafayette in the Somewhat United States).

  199. Oh, there are too many!
    – JD Robb series – fun, light read
    – The Time Travelers Wife Audrey Niffenegger
    – Little Women Louisa May Alcott
    – Pern series Anne Mccaffrey
    – Wheel of Time series Robert jordan
    – Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout
    – Harry Potter
    – Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
    – anything by Dick Francis

  200. It is so hard to pick a favorite. One of my favorites is The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne. It’s also about otherness and trying to fit in. So funny and also very sad. So good!

  202. We the Living by Ayn Rand. I do not care for her as a person, hated her politics, and can’t say I’ve enjoyed any of her other books, but her attention to detail and ability to tell a story made me feel like I’d visited 1920s Russia.

  204. First We Make the Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson. Reading it was like recapping all the therapy I’ve done to manage my anxiety. Amazing book.

  207. The immortalists. I read it this summer and read it so fast because I was so intrigued and caught up in the story. Loved it so much.

  208. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I always felt my family was a bit odd and at times harsh, but reading TGC made me realize even though I didn’t come from the best of circumstances, I was always loved.

  210. Moo by Jane Smiley and Let’s Pretend this Never Happened (but I still laugh until I choke every time I read it).

  213. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson. Read it a couple of times, and it is sooo funny, and intelligent, and intelligently funny.

  214. I want to say the Little Prince because I have it in English & French but probably the Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. I hated reading growing up and in middle school my grandfather gave me a stack of old Bradbury books and it taught me that it wasn’t that I didn’t like reading, I just wasn’t reading the right things (sorry Bronte sisters).

  215. The Golem and The Djinni by Helene Wecker. It’s her first, and so far only book. I’m waiting impatiently for another. Magical, atmospheric, didn’t want it to end.

  216. My favorite to date is the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher. However, I did just finish reading The Woodcutter by Kate Danley, which was full of magic and delight. ^_^

  217. “Sharp Objects” and “Dark Places” by Gillian Flynn. If you liked “Gone Girl”, these two might be even better, with great plot twists!

  218. My all time favorite book since I was a child is ‘A Wrinkle in Time’, by Madeleine L’Engle. I have read all of her fiction books more than once! I had the pleasure of meeting her once at a book signing when I was 13!!

  219. I’ve been working my way through the Black Dagger Brotherhood series from J.R. Ward (sci fi / fantasy / romance) which is a new take (for me) on what a vampire race would look like if it existed (which I suspect it might). There’s pretty much everything you’d want in a good book and each one has a “happy ending” for the couple spotlighted in each story. Definitely not a typical romance which is what I’m always looking for.

  220. Still Life by Louise Penny. Actually anything written by Louise Penny. They are murder mysteries set in southern Quebec . Really well-written and I can never put them down.

  221. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It’s a fabulous fantasy book to help anyone get out of their head for a while.

  223. Some Boys by Patty Blount. It has its flaws, but, has a very realistic look at rape culture.

  224. Most recentky, Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts or Need to Know by Karen Cleveland. Of all time, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

  225. The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley. I can’t even count the number of times I have read this book, and I often listen to the audiobook while falling asleep. But it’ll never be the same as the first time I read it and got to the ending.

  227. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell you She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman was my absolute favorite. I couldn’t put it down and wanted more.

  229. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami – holy flying monkeys this book was so good I stayed up until 4am to finish it one night. Can’t recommend it enough to anyone and everyone.

  230. Have you read A Very Long Engagement, by Sebastien Japrisot? It’s a mystery/love story/war story (WWI) set in France, and even though I know the plot twists by heart I continue to enjoy rereading it. Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere is another excellent reread (I expect you’ve read it). Finally, for creepy dark suspense, anything by Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, etc.)

  231. Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” Trilogy – hands down my favorite!

    PS – I love seeing what everyone else loves to read, it gives me things to add to my list!

  234. Yes! We Have Always Lived in the Castle is wonderful, in an understated and kind of bleak way. You can’t go wrong with Shirley, at any rate.

    I’d fucking live to read The Ocean at the End of the Lane for the first time again, or the Bartimaeus chronicles. Or everything Christopher Moore has written. And everything Neil Gaiman has written, actually. But especially Ocean.

  235. I loved Tully by Paulina Simmons. She normally writes crime/mystery books. This gem I picked up at a Big Lots on my way to the beach my senior year of high school. Best $2 bucks spent. This is not a crime book but a book about best friends, tragedy & triumph. Fast forward 20 years, we just got a pig. And I named her Tully Belle♡

  236. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It’s one of the few books I’ve read more than once. It’s genius.

  238. Strut by Bruce and Carole Hart. It takes place in Wildwood, N.J. and it is about love, and ghosts, and rock and roll. I loved this book so much that I named my cat Jasper.

  240. I read, “The Stand”, by Stephen King every couple of years. The classic good and evil conflict, where good kinda-sorta wins in the end (but at what cost?) always leaves me with something to contemplate.

  241. The Bone Reader by Mab Morris. Hard to describe except to say it’s another world, and fantastic. There’s intrigue and honor and mystery and fortune telling. You’ll like it.
    mary44murray@gmail.com

  243. A Prayer For Owen Meany – John Irving. Thought-provoking, heart-breaking and just really, truly a lovely read. Enough snarkiness to amuse me, and an incredibly clever story that will surprise you with the “who” in the end. I’ve read it countless times, and it still, there are tears. Every. Single. Time. A must-read, for sure.

  244. When I was in second grade, I got to go to the “big kids” library. Ms. Richards, the librarian, introduced me to the indomitable Nancy Drew. I wish I could go back to that moment of reading my first Nancy Drew book because it really changed my life.

  245. “A” book? So many…

    The House At Pooh Corner: my daddy read this to me as a kid, and I still hear his voice when I read it to my grandkids. It continues to be hilariously witty. Any great kid lit is just as engaging for the adults, and Milne nailed it.

    The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis: epic and joyous.

    Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse series): just super-compelling and immersive.

    QED by Feynman: fascinating, surprising, and actually funny.

  247. So many books, so little time…
    My first mind blower was Bridge to Terebithia back in elementary school. Then Thinner which kicked off my love of Stephen King. In college it was The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. More recently the Silo series by Hugh Howey and the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson.

  249. The fault in our stars by John Green. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Killer Angels by Michael Shaara.

  250. I love the book “The Alchemist” so very much! I read it about once a year, right when I’m on the cusp of change again/still and it inspires me a different way each time.

    However, upon a recommendation I just read “The Immortalists” and I’d like to forget it soon, so I could read it again.

  251. Absolutely loved The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I had to go read all of Gaiman’s other books after that. I’m off for the next couple of days, I should read it again…

  252. What Happened To Lani Garver by Carol Plum-Ucci. The first time I read it I was a high school freshman, I still love it as a grad student

  254. Oh my, so many choices, but I guess I will say Carrie by Stephen King. The very first book of his that I read. Borrowed it from the library, started reading and just could not put it down. Finished it that same evening. Did the same with several of his books. Of course, this was in like 1979. kdmx2777@yahoo.com

  255. the hatching series
    ezekiel boone

    i got an arc of this to review but am completely and hysterically archnophobic. i just ignored it for awhile but my brain COULD NOT get the plot summary to go away. it was horrifying and captivating and completely worth the read. it’s also on audible, read by george Newbern who is great.

  256. The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love by Jill Connor Browne changed my life and I reread parts often.

  257. Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad just broke something open inside me, but in a good way. It’s like a hidden chamber I had no idea existed finally revealed itself.

  258. The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon. I recommend it to anyone lookin for a new series. The characters are amazing and since there are few books that I’ll read a second time, I would certainly love to be able to read this series for the first time again!

  259. If I had to pick just one book and call it my favorite, I’d have to say “Little House On the Prairie”. It’s super nostalgic for me because I remember reading it (and pretty much every other book in the series I could get my hands on) while stashed in the back of first a station wagon and then (in middle school) a giant white minivan that vaguely resembled a space ship without wings. (What can I say? Everybody in the 90s wanted one of those pointy nosed ugly things. It was a weird time, y’all.) My family did a LOT of road trips, travelling to San Antonio to check up on my stepdad’s father or down to Galveston or South Padre (which I maintain is a pit suitable only for drunken Spring Breakers) to spend a week at the beach. We also traveled pretty extensively throughout the deep South–Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North and South Carolina–to visit my mom’s relatives.

    glitterysquirrel@gmail.com

  261. Any Bill Bryson. I can’t choose just one. Also, The Road by Cormac McCarthy. That one stayed with me a long time. (Yes, very different types of books; what can I say, I have eclectic tastes)

  262. If any of you are ever in need of a book that just makes you laugh and you don’t have to think to seriously about it, OFF TO BE THE WIZARD by Scott Meyer made me Lol. Just don’t worry about plot holes and reality.

    I love to reread books because there is always something you miss the first time because you didn’t realize it was important later. So reading something for the first time really isn’t better for me. I enjoy getting to know books. So many great ones people have already listed. My favs besides our Jenny are probably Gaiman, Sedaris, and Dahl.

  263. A Little Life by HanyaYanagihara. Amazing story, beautiful prose, and knowing how it ends makes it hard to read again.

  266. The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I’ve always loved reading but went through a really deep depression in college when I just completely couldn’t. You know, the kind when you stop liking everything you love and generally take solace in? This was the first book I read again as I was pulling out and it pushed me back into voracious reading mode.

  268. I loved Gone With The Wind as someone else mentioned above. I had seen the movie and felt some hope for Scarlett at the end, but the book is a gut-punch. For a good two weeks I was devastated and actually started writing a sequel just to make myself feel better. Also, a more recent book that I read that you might like – if you like creepy English houses and period pieces – is The Little Stranger. I just saw the movie of it this weekend and it was very true to the book. Others that I love are Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and My Cousin Rachel also by her.

  271. I have lots, too, but most recent is the Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! (sobs like Holly Hunter in Raising Arizona) The imagery is immersive and gorgeous.

  272. So hard to choose, but first THREE (yes I know, that’s cheating), that come to mind are Stranger in a Strange Land, Watership Down, and Hitchhiker’ s Guide to the Galaxy.

    Oh wait, have to also add The Stand by S.K.

    All of those I re-read at least very other year or so.

  273. Happy to see quite a few of my faves already listed. Impossible to choose just one but I’ll add The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough. Clh@telus.net

  274. It’s a kids book but Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville is one I could read forever, and it’s also the first book I imagined reading to both my children when I found out they were on their respective ways. That and the Narnia series, which I have lovely memories of my dad reading to me.

    On a VERY different note, the Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey is fantastic. It’s like classic punk meets catholic school gone horribly wrong meets detective noir. So good.

  275. For novels Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
    Memoir? Let’s Pretend This Never Happened – the audiobook version (LOVED hearing it in your voice!!!) and Hyperbole and a Half. I never comment, but you touched on one of my loves 🙂 You’re the best Jenny – thanks for all you do!

  279.         I love Shirley Jackson too!  Have you read "The Haunting of Hill House"?  The movie was awful, but Jackson's book is beautifully written and so wonderfully atmospheric and scary.  Some of those scenes are still with me and I read it as a teenager.

    (SO GOOD. I love all of her stuff. I even have her unfinished short stories. ~ Jenny)

  280. All-time favorites: Little Women and Black Beauty. Gone With the Wind is up there too. A recent read that I’d highly recommend that keeps creeping into my thoughts is The Power by Naomi Alderman.

  281. Oh! And the original Wraeththu trilogy by Storm Constantine. (There was a second trilogy (and maybe even a third?) that was good, but not as good as the first.) The titles are all long and similar sounding so I never really remember them, but the first set’s main character is named Pell.

  283. “Fever Crumb”
    “Cinder”
    “Sabriel”
    All are YA fantasy, with pretty different styles.

  288. Anne of Green Gables. The whole series is excellent and we can all relate to Anne in one way or another!

  289. Lamb: the gospel according to Biff by Christopher Moore. I picked it up in Borders and seriously laughed so loud while reading the first page people stared at me.

  290. American Gods by Neil Gaiman is my number one I-wish-I-could-get-a-memwipe book but The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a close second. Both of them touched my core for different bt vital reasons.

  291. Ma and Pa Dracula by Ann M. Martin
    It is one of the few books I have read many times!!!!

  292. I love “Heartsick” by Chelsea Cain. It’s the first novel in a series. It’s about detective Archie Sheridan, who struggles with addiction issues and his absolute obsession with the beautiful serial killer, Gretchen Lowell (the “Beauty Killer”). She held him hostage and tortured him before he sent her to prison and yet, he can’t quite stop thinking about her. His trusty sidekick (and pain in the ass) is Susan Ward, intrepid reporter and fond of brightly-hued hair dye. She’s always getting into trouble!

    And Gretchen isn’t quite done killing. Or is it a copycat?!

  293. There are many, but one I finished fairly recently–Advent by James Treadwell. It’s the first in a trilogy and definitely the best.

  294. So many choices, but the first that popped to mind was A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. Such a powerful opening line. I’d love to experience it again for the first time.

  295. One of my very first “grown-up” reads should have never been at my disposal at 12 years old due to the violent content, but I have purchased and re-read it many times through my life and I keep a coveted beloved copy of this book when most of my books are of course now on Kindle. The book is “Ride the Wind” by Lucia St. Claire Robson and it is the historically fictionalized account of a white child, Cynthia Ann Parker, kidnapped as a child by the Comanche Indians and her life among them, and the tragic and bitter end of the Native American way of life. Her son, Quannah Parker, was the last free Chief of the Comanche and lobbied for many of the Native American Cultural Rights and Rituals in place today for Native Americans. While quite violent in many places, it is the most beautiful book I have ever read and none has ever dislodged this story from my mind and heart. As mentioned it is out of print but can still be found on Amazon and I, now 44 as opposed to 12 when I first read it, have continually pulled it from my very special and meager holdings of print books every few years to re-experience the beauty of a way of life gone tragically to near extinction. I now live in the Tulsa, OK area which makes this read all the more special to me as this is the final and most extensive reservation of so many of the tribes that once roamed this nation and it is rich in culture, heritage, and pride here. I even boast a tin photo of Quannah Parker in my home -that’s when you know you have been forever marked by a story. I highly recommend this read!! If you don’t love it, I will buy your copy back from you.

  296. Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan. I first read it many, many years ago and have re read it a many times since. It has given me a totally new way to look at life and its daily struggles! “It is the story of a courageous woman, who walked with the Aboriginals and learned the wonderful secrets and wisdom of an old, old tribe.”

  298. My most recent “head-over-heels” has to be Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. It was a wonderful fantasy, with a main character I really felt connected to. 🙂

  299. A.S. Byatt “Possession” (not the movie!) or any by her, gorgeous prose; Jane Eyre of course – an old friend in times of trouble. And I’m so happy to add to my “list” with everyone’s suggestions!

  304. A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle. I once read that eight times in a row because I never wanted to leave.

  305. I LOVED “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” I recommend it to random strangers wherever I go. On the other side of the spectrum is “Blackbird” by Jennifer Lauck. The most moving, torturous memoir I’ve ever read.

  306. I reread The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern every October. It’s the perfect October book. I love it so much. My other favourite book is Pride and Prejudice. I read it in high school and about eleventy billion times since.
    I’m currently reading A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman. It’s a cozy mystery type book. I’m enjoying it so far. Next up is The Elite, the second book of The Selection series by Kiera Cass. It’s a YA series in the dystopian vein of the Hunger Games. I really liked the first one so I’m looking forward to the second.

  307. The Shack by William P Young or Carry on Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton. Honestly these two books are partly responsible for where I am in my mental health today. Life changing. Actually your books have been a huge part of my journey as well. Thank God for authors sharing precious stories

  309. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Or any book by Connie Willis, frankly. While reading Doomsday Book, I was working and just could NOT wait for a break, lunch or getting home to keep reading it.
    bray.j@comcast.net (Julie)

  312. Right now I’m on the 4th book of the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski. Great series, can’t recommend it enough for fantasy fans.

  313. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. There are book club type discussion questions at the end of the book, and it was only then that I realized that the main character is never named….seems like something I should’ve noticed, but I got so lost in the story that it never even occurred to me.

  314. The Mists of Avalon. I read this in HS and it has stuck with me since, such a different view/perspective.

  315. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, a twisting, dark, touching story I’ve re read several times now. Nothing compares to the first read through, really.

  316. I love EVERY SINGLE BOOK Kristen Cashore has ever written. Her descriptions and world-building and characters are AWESOME.

  318. I’m pretty sure you have read them already, so this isn’t very helpful, but for me it would be the Harry Potter series. Reading that series changed my life! Never has a book or series become such a huge part of my life like that. I now have 2 HP tattoos, one of which is a half-sleeve!

  320. The All Creatures Great and Small series are my comfort books. Also Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and anything by Russell H Greenan wattsrachelm at gmail

  322. Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay. Most of his novels are historical fantasy and are excellent overall. This is one of a few favorites that he wrote and it would be a delight to have it be new again. I still reread them all happily anyway, of course.

  323. Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang was awesome. Any and all Bordertown books, of which Holly Black, Terri Windling, and Ellen Kushner are frequent contributors (and Neil Gaimon at least once). Stiff by Mary Roach, if real live (puns!) dead bodies interest you.

  326. A favorite book of mine is The Outsiders. Funny it was a high school English requirement but I fell in love with it way back then and still love it today. I’d love to be able to read it over and over fresh. “Nothing gold can stay” Cheers sweet lady. You make me smile.

  329. Today Will Be Simple by Maria Semple
    Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
    Prayer for Owen Meant by John Irving

    And my most frequently recommended book:
    Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (for real)

  332. I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman. It’s YA, incredibly diverse, written by a young author that I respect very much and this book captures the internet and fandom culture I have grown up in better than anything else I’ve ever read.

  333. Murder in Amityville by Hans Holzer. I first read it when I was 13. My first adult book. I had been watching horror movies since I was a wee tot. My Dad would let me watch them as I often wouldn’t sleep. He figured as long as I wasn’t having nightmares, I was okay. This may have contributed to my ability to solve puzzles/mysteries. Also The Shining by Stephen King.

  334. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman I read it, well technically I listen Neil read it to me at least once a year

  335. All the Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderella’s Stepmother by Danielle Teller. A really interesting retelling of a classic fairytale and completely different perspective of the events.

  337. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster. I don’t know why, but something about the sweetness, and the fact that we are STILL fighting those exact same issues today…

  338. At first, I read this as “Read a book A day,” and I was all like “I can do this in the summer when I’m not working, but when school’s in session that’s pretty hard to do!” Reading comprehension. I has it.
    My book is Jane Eyre. I always come back to Jane. I love her stubbornness.

  340. Ooh, I have several.

    The Stand by Stephen King is probably my favorite “typical” SK book. Epic story, tons of great characters, good vs. evil. Just a wonderful read.

    The Eyes of the Dragon also by Stephen King. More of a YA book and I love it more every time I read it, this would be the one I would want to forget so I could experience it again.

    Gone Girl. That Gillian Flynn is a goddamn genius. Sharp Objects was also great, haven’t read Dark Places yet but it’s on my list.

    Little House on the Prairie series. I read these books to literal tatters when I was a kid, I thought Laura’s life was so cool and just wanted to go live on the prairie with her. Reread the series in my late 30’s and was like wtf, how did they survive?? Their life was so hard!

    Switcheroo by Olivia Goldsmith. Funny funny funny! I legit laugh out loud every time I read it.

    tishadw74@gmail.com

  341. Pet Sematary! Discovering how much I loved Stephen King was a revelation. I also read a lot of kids and YA books — “Better Nate than Ever” by Tim Federle spring to mind as a favorite. It’s about a gay-ish tween who lives for musicals and runs away to New York to audition for a musical adaptation of ET. 🙂
    acholland22 at gmail

  342. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens: The Nice And Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. Even the title, I mean… I must have read it ten times and I never fail to pick something new up. The jokes are still hilarious every time but I wish I could read them for the first time again. Besides, this book helped me discover both Neil and Terry, which (I’m not exaggerating here) changed my life (and my own writing) forever.

  343. Definitely Gone With the Wind. I probably read it every summer for 10 years. The writing just takes you to another world. Same with the Harry Potter series. 3kats2010atgmail.com

  344. Either Outlander by Diana Gabaldon or Game of Thrones, because neither was remotely was I was expecting at all. I fell in love with Jamie and Claire and revisit often, but it would be nice to experience it all for the first time. GoT just stunned me with the first major plot twist and I took the book to my husband and told him he HAD to read it and then waited for the shock to hit him, too.

  346. White Oleander by Janet Fitch and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte are two of my go to books when I want something to read ( and haven’t got anything new to read).

  347. Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll……the subject matter is sometimes hard to read for some (a girl is raped while she is passed out) but it is such a good book. I read it in a day and a half. Even if I don’t win, please, take the opportunity to read this one.

  348. Hard to choose just one! Even though it is dark and difficult to read at times, ‘She’s Come Undone’ by Wally Lamb is the book that really made me think about differences in perceptions of mental illness. Wally Lamb makes his characters realistic and yet very human. And yes, I’d love a new book!

  349. Oh so many! A recent one is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Others include everything by Sharon Shinn, especially the Archangel series. Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Trilogy. Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half book. I’ll stop before I list too many 🙂

  351. I completely agree about We Have Always Lived in the Castle!! I read it a few years ago and scenes from it still randomly pop into my head for no reason. I tried twice to get my book club to read it but they picked something else. Mostly I wanted them to read it because I desperately want someone to talk with about it!

  352. I need to make a list out of all these comments! So much fun to revisit old favorites and starting thinking about new favorites. Thanks for this thread – and “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” is one of my favorites to recommend to friends!

  354. I just got addicted to Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant. Rolling in the Deep + Into the Drowning Deep are my new favorite fiction reads. Weeks later, I’m still just “!!!!!!! about them.

  355. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King opened new adventures in the vein of Sherlock Holmes to me. Perhaps if my memory fails I will read it again as if for the first time.

  356. I read so many comments that voiced the same opinion, but choosing just one book is so hard! I choose Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley. I read this book at least once a year.

    I also feel the need to highly recommend to everyone I talk to about reading The Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood, The Amelia Peabody Emerson series by Elizabeth Peters, and The Flavia DeLuce series by Alan Bradbury. I gravitate to books with strong, female protagonists!

  357. So many! It’s hard to choose!
    I’d probably have to go with the Harry Potter series. It’s a magical feeling reading those 🙂

  358. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. There were so many sentences that I stopped and re-read, believing that any single one of them constituted a brilliant achievement in writing.

  359. I did not read every reply. Likely that I will be the only one to mention it here.
    Armor, John Steakley. Great Sci-Fi and so much more.

  361. I really enjoyed the Enola Holmes books by Nancy Springer… love reading them… love listening to the audiobooks… doesn’t hurt that it’s the late Katherine Kellgren reading them… I just love them.

  362. Beowulf – I named my cat Grendel so I could be Grendel’s mother. Also Grendel and Eaters of the Dead (because Grendel – shut up, I’m not obsessed- you’re obsessed). I read anything Ray Bradbury – Something Wicked This Way Comes and Fahrenheit 451. SWTWC makes me cry every time I read it, just because of the way it’s written, it’s almost poetry. Fahrenheit 451 is one of the scariest books I’ve ever read. I can’t imagine a world where no one reads and they want to burn books.

  363. So many…but my family just talked this weekend about reading Harry Potter again and wishing it could be for the first time. But also the dragon riders of pern, outlander , wonder, the graveyard book. And yes…today is just a Thursday for me….started children of blood and bone today.

  364. This isn’t super-original and it’s not likely to expose anyone to a new book, but: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I’m reading it (again) for the first time with my seven-year-old right now and it’s amazing. I love watching her fall into this whole new world. (cmafairman[at]gmail.com)

  365. “A Man Called Ove” and “My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry” by Fredrik Backman

    Both made me want to start them from the beginning again, immediately after finishing them. But I didn’t. Any more than I checked the prior 330 comments to see if they’d already been mentioned. #sorrynotsorry

  366. Since The Shadow of the Wind has already been named a couple of times, I’ll recommend Marina, also by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and a sort of little sister for it. Such a special, short gem of a book.
    I’ll also add The slow regard of silent things by Patrick Rothfuss, which I’m probably discovering for no one of us, but which always puts a smile on my Facebook.
    Happy read-a-book day, fellow nerds!

  367. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. It’s a very moving book about America’s great migration. At times it is painful to read about how people were treated and understand their motivation to leave the south. Yet she still finds the beauty in the south and in the courage of the three people she follows. I also love the Harry Potter series – a great story about friendship and love. And finally, the Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood (Rebecca Wells) – another that is at times upsetting, but overall a lovely story about friendship staying strong throughout the years.

  368. LOVE LOVE LOVE Pete Hamill’s book Forever (and, really, anything that he’s written 🙂

  369. Oh man I just finished Beartown by Fredrik Backman – I had to keep walking away to process all the feels but it was so good I didn’t want to put it down!

  372. The Past Life Perspective (Discovering your true nature across multiple lifetimes)
    By Ann C. Barham

    It’s about Past Life Regression sessions, such an interesting read for sure!!
    My email: kenzie6488@gmail.com

  373. I would chose to be my 10 year old self reading Little Women for the first time. I loved Jo March, she was (after my mom) the first female I was influenced by, her passion for learning and trying to be true to herself was so relatable to me at the time.

  374. My all time favorite is The Time Travelers Wife. If you’ve seen the movie totally disregard it! I tried read this book at least once a year.

  376. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. I’m not a sci-fi person, nor am I a religious person, but this book about Jesuits making first contact on another planet is amazing. Great writing, and a thought-provoking situation.

  377. A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving. It’s not over stating the case to say it deeply changed me. It’s like when l was reading it a little part of me broke and was put back together again and l was forever changed. I love it so much.

  378. The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson Such an amazing read that I can’t get enough of. I am a speed reader, but not with this book. I read each and every word. This booked affected me like no other.

  379. The Fifth Season and the rest of the Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin is absolutely amazing!

  382. Nice! 🙂 Here are some of my favorites. 🙂
    The Legends of Muirwood trilogy
    The Covenant of Muirwood series
    Razorland series
    Cassidy Jones series
    The Harry Potter series

    But my absolute favorite book, and I’m seriously not kidding, the book that I have purchased many copies of and handed out to many friends is Let’s Pretend this Never Happened. Hands down the absolute best book I’ve ever read. I’m currently reading Furiously Happy though! 😉

  383. The book I have been recommending to everyone who will listen for the past year is Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. There is just something about it’s steady pace and imagery that has really stuck with me.

  384. Hmmm, what have you NOT read?? I’m certain you’ve read these, but I love Neverwhere by Gaiman, of course, and The Night Circus; I wish I could be mesmerized by them for the first time again.

  385. “Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch” by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I re-read it every year or so, and still am still delighted by it. A close second is “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” by Christopher Moore.

    If I could go back in time to my childhood self, it would be all the Pippi Longstocking books. I wanted her to be my best friend.

  387. I just recently finished Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo and I’m OBSESSED. Also, and of the Sarah J Maas books are ADDICTING.
    Happy reading darlings!
    Fe_Marie93@hotmail.com

  388. Many many years ago my mother gave me an illustrated copy of Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Graham .
    I loved that book and have often reread it .
    I have also gifted is copy of it to all my younger cousins and their children.
    I wish I could go back to the day I first read about Mole and Ratty ,Mr Badger and the naughty vivacious Toad of Toad Hall

  389. “Tell The Wolves I’m Home” by Carol Rifka Brunt is a book I will never ever get over.

  390. Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey. I love all her Pern novels, but this was the first of them I read and it really opened my eyes to whole new worlds. I probably re-read it at least once a year.

  391. So many great books already posted. All the books by Barbara Kingsolver, but her book The Bean Trees” and the others in that series are my favorite. Loved the Tony HIllerman detective series set in the Southwest, and for another fun read are Sue Grafton’s alphabetical detective series. I love the protagonist Kinsey. Also “Water For Elephants” haunts me. Favorite readings this summer have been “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi and “Tomorrow Will be Different, Love, Loss and the fight for Trans Equality” by Sarah McBride. Both will make you cry and educate you at the same time. David Sedaris is a must read for anyone who follows this blog. “Calypso” on audio books is laugh out loud funny!. In fact stared following this blog after reading “Furiously Happy” which was recommended to me after I was talking about “Calypso”.
    Okay going to stop now because this is way to long and I will just continue to list and explain books I’ve read.

  392. “Screening Party,” by Dennis Hensley. It’s about a journalist who gets an assignment to write about the 30th anniversary of “Jaws,” but he’s never seen it, so he gets a bunch of his friends together for a screening and records everything they say, which turns into a monthly party. I’m probably not selling it very well, but it’s legit laugh-out-loud funny. I reread it at least once a year.

    (Email addy is trb2@domtopnotary.com, in case I’m in the drawing.)

  394. Beauty by Robin McKinley. I first read this book in middle school- I had checked out a hardcover copy from the school library. Then I checked it out again, and yet again before I eventually purchased my own paper back version. This would have been in…1995 or 96. I still own that book- it is battered and torn- but every year or so I come back around and re-read it. Sure, there are bits now as an adult aren’t as polished, but I still love the nostalgia I get from opening it back up again.

  395. Fiction: “The Brothers K” by David James Duncan
    Non-Fiction: “Black Holes and Time-Warps” by Kip Thorne

  396. Reginald Hill’s Pascoe and Dalziel series – smart police procedurals set in Yorkshire.
    Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
    Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles.
    I read these all every couple of years. Holy cats, I love these books.

  397. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.

    Gorgeous cover, beautifully written. Half Urban Fantasy, half epic. If you’ve read The Fault in Out Stars, Hazel talks about loving a book so much you want to keep it just for you. A book that’s so special, you feel like it’s a secret. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is that bookenfor me.

  399. I loved the entire Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne. They are so irreverent and funny and I mean a dog that can communicate telepathically, does it get better than that??

  400. JD Robb’s “In Death” series. These have gotten me through some dark days, because they have allowed me to leave my life and depression behind and to go be in the comfort of the future and what feels like family.

  401. The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck. We were assigned to read it in high school. I had already read it 11 times by then, so I asked the teacher if I could read something else. No soap. I read it for the 12th time in class. I’ve since read it again countless times (high school was a while ago). (By the way, most people don’t know that that is the first book of a masterful trilogy. “The Good Earth” is followed by “Sons” and “A House Divided”. The entire trilogy is a beautiful, beautiful story.)

  402. I love Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. That’s the one I’ve re-read the most and recommended the most. I have a friend that tried to convince me to read it when we were in high school but I didn’t take her advice until I was in my 30’s. To think, I could have had Claire and Jamie in my life that much sooner!

  404. My childhood favorite was Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry and was given to me by a good friend of my mother’s who I call “aunt” and considered a second “mom”.

    Right now it is Tear Soup A (Recipe For Healing After Loss) by Pat Schwiebert and Chuck DeKlyen because it helps if you are a child, an adult, unbereaved and want to help those that are bereaved, and has beautiful chalk drawings in it. It’s simple but not simplistic. And my adult daughter said it made her cry. (Me too) She doesn’t admit to that very often. And it will probably make you cry too.

    aset13 @ yahoo dot com

  405. My ‘favorite’ is often whatever I am currently reading. This year’s standout was “Genocide of One” by Kazuaki Takano. Described as a thriller: ‘The first of a new kind of human may also be the last.’ Thought provoking on many levels.

    Thanks for all the ideas from other readers!

  408. Ella enchanted….i read that so many times when I was younger that I had to tape every page back together. More recently, I would say the mercy thompson series. Every time a new book comes out I read it in one day because I’m so excited!

  410. Shayne Silvers – all three of his series – Nate Temple, Feathers and Fire, and Phantom Queen. All three series intertwine with each other, so I’m currently re-reading from the beginning. I only do this with my favorite series – Dresden Files, Harry Potter, Stephanie Plum. One of the things I really enjoy about reading Mr. Silvers’ books is the Facebook group that goes along with it (Den of Freaks – read the books, you’ll understand.) He actually interacts with his readers on the site. I like that.

  411. For years, I re-read Ken Kesey’s “Sometimes a Great Notion” from late August to Thanksgiving, making myself go slowly enough to roughly match the time over which the story unfolds. The. Great. American. Novel, it’s told in several different voices, which become quickly recognizable and each of which sheds a different light on the story. It’s 50+ years ago and a logging family in Oregon includes a flawed hero with an unlikely wife, an irascible father, a born again, frenetic cousin, and a long-lost half-brother, returned from the wilds of New Haven. And that’s just the live members of the Stamper clan…. My ex-husband once told me he had written a paper for a Lit class in which he related them to characters out of Greek myths. It made sense. I can’t recommend the book highly enough: it’s hypnotic and, if like me, you sometimes need to go live in someone else’s story for a while, this is the story that calls out to me.

  413. I love Shirley Jackson!

    Three books I would recommend to you based on your pick:
    The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
    The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
    The Shining by Stephen King
    And any short story collection by Richard Mathewson

    They all have that haunting “am I losing my mind or is this really happening?” feel.

    My email address is sorapandora at aol dot com!

  414. Note – That was supposed to say “Richard Mattheson – not Mathewson. Autocorrect strikes again!

  415. I am an avid reader myself and trying to choose one favorite is impossible, however, there is one book in particular that I’ve re-read every couple of years since I was in high school (over twenty years now, yikes!). It’s called Christy by Catherine Marshall. It’s technically classified as Christian Fiction and people that know me are always surprised by that choice because I am not religious in the slightest. It’s just such a lovely story about a young girl that yearns to find her place in the world and decides to become a school teacher in the backcountry of Cutter Gap, TN. Along her journey she finds out how to love and what true friendship means. It has always held a special place in my heart and I highly recommend it.

  419. The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Terrific book. Although I have at least ten more titles screaming in my head “what about me?!”.

  421. I adore the Philip Pullman Dark Materials trilogy, as well as The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. Both authors transport tge reader in different ways, and make everyfay things seem magical.

  424. Oh man, I wish I could read so many for the first time again… Harry Potter, Jane Austen… Matilda by Roald Dahl…

  425. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver and also the sequel, Pigs in Heaven. I read the first while recovering from a miscarriage and it helped me get through it.

  426. I love Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy as well as The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. They both transport tge reader and make everyday things magical in different ways.

  427. I love Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy as well as The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. They both transport tge reader and make everyday things magical in different ways.

  428. The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern! Magic, a mysterious circus that arrives at night, competition, and people trying to figure out where they fit in. I highly recommend it!

  429. So many!! But my currents are:
    Where’d You Go Bernadette? By Maria Semple
    The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

    Both funny with loveable characters.

  430. The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Edwards (a.k.a. Julie Andrews – yes, THAT Julie Andrews. For kids, but I read it every year.

  433. Shogun – by James Clavell

    14th century Samuri running around cutting people’s heads off and putting them on pointed stakes, who wouldn’t love that!?!? It is a long read but well worth it. ( Did I mention the cutting people’s heads off part?) Please don’t tell my parole officer…

  434. Definitely, it would be: The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, in audio, read by Jim Dale.
    I’ve probably listened to it 50 times (and read it in book form about 5 times) and I still approach it as if I’ve never heard it before. It was the first book in a long time that as soon as I finished it, I started it all over again.

  435. Is all of them an acceptable answer? That wonder what’s going to happen next just doesn’t exist after the first read through, no matter how long it has been.

  436. “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman. Well, anything by Neil Gaiman. “The Red Tent” oh, and “Uprooted” by Naomi Novik. So many books, I bet I’ll think of a hundred others later!

  438. I don’t reread many books but Summon the Kepper by Tanya Huff is my go-to comfort book. (Also, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is our book club’s book this month along with Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns.)

  440. I’m obsessed with everything that Kate Canterbary writes, especially her series about the Walsh family. They’re full of shennanigans (sp?) and love and family drama and lots of real-life stuff. You don’t have to start at the beginning but I’d highly recommend it!

  441. It’s a tough choice, but I think it’d have to be “Sleep Toward Heaven” by Amanda Eyre Ward.” That was such a good book on so many levels! That being said, “The Stand” by Stephen King is a damn close tie.

  443. I have a whole list called best books ever…
    At this moment (as in today at this hour) it is Grit by Duckworth. Wow. A book all people, patents, teachers and kids need to read.

    Then again
    The Fault in our Stars
    Sense and Sensibility
    The Art of Racing in the Rain
    The Mists of Avalon
    My Grandmother said to tell you she’s sorry
    Behind the Beautiful Forevers

  444. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx (I cried when I was done with it because it was over). A second would be Geek Love by Katherine Dunn (can’t believe that hasn’t been made into a movie).

  445. It’s really hard to pick just one! I think right now I’m torn between Stardust by Neil Gaiman, The Princess Bride by William Goldman, and Pride and Prejudice

  446. There’s so many… but “Ready Player One”, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, and “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin are the three that pop to mind.

  448. “Little, Big” by John Crowley. In Germany, it is called (translated) “Little Big or the parliament of the fairies”.
    “Mr. God, This Is Anna” by Finn.
    “Tiny Beautiful Things” by Cheryl Strayed.

    keejah /a/ gmx /dot/ de

  450. An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson — published last year. Fascinating story of a female who is a Craft Master and paints portraits of faire folk (fairies). A very different approach to the topic of fairies. I keep thinking about it and how it made me appreciate the little things in life.

  451. To Kill A Mockingbird, I think.

    But I just saw a recommendation for My Grandmother Said To Tell You She’s Sorry and I second that (along with A Man Called Ove) – Fantastic!

  452. Seriously… you need to read Long Dark Teatime of the Soul by Douglas Adams. It was so funny and the end was hysterical.

  453. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell — and you can follow it up with any of his others too.

  455. Thud! by Terry Pratchett. It was the first book of his I read, and the start of a whole year of Discworld.

  456. I just finished The Voodoo Killings: A Kincaid Strange Novel, by Kristi Charish. It was really fun and a cool take on zombies and urban fantasy!

  458. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It’s weird and difficult to read, but it challenges the idea of what fiction is, forces the reader to become part author, and, in my opinion, is WELL worth the read. I’ve read it twice in the last 12 months and I’m feeling a pull to read it again.

  459. I like to say I just started to read in my 40s- I really now understand what a good book is. I’m a slow reader but do love that committee feeling once you start one. So that being said – Donna Tart “The Goldfinch” is my favorite but I can never pin point why. It just is.
    And I love knowing what others recommend – and to be commentor 451 – I have a lot of notes to take!!

  461. I’m still baffled by Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” and I never expected to like “Of Mice and Men” as much as I did. Also, I’m always a little jealous of people who get to read Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” for the first time.

  463. Forgot to add my email to the last comment 😑 it’s added to this one though!

    P.S. I am the same person who suggested The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter

  464. The Way the Crow Flies by Anne Marie MacDonald. I was different after reading it, in a way I can’t quite explain.

  465. Kitchen Confidential. I would love to read that again, not knowing Anthony Bourdain’s name or about his death. As a cook, I miss him every day, because I know he won’t be back. I feel sad for the fan letters I never wrote, and the things we might have still seen from hi..

  467. If I Never Get Back by Darryl Brock. Gave it to two friends and it”s their favorite book too. If I had more friends I’d give it to them too. (By the way, I am not Darryl Brock pushing my book. I’m sure he’s a nice person but I’m definitely not him, I’m taller.)

  468. Has to be either Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Although …. If I could forget a whole series for rereading purposes it would be Harry Potter. But there are books I return to in times when I’m struggling which I absolutely don’t want to forget because I need to remember they are there. Like When Bad Things Happen to Good People, The Art of Asking, Let’s Pretend this Never Happened, and Furiously Happy, An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth and others my (currently) sleep deprived brain can’t remember right now.

  469. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Excellent Dracula story. Can’t recommend it enough.

  471. I would love to experience The Giver by Lois Lowry again for the first time. What an amazing book.

  472. Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain. I would love to read that again, not knowing his name or about his death. I read all his books, and, as a cook, I miss him every day. I wish I could read his first book again, with the hope of so much more to come. I want everyone who cooks or eats at restaurants to read it. He’s silly, mean, funny, weird, and the kind of jerk you could see yourself living in real life.

  473. I had gone through really, really bad. gotten hurt, which had led to jobless,and jobless meant homeless for 6 months, and lots more bad but that’s probably enough for a comment, so: etc. but awful.

    I’m a fantasy reader and re-read The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold.

    the main character is a man named Cazaril. he is hopeless. he has been enslaved and is freed, but being enslaved has broken him. he is suffering from PTSD (although it is not named that, but obviously is) and he is walking barefoot towards home, in the hopes of finding a place in the noble house where he had once been a page.

    Bujold has made him an honourable man. someone who has stuck to his values, someone who is honestly good, and also intelligent. someone who is bigger than his circumstances, though he himself doesn’t realize it.

    I spent nights in my car, re-reading this book. reminding myself that I, too, was bigger than my circumstances, knowing that I would be chanaged in every way but one: I could hang on to my goodness, I could still be kind. I would not allow it to take it away from me. this is a lesson from my mother, but Bujold echoed it in this book. and it was a very welcome echo. it was a lifeline from the past through the present and to the future.

    I don’t know if I would want these readings erased from my mind, because it was so important. but it is a book that is everything to me. Cazaril got through it and I would get through it too.

    so: The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold is a book that I am most grateful for and always will be.

  474. So, so so many to pick from…I will go with “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole. (As a weird coincidence I literally just read “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” for the first time this past weekend.)

  475. The Power of One by Bryce Courtney,
    Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O’Dell, or
    A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle

  478. The Hate U Give was fantastic and topical. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is wonderful too.

  479. The Humans by Matt Haig. An off-planet view of humanity. Anything by Fredrik Backman. Oddly enough, both authors admit to mental difficulties similar to Jenny’s, Weird how suffering brings out some great authors.

  480. I am a very avid reader and there are many books I love to read over an over again. However, if I had to choose 1 (book series rather than just 1 book) I’d pick Harry Potter. To learn Snape’s motivations and feelings again. To have that doubt that he really is on the right side, would be amazing.

  484. First of all— this post has given me at least a dozen new books to read. Secondly, I just started We Have Always Lived in the Castle yesterday— how strange is that?! Anywho… I am a huge Stephen King fan— I would love to take back any of his books to reread and enjoy them for the first time all over again but my favorite is The Stand. I read it at least once a year and sometimes have to remind myself that the characters aren’t real. I have had actual conversations where I want to reference something in the book and have to say to myself “that didn’t actually happen if your life”. I’m pretty sure that’s a sign of a good book! Taylorcogswell@gmail.com

  485. Lamb, by Christopher Moore. My all time favourite book. I laughed so hard I teared up. Numerous times!

  486. Of course I have dozens of favorites but Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman is definitely high up on my list also The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer is one of my new favorite discoveries because it is such a huge and eclectic collection of weird stories. Bonus, it has short stories from both Gaiman and Shirley Jackson.

  487. I’ll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson.
    And Harry Potter for the second first time would be amazing!

  489. Though I’ve fallen in love with so many books, I think one I would love to read again for the first time (aside from Furiously Happy, of course) is Joe Hills’ creepy adventure NOS4A2. Either that or Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore. Both wonderful books that I simply fell head over heels in love with

  490. I just finished “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory” by Caitlin Doughty and loved it! It’s full of dark humor and I was hooked from the first few sentences. “A girl always remembers the first corpse she shaves. It is the only event in her life more awkward than her first kiss or the loss of her virginity.”

  491. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley – my favorite YA fantasy book ever. I still read it once a year. Goodnight Mister Tom by Michele Magorian. This book HAUNTED me for years – I checked it out every few months from my hometown library, and a couple years back bought a copy for my grown-up self. It was still just as good. Devil in the White City, just fascinating, both the building of the Chicago Worlds Fair and the serial killer in its midst. Tigana by Guy Gauvriel Kay, fantasy story, but the exploration of what primal loss does do a country, and to individuals, is sad and beautiful. There are more.

  493. It’s actually a kids book called “From the mixed up files of Basil E. Frankenwiller”. I am sure that is spelled all wrong. It’s about a young girl who decides to run away to a museum and brings her younger brother with. He had savings after all.

  494. “Just One Damned Thing After Another” by Jodi Taylor, and the entire Chronicles of St. Mary’s. I LOVE this series and wish I had the joy of discovering it all over again.

  495. Sunshine by Robin McKinley. At one point the protagonist references having favorite comfort books for when she’s having a rough time and this book is one of mine.

  496. Wow. Too many books to choose from… But I’ll have to go with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. (Haha, my tablet tried to change ‘Goblet’ to ‘Giblets’! Lol)

    For non-fiction, as I’m autistic, I’d recommend the anthology Loud Hands, written by other autistic people.

  497. Honestly, my favorite books are yours because they are the only ones that have sent me into giggle fits!

    But if I have to call out another author, I’ve always loved Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen

  500. I have to go with Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian the ending left me breathless honestly it got me totally did not see it coming.

  501. ‘Watership Down’ has always been one of my favorites! I always choose that one as gifts for kids!
    The ‘Outlander’ series of books are so well written, I’m jonesin’ for the next one! I’m sure they’re great, but I’ve still not been able to watch much of the TV series…..that is NOT what my Jamie & Claire look like in my own imagination!!

  502. Hard to choose but i loved The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Room by Emma Donoghue, Furiously Happy (i laughed and cried), The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed… my email address: annikbernatchez@gmail.com

  503. “Stories of Your Life and Others,” by Ted Chiang. This includes one of the stories that led to Amy Adams’ movie, “Arrival.” I hope you enjoy it.

  504. Favorites are The Giver and Little Women. Both are books I put off reading for years because I didn’t think I’d like them but after reading them they both quickly became my two favorites.

  505. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon. It’s always the first book I think of when anyone asks for a recommendation!

  506. Literally any book by Fannie Flagg but specifically A Redbird Christmas! Small town life, compassionate characters and just a lovely, beautiful read.

  507. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich for a good non-fiction which is still timely re: economics, welfare, minimum wage, etc. For fiction: Harry Potter.

  508. I love so many books, but the only one I couldn’t set down was “The Lovely Bones”, I read it all day and all night and while I was holding, rocking and feeding my mionths old baby! I HAD to find out if the man that killed the little girl was caught. I read it in less than 24 hours, and no book ever had me hooked like that one did.

  510. In order:
    1) I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
    2) Sourdough by Robin Sloan
    3) Far From The Tree by Robin Benway

  511. I am amazed that there are 508 book suggestions. Someone should make a website with this list. Here’s 509: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Incredibly well written/translated, great odd story, and a big book (3 books in one) if you are one of those people who like to really get into a book.

  512. Warm bodies – Isaac Marion
    A romance novel where the main character is a zombie and his love interest still has a heartbeat it might seem just a bit too cheesy or over the top. Especially after the film adaptation that really up played the romance and really downplayed all the ducked up parts. But the language that the author uses is so fucking beautiful and intricate and makes me want to eat it up with a spoon. Here’s a taste:

    “In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral ceilings and paint my thoughts. But when I open my mouth, everything collapses.”

  513. Definitely Adverbs by Daniel Handler. It’s a book that has stuck with me for years. I read it kind of on a whim and the way the story is told has forever warped how I thought stories should be told. I’ve read a few of his other books, but they all pale in comparison. Plus, the opening line is one of the best I’ve EVER read…”Love was in the air, so both of us walked through love on our way to the corner.”
    I have lost numerous copies of it from lending it to anyone that asks me for a book recommendation. 🙂

  516. House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. It’s part art/part lit and will leave your head spinning (and not just because of the format).

  517. The Tenth Kingdom by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve read it, and I always see something new with each re-read❤

  518. Jenny, your books are my all-time favorites. I will not lend them to anybody they are sacred they actually saved my life . More than anything I would love to read a new book from you ! Just finished reading the soul of an octopus and I’m currently reading the good pig by Sy Montgomery .

  519. Magician by Raymond E Feist is my all time favourite book, but my all time favourite series of books is the First Man in Rome series by Colleen McCullough. Both are sweeping stories of pure escapism, but so well written you can’t help but get sucked in.
    Or for a good laugh the early stuff by Terry Pratchett, or of course Furiously Happy by a little known but aspiring author called Jenny Lawson. .

  521. I’m not good at following directions/choosing between things I love sooo…

    When I was a child, “Mandy” by Julie Andrews Edwards (yes, that Julie Andrews!). I still think about it to this day! (Kitten Goodman, I was thrilled to see this as your choice, too!)

    “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt. I’ve never read anything like it.

    And “Rebecca” by Daphne duMaurier. My mom kept a copy in her car for years, just in case she got stuck somewhere. I finally read it about 10 years ago, and it warms me to think about it. I can still picture everything in my mind. Gothic and mysterious and beautifully written!

    P.S. Is it just me or does the woman holding the girl on the cover of “We Have Always…” look a lot like Jenny????

  523. I’m not good at following directions/choosing between things I love sooo…

    When I was a child, “Mandy” by Julie Andrews Edwards (yes, that Julie Andrews!). I still think about it to this day! (Kitten Goodman, I was thrilled to see this as your choice, too!)

    “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt. I’ve never read anything like it.

    And “Rebecca” by Daphne duMaurier. My mom kept a copy in her car for years, just in case she got stuck somewhere. I finally read it about 10 years ago, and it warms me to think about it. I can still picture everything in my mind. Gothic and mysterious and beautifully written!

    P.S. Is it just me or does the woman holding the girl on the cover of “We Have Always…” look a lot like Jenny????

  525. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk, I can relate to that feeling of abandonment and not deserving of love. AND I love how the compassionately the sisters handle their “sensitive” sister, May.

  527. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins, anything by David Sedaris, Dietland by Sarai Walker, and without a doubt , all of your books. You gave depth and dimension to feelings, fears and emotions making them tangible and all with a sense of humor. I have shared your books with friends and family. It’s really hard for me to explain how much they have helped me.

    My email is: aamagerscole@comcast.net

  530. I have alot of books but honestly Sharp objects is one I really wish I could reread that one like new every time. The other I would say is the divergent series. Those book pulled at me in a way I didn’t expect. And it was a series I was able to share and read with my teen son and talk about. Renegades is another we have shared and loved. It’s such a bonding experience and it allows us to share something in common!

  532. Actually one of my favs is Memoirs of a Geisha. Great story – I loved it and I have read many many books (like you I am a voracious reader!) It is not a recent book but still a favourite.

  534. That would definitely be Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. It was the first fantasy book that I read when my dad gave it to me when I was 8.
    A lot of the jokes went over my head but I still loved it. I think it’d be the best amnesia-book because I’d be able to read it brand new and understand a lot more of the jokes.

  535. You’ve probably already read it, but I just read American Gods within the last year for the first time and it was insanely good. #Neilhimself

  536. I just read the Chronicles of Kazam series by Jasper Fforde and I adored them just like I’ve loved everything that came out of his weird brain.

  538. another voice for NK Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, and its sequels, The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky. omg so good. and they are like nothing else out there.

  539. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. I read it in high school for AP Lit and found it in a box recently and reread it, and it was a totally different book as an adult. Love the unconventional organization of time and the mystical cultural elements.

  540. I have a bad memory, especially after pregnancy, which is apparently a good thing in regards to books! I can read a book, wait a bit of time (5 years?) and read it again with the same newness as the first time. Sweet, huh?! (I am looking forward to re-reading all of your books again soon!)

  541. The Other by Thomas Tyron. A truly different horror story that has stood the test of time. So sad I can never read it again for the first time.

  542. The Cat Who Went To Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth. Broke my heart over and over again, each time I read it.

  543. Haven Kimmel wrote 2 autobiographies that are SUPER FANTASTIC. I laughed and cried. A Girl Named Zippy and the sequel She Got Up Off the Couch.

  545. The mists of avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley or anything by Bill bryson. Seriously any travel book that it all went wrong on trip. They get you out of yourself and you laugh til you cry. Ooh ooh also most of Spaulding grays book. Hilarious.

  546. Trevor Noah’s book Born a Crime (or even better Trevor reading it on Audible) absolutely blew my mind.
    His story, and the story of his family, is incredible. Very relevant to
    America’s issues today. Months after listening to it, I still think of it daily.
    Can’t recommend it enough!

  547. 17 year old me would say Forever by Judy Blume. (seriously, I must have read that book at least 5 times) Adult me has to go with Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel.

  548. I just called it Thursday and was a bit disappointed to not hear what special day it was until after classes. Too many books to erase. Lately though: The Shape of Water-didn’t see the movie. Restarted the HarryDresden series because I’m half in love with him. Discovered the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, werewolves oh my! Will reread Christopher Moore’s books to be happy.

  549. The long, dark tea-time of the soul by Douglas Adams is a favorite. I always revisit books that make me laugh (like yours!)

  553. This is like asking me what is my favourite vital organ. There are so many options and it feels traitorous to choose just one.

    I would have to say The Golem and The Jinni by Helene Wecker and The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

    Richard Kadrey’s Coop series and The Hatching trilogy by Ezekiel Boone are great brain vacation escapes

  554. My son and I are just discussing this yesterday (and he’s not much of a talker, so this is an amazing coincidence). We agreed on The Mysterious Benedict Society. He also lobbied for Gregor the Overlander (and all the Harry Potters of course). My choice was The Night Circus. I feel literal jealousy toward people reading it for the first time.

  557. The Gift of Fear written by Gavin de Becker.
    Every woman would benefit from reading this gripping book. I gave it to both of my daughters,- and have read and re read it several times.
    It’s amazing!

  558. My son and I were just talking about this last night. My pick was The Night Circus, and his was Gregor the Overlander. We compromised on The Mysterious Benedict Society.

  561. i went to college because my parents wanted me to go, made me go, not because i wanted to. i majored in english not because i wanted to, but because i realized after three years of wondering what the fuck and not being able to answer that question i could get out fastest if i settled on english, the only story i loved then was the dream trilogy by nora roberts… i wanted to write something similar… not a love story so much, but a life story. something that warmed the heart and had a happy ending. because my heart was cold, frozen, really, and i knew my story wouldn’t end happily. i used to read that trilogy every year. i loved those characters. kate’s my favorite, so if you had to pick one, holding the dream’s the best.

    other books that have left an impression:

    landline by rainbow rowell
    eleanor and park by rainbow rowell
    the language of flowers by vanessa diffenbaugh
    right before your eyes by ellen shanman
    the fault in our stars by john green
    wonder by r.j. palacio
    all the bright places by jennifer niven
    we are okay by nina lacour

  562. One is hard – here are some LOL

    TheMists of Avalon
    Furiously Happy
    Where The Wild Things Are
    Harry Potter series
    Little Women
    Anne of Grren Gables series
    Jonathan Kellerman books
    Faye Kellerman books

    I’ll stop now….but it’s hard… LMAO

  563. Mine is The Ordinary Princess by M.M.Kaye. It’s a lovely fairy tale and illustrated by the author. I buy copies for everyone I can, especially families with daughters. It’s a really gorgeous deviation from classic fairy tale themes. Go read it, someone, please!

  564. A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of mine. It’s probably not what you’d expect from the title, but it is one of the most wonderful, funny, and heartbreaking stories I’ve ever read.

  565. I loved the Wrinkle in Time series; they’re some of the very few books I’ve read more than once. Another that falls in that group seems dumb, but it was the novel adaptation of the Aliens movie — it was the only book to scare me, and the first time I could actually picture in my mind what was happening in the story, even before seeing the movie.

  570. The Twenty One Balloons by William Pene duBois
    The Gangster We Are All Looking For by Le The Diem Thuy

  571. Road Fever by Tim Cahill. I have read it 4 or 5 times, and it still makes me laugh.

    (OK, I can’t stop at just one)

    The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. I don’t agree with Heinlein’s politics, and the story is a little dated now, but as a teen I read it so many times the cover fell off)

    The Mismeasure of Man by Stephan Jay Gould and A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Both give, among other things, great insight into how deeply impacted our lives are by racism.

  574. “My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry” by Fredrik Backman.
    I didn’t shed a tear at my wedding or the birth of my child, but this book left me sobbing.
    I have multiple copies because every time I see it I feel compelled to buy it.

  575. The Phantom Tollbooth, it changed my thinking about thinking at a very early age (tween metacognition for 200 please Alex)

  577. Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini this is a series of 3 books (no it is not related to the TV show that I have seen around and about.) There is something about it that I can’t help but read over and over; I think about every other year I reread the whole series and just love it. (I’m currently on book 2 and on my 5th overall read of the series)

  578. There are too many to pick just one. American Gods, Pride & Prejudice, any of the Harry Potters would all be fun to read again for the 1st time.

  581. The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

    So beautiful and scary and haunting. I’ve read it so many times, and I find something new each time.

  582. I’m so far down the list of comments, I doubt anyone will actually see this, but one I truly loved is The Magicians by Lev Grossman. The whole series is fantastic.

  583. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. I finished it and then started over and read it through again! (Which I’ve never done before or since.)

  584. A Discovery of Witches by Deb Harkness. Book One of a trilogy (although all are good).

  585. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver: perhaps her best work yet, featuring Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Loen Trotsky, told through the amazing character who ties them all together. Also Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All by Allan Gurganus: kinda self-explanatory, and what a ride it is!

  586. I know you receive a lot of suggestions for my steady faves, Gaiman, Pratchett and Adams, so I’m going to recommend two other favorites. First, The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump by the legendary Harry Turtledove. I just found it again after reading it over and over decades ago. Second, Gil’s All-Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez.

  587. “Sunday’s on the phone to Monday,” by Christine Reilly is a good one for a touching read, with gorgeous writing.
    “Going Bovine” by Libba Bray is very fun and weird. It’s young adult fiction, and I feel like both you and Hailey might light it!

    Picking favorite books is like asking me to pick my favorite child. I just can’t!

  588. The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman. Interdimensional library, dragons, fey, sherlockian female main character. Totally awesome. Though I know I had you at interdimensional library

  591. The series that I adore is by Louise Cooper – The Indigo series. A Pandora’s box style of story, but set in mythical lands. Absolutely brilliant.

    Also, for general Saturday afternoon, in front of the fire with snacks and hot drinks, reading go for Sue Grafton’s Alphabet series. Kinsey Millhone’s voice echoes through my childhood. Starts at ‘A is for Alibi’ and goes through to ‘Y is for Yesterday’ (sob, she passed away last year, so the alphabet ends in Y 🙁 ). My life long love affair with quarter pounders is totally her fault.

  593. SO many much-loved books come to mind, but a comfort novel I turn to again and again when I’m sick or can’t sleep at night is Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.
    I’m a cat lady but this girl meets lovable dog story is just the best.

  594. My absolute favorite books, in a very particular order which I haven’t figured out yet:
    The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne
    Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
    The Last Dragonslayer, by Jasper Fforde
    ​Nineteen Eighty-Four (often incorrectly called 1984), by George Orwell
    Animal Farm, by George Orwell
    Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo
    Carve the Mark, by Veronica Roth
    Divergent, by Veronica Roth
    The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
    Furiously Happy, by Jenny Lawson
    Graceling, by
    A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas
    The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
    Pretty Much Any Book, by Any Author

    And I remembered all of the authors off the top of my head! 42 points for me!

  595. Only ONE? You really like to make our life hard, huh?
    Alright. My most ultimate is, if you are going to hold us to one, Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson. It’s the first of the series of Callahan short stories and eventual novels and it sets you up perfectly for a bar where anything can happen and everyone Gives A Damn. It’s the series and the author who gave me a life motto (something I felt strongly enough to tattoo on myself – in math format, no less!). “Shared pain is lessened, shared joy increased, thus do we refute entropy.”
    Back ups include Good Omens (Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman), Reaper Man (Terry Pratchett), Beauty (Robin McKinley).

  596. Johnathan Strange & Mr Norrell, I devoured it in a weekend.
    Also, the Alex Verus novels by Benedict Jacka, they’re urban fantasy, the characters are well written and interesting. They don’t always do what you would expect, and they develop as the series goes on.

  597. A Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin. Beautiful writing, set in New York’s beginnings, time shifts and love. I tend to go for sci/fi/fantasy young adult series, but this book has always caught my heart.

  599. I have been reading Jonathan Janz. He is an author from my home state of Indiana. Great horror writer! 😊

  600. The Harry Potter series still makes me cry every time I read it! Watchers by Dean Koontz was really enjoyable. (Who doesn’t love a highly intelligent dog story?) I know this much is true by Wally Lamb was devastating, yet beautiful and last but not least, The Princess Bride by William Goldman. As you wish…..
    1houseatpoohcorner@gmail.com

  601. I love Anne Bishop’s books…Written in Red (book 1 -the others series) and the Black Jewels Trilogy are awes9me

  603. So hard to pick just one, but I’ll throw Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman out there. I read it years and years ago before a lot of travel was a possibility for me and it fueled my wanderlust. I reread it recently after having been around the world and loved it in a different way.

    And now I have a bunch of new books added to my to-be-read Pinterest board thanks to these comments!

  604. I once said I was jealous of my friends’ kids who would get to experience Harry Potter for the first time. The way JK Rowling had each book mature as the characters matured. The first being very child-like to the last being very grownup. The other book I love, but makes me sound pretentious, is War and Peace. I didn’t want it to end; there was more I wanted to know about the characters.

  606. Everything and anything by Terry Pratchett. Also Robin Hobb for the amazing world she created with her farseer books.

  607. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. – It’s an auto biography about William KaKwamba, a Malawi teen who built a windmill from pictures he saw in a book using scrap from the dump. It’s one of the most inspiring books I have ever read.

    Also the Life of Pi. Amazing and has tiger.

    mewegen06@gmail.com

  609. I’m really not sure how to describe and recommend this book without sounding like an over the top reviewer in some hoity toity publication. Compelling, check. Thought provoking, check. Metz’s normal reading genre…ch–record scratch! Yes, this is a beautiful book, heartbreakingly beautiful and totally outside my normal reading patterns. I get that the heartbreakingly beautiful part of my review might give you pause, but I feel like it’s full of hope and promise too. And yeah it does make you stop and think about how those seconds long interactions with a stranger on the street might somehow have a lasting impact on life, theirs and yours. <3
    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30072The_Brief_History_of_the_Dead

  611. I also love We have Always lived in the castle. Also SJ’s Haunting of Hill House with the cup full of stars. I just read a book called A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay that reminded me of …the Castle and even has a narrator named Merry. It was “interesting” and though not my favorite you might like it. Here are some of my favorite books: The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett, The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai, The Giant’s House by Elizabeth McCracken. The House Of Mirth by Edith Wharton (spoiler – super sad book!) and Searching for Caleb by Anne Tyler. And all your books too! Also if you ever saw the TV show Little house on the Prairie, I recommend Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim (who played the evil Nellie.) Rusticakane!hotmail,com

  614. Oh, I almost forgot: “The Utterly Uninteresting Adventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant” by Drew Hayes.

  615. To meet your criteria I’d go with The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, but Carrie Fisher’s Postcards from the Edge is delightful and though I suspect you’ve read it, I want to recommend it just in case. 1truekim@gmail.com

  618. I just finished Naomi Novik’s newest, Spinning Silver. The end didn’t quite live up to everything I was hoping, but it nearly made me cry on the subway eight times. Fantasy/fairy tale reworkings.

  619. I LOVE this!! Now I have so many books I want to read, I don’t know where to start!
    So hard to choose! My most recent favourite is Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. My old life-long favourite is Of Mice and Men. Short but excellent. I first read it as a young adult and fell in love with both main characters. At a time in my life when I was pretty discouraged by the human race, the relationship between them was something I had never imagined possible between 2 men. Love that story. I’ve read it many times since then.
    janet@janetmarshallhomes.com

  620. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is one of my favorite short stories!
    I recommend Embers by Hungarian master Sandor Marai
    You will not be sorry!

  621. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. A great mystery that I can read over and over again!

  624. May I Cross Your Golden River by Paige Dixon and To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

  626. Catcher in the Rye has stuck with me since I read it a looong time ago. Currently reading A Gentleman in Moscow and living it. And, not to pander but Lets Pretend This Never Happened made me laugh during a particularly difficult time.
    Thanks. 😁 Susan

  627. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
    It’s sad and heartbreaking and a good reminder that every generation has its struggles.

  630. A Prayer for Owen Meany – I have to not read it for a number of years then go to it again! And thanks for this – i’m bookmarking this page so i have great suggestions!

  631. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wrobelwski – a mute boy’s life on a farm with gorgeous storytelling

  632. Hi, Jenny!
    Okay – swear to God I am going to copy and paste this post before posting the comment. I’m hoping that three is a charm. The first time, Word Press ate my post – the second, third, and fourth time, the posting ate my post.

    There is no way that I can pick only one book – so here goes:

    • Like Water for Elephants
    • The Kitchen House
    • The Help
    • The Glass Castle
    • Harry Potter
    • All Liane Moriarity books
    • Rosato and DiNunzio books by Lisa Scottoline

    I love a book that keeps me thinking about the characters for a long, long time. I love all your books, but I’m sure you have read them. Every time I think about Beyoncé, it makes me giggle, run to the computer, and search Amazon for a 5-ft chicken. I do have an approximately one-foot chicken in my Queen Cave – but I would love to have a 5-ft chicken, put it outside at the window on my husband’s side of the bead – wake him up and tell him I heard something at the window, and watch the 5-ft chicken scare the crap out of him.

    My email is queenomedia@yahoo.com.

    PS – I really enjoyed your vacation pictures – especially Paris. I’ve never been – and didn’t know I wanted to go, but after your pictures and comments, I REALLY want to go!
    I enjoy your blog so much – you say all the things that I think, but don’t say. And I’m so happy that the treatments have helped you.

    PSS – We should definitely find a way to post all these recommendations – I saw many that I have loved and some that I own but haven’t read – but plenty of others I know I would love to read.

    PSSS @Debi – all I can say is THANKS 🙂

  633. Mrs Tim of the Regiment (also called Mrs Tim Christie) – written in the 1930s, set in Scotland, it takes you to another world, and it makes you laugh. You might find you have something in common with Mrs Tim.

  634. Desert Solitaire or Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey are both books I have loved and given as gifts. Recently I have been thinking about rereading God’s Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell as I remember it as engrossing and heartbreaking.

  637. The Night Circus. I sat down to read one chapter and didn’t stand up until I finished it. This has happened twice now.

  638. I love Shirley Jackson! And that is one of my faves!! My suggestions: (1) The Vanished Child by Sarah Smith, first in a very interesting and wonderful trilogy although this first book is my emotional favorite of the three; (2) The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs, a beloved book since high school that I re-read at least once a year; and (3) The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, a book so delightful and with a hero do endearing that I have read it multiple times in the few years I’ve owned it.

  639. A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. It’s about Clara Barton’s great aunt (or ancestor of some kind) who was a Maine midwife in the eighteenth century. She was pretty bad ass and the thought of her has helped me keep it together numerous times.

  640. Anna Karenina…actually it’s been long enough ago that I probably could reread it and have a whole new appreciation for it as I’ve aged. My favorite crack me-up books though are still Gafield and Heathcliff….my 9 yr old loves to read them with me which adds a whole new joy to them for me.

  641. Half Life by Shelley Jackson – I got this book from the FREE bin outside a bookstore and I’ve never met anything else like it. I long to meet someone else who’s read it so we can go OMGOMGOMG together. Surely somebody did, somewhere. send gifts to deb@debnation.com

  642. Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado. It’s still haunting me several months later. So unique and strange and good. — Yana (yanakucher@gmail.com)

  644. Hmm… probably Neil Gaiman’s American Gods or Jim Lo Scalzo’s Evidence of My Existence.

    Of course, it would also be nice to erase my memory and reread the Sherlock Holmes stories so I could try to guess the endings again.

    caitiej31@hotmail.com

  645. Well, my short term memory sucks, so I pretty much forget the details on books like five minutes after I read them, so I can’t really play along. BUT I’ll throw out a few recommendations anyways.

    “The Bear and the Nightengale,” by Katherine Arden. I went to her book signing at Book People and the story behind the book is amazing. It’s set in medieval Russia, at a time when paganism and Christianity were uneasily coexisting and the main character is a girl with magical powers and destiny. It is so well written you can feel the Siberian winter.

    “Wake of Vultures,” by Lila Bowen, is a monsters in the alternate old West with one of the bravest, most memorable hero/heroines you’ll find (s/he’s transgender) and a really cool shapeshifter plot involving the Cannibal Owl, which is in itself reason to read this book. C’mon, the CANNIBAL OWL??? It pretty much demands to be read.

    Also, if anyone is interested in a middle grade comic fantasy adventure, involving a snarky princess and her rescue leopard, I humbly recommend my own novel, “The Golden Feather.”

  646. “Each Little Bird That Sings” is a book that I read when ever I need a good cry. I know that most people avoid sad books, and I get that. This book just speaks to me. Part coming of age, part more mature than I’ll ever be. It’s a “kid’s” book that I highly recommend.

    When my daughter died a year and a half ago, I found myself-a life long reader and school librarian-unable to focus long enough to read a book. It’s been a true struggle to get back my life. Jenny, you and your awesome fans, are such an inspiration to me. I just might make it through the dark.

  647. “Good Omens” by Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The apocalypse gone wrong, hilariously.

  648. I love “Touched by Frost” by Charlie Holman. It was beautiful and magical and lyrical! Highly recommend!!

  650. I love “Touched by Frost” by Charlie Holman. It was beautiful magical, and lyrical!

  651. Believe it or not, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It is shocking and depressing, but teaches how mistakes early in life affect so much, then you learn to forgive yourself. Right now, I consider it the best book I’ve ever read (and I read a lot).

  652. The Circus of Dr Lao, by Charles G Finney. Night Witches, by Jason Morningstar (an rpg about soviet women night bomber pilots in ww2). The Count of Monte Cristo, best revenge novel ever, by Dumas.

  653. All the Light We Cannot See. A friend gave it to me for my birthday a couple of years ago. It is one of the best books I have ever read. Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny is wonderful and hilarious.

    Mary-Lisa Sullivan
    Sullivan0056@gmail.com

  654. James Thurber’s “The Thirteen Clocks” will always be one of my favorites. Yeah, there’s a princess under an enchantment, and yeah, there’s a prince, but a)there’s also a twist about the whole “rescue” scenario, and b)the book is hilarious and Thurber was a frickin’ genius when it came to words. Get the version illustrated by Marc Simont; it’s the BEST. I have loved this book since I was a little kid and I will ALWAYS want a copy in my house. It’s short enough to read in one sitting, but that just means you can read it a lot.

  656. Harry Potter. I also loved the Millennium series (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo).

  657. Beach Music – Pat Conroy. No idea why. Just something about it. But probably because the family is eclectic and crazy and I can identify 😉

  659. Right now i love Symphony of ages. Really good fantasy book. What brought me back to reading after a long depression (and it will sou d cheesy) but i came upon furiously happy and decided to be my first kindle book….(i got a kindle that year) and i was laughing so hard in the house by myself. It felt so good to read again. Tha ks for the support and help you brought me without knowing.
    I dont feel comfortable leaving my email adress here but its ok cuz i have a lots of books for now to read!!

    Thank you again

  664. Ellie by Mary Christner Borntrager. It’s about an Amish girl and her family. I loved it as a kid and I still love it to this day! 🙂

  665. The Hour of Land – Terry Tempest Williams. It is thoughtful and heartbreaking and poignant. I wish I could read it with fresh eyes in each of the places it describes

  666. Love Margaret Atwood’s speculative fiction. Oryx and Crake is my fave! I also love Hawaii, by James Michener, and too many others to count.

  667. Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas. The first 3 in that series are awesome, but the first one is best.

  668. It kind of goes without saying that the entire Potter series and Outlander series are there, but the single book that will be forever with me (well not really, as I keep loaning it out, and never getting it back [since 1977]) is “Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah” by Richard Bach.
    And, if I am going to go with that one, I am going to add it’s companion book, “Messiah’s Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul”.

  669. The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett. I first read this book as a child and totally fell in love with it. I read it to my daughter, and to my students. It is magically to me. I have always loved nature and maybe this is why. I am currently reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I this this book will stay with me ao g time!

  670. A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. Her main character Miles Vorkosigan is the most original romantic hero ever, and this particular book is riotously funny. Bujold creates magnificent characters and laugh-out-loud dialogue in a riff on Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, but in a space opera. She has multiple books about Miles, but each can be read alone. Warning: If you read one, you will want to read them all.

  671. To Say Nothing of the Dog. By Connie Willis, for a comedy time-travel romance. Or Doomsday Book by Connie Willis for a gripping time-travel drama. She’s my absolute favorite author.

  672. SO many good books…. I absolutely love “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss. Only downside…. it’s 1st in a trilogy and #3 has not yet been written. But it’s worth it for the amazing writing, worldbuilding, and character development. Oh! Another one– “Who Fears Death” by Nnedi Okorafor. Fantastic, really unique perspective. SOOO good.

  674. Singer of Souls. Kinda weird that my reply comes after 666 comments… And this is not the only moment this number came up today. I hope you are not superstitious like me…. LOL

  675. Greenmantle or almost anything by Charles de Lint. Magical, realistic, tender and touching. It opened my eyes to a different way of seeing the everyday, and the sma’ll miracles everywhere if we pay attention to the world instead of focusing so much on ourselves. His books build a sense of community and caring and show that everyone has value and a story to share. Plus they have Kick ass female characters I’d like to know!

  676. oh my gosh, so so many…
    my brain just locked up because it threw up too many suggestions at once. like chrome when I open too many tabs.
    one from my childhood: “A Little Princess” by Frances Hodgson Burnett
    from my adulthood: The Tanya Huff “Summoning” books. They are so fluffy but I laughed SO HARD when I first read them, and fell completely in love with everyone it it.

  677. Every book by Neil Gaiman. Just finished Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik which was excellent. I could go on and on.

  679. What timing! Today, I just received the 35th Anniversary edition of The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright. I bet you read it as a child — time to revisit it!

  681. Earth, by David Brin. Anything by Johanna Lindsey (romance) or Piers Anthony (pun-filled fantasy, which I think you would love, Jenny!) The entire Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. Too many more to list, but those are some of my all-time favorites 🙂

  683. Oh man, We Have Always Loved in the Castle is one of my faaaavorites! I can’t wait for the movie but I’m also sad cause I know there’s no way it can compare.
    The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter is amazing! Fairytales going back to the more traditional gothic form and with a feminist twist!
    And if you’re a choose your own adventure fan. And a romance fan!… My Lady’s Choosing is HILARIOUS and a lot of fun. It kinda picks at typical romance tropes and is just a blast. Only takes a little over an hour to read through a scenario from start to finish and there are soooo many options!

  690. Gods behaving badly, by Marie Phillips, expecting someone Taller by Tom Holtor Tge Little my Run by Daniel Keys Moran… the last is one I’ve bought multiple copies from 2nd hand shops from to give to people to read as it’s out of print but it’s now available on Kindle the first book in the series is Emerald Eyes but it’s Trent the Uncatchable I want to meet again for the first time.

  691. The Surgeon of Crowthorne. If you have a love for words and are interested in the OED, this is the book for you.

  692. The Whole Fam Damily by Anne Cameron. Every time I reread this book it is like visiting with friends. Whacked out crazy friends, but friends none the less.

  694. The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Awesome sci fi. Read it 3 times already and will read it at least 100 more!

  695. Wow, don’t type on my phone whoops, that’s The Long Run by Daniel Keys Moran, really I waited since 1993 for the 4rth book that was released in 2011, I’m not disappointed nor upset that the series is still in progress

  697. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Not knowing how it was all going to end… If Snape was good or bad… I would love to experience all of that again ❤️
    Lochoa23@gmail.com

  698. How funny that you’re asking today. I work in the library and just today put up a display for staff picks. We each get to choose three. Mine are: “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” (probably not helpful for your purpose…., “Les Miserables,” and “Uglies.”

    But then there’s also Ender’s Game and Left Neglected and The Princess Bride and, if you like teen fiction, the series that starts with “I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You.”

  700. Lamb: The Gospel Accirding to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Friend.
    Also, the Stupudest Angel. Both are written by Christopher Moore and they are my faves.

  701. Lamb: The Gospel Accirding to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Friend.
    Also, the Stupudest Angel. Both are written by Christopher Moore and they are my faves.

  702. Prudence by Gail Carriger followed by Imprudence and Competence. Excellent steampunk fantasy series

  704. The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Muriel Barbery)
    A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
    Orlando (Virginia Woolf)
    Possession (A. S. Byatt)

  706. Well since it would look like I was sucking up if I said furiously happy, even though I have read it multiple times and bought copies for friends. I have been really into mysteries lately. The book I mmost recently fell in love with was One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern. She also wrote P.S. I love you. Worth a look at.

  707. wow I am getting so many good reading ideas here tonight! I LOVE The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. And The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini has possessed me. I want to buy every copy I see ljshrmn@yahoo.com

  708. For me it is the whole Hollows series by Kim Harrison. The first book is Dead Witch Walking. I re-read all of them at least once a year.

  709. The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. An amazing kids book about leaving your mark and creating! I highly recommend it!!

    You’ve definitely made your mark, Jenny!

  710. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Mystery, Syfy, Religion, all rolled into one novel. Also, the sequel “Children of God”.

  711. The Slow Regard of Silent Things, by Patrick Rothfuss. It’s almost more of a melancholy children’s book than anything that is connected to the larger series (although it does fit into his bigger series if you have read that first). It doesn’t even have a plot! It’s just beautiful, and I love it.

  712. I remember the first time I read ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’ – when I figured out who ‘administered’ the arsenic… I’ve read it again a few times!
    My favourite book is a tie between

    Angelique by Anne Golon and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

    They are actually series and I reread them all the time in between new reads.

  713. Ah! I loved “We have always lived in the castle,” too. But my new favorite is “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt.

  716. I’ve read Good Omens, cowritten by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett too many times to count. I’m not sure I’d be willing to erase it from my brain to get that first descovery feeling back though, I appreciate the way its become like an old friend to me much more

  717. oh there are so many hard to pick where to start. All of the Tolkien books have been amazing, as well as the Neil Gaiman books ive read 9 on American Gods now and it is so better than the show), and then there’s Furiously Happy and oh my gosh Jenny I laughed til I so nearly peed my pants and couldn’t put it down! I can’t wait for your next book ! and to read the 3 Tolkien books I saw they just recently published that are before the hobbit.

  718. “Charmed and Dangerous” by Toni McGee Causey, also the second and third books in the series.

  721. I always enjoy reading and re-reading “A Year In Provence” by Peter Mayle. Every time I read it I feel like I’ve been on vacation in the south of France. It’s especially awesome those summers when we don’t get to go on much of a vacation. (eileen@trele.com)

  722. BTW – I love this post. It’s given me some ideas of books to read (I’ve already put a hold on a couple of tiles at the library) AND it’s reminded me of books I’ve read, loved, and want to re-read. Smiles!

  723. This may seem super lame, but my favorite book of all time is Furiously Happy. It opened my mind & heart to life, to not let the little things bring you down. I’ve read the book several times and still laugh out loud. I also, possibly, slightly, obsessively, read anything that Jenny Lawson writes & read out loud to my husband, who says when I’m reading and snickering “you’re lady?” Best book ever.

  726. I want to cry. It ate my comment. 😭 It took me to WordPress and made me log in and then when it brought me back here my post was gone. :(((

  727. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger – simply amazing read. How could you not like a book that includes ““We’re the tattooed lady, and we’re never going to have a minute’s peace, the rest of our lives, until everybody else is tattooed, too.”
    ― J.D. Salinger

    Thanks for this – so fun to see everyone’s suggestions!
    poetryraingirl@gmail.com

  729. I’ve actually been a horrible ‘reader’ lately, I literally have not read a single full book this entire year. I don’t know why, I just can’t seem to get into any. Well, maybe thinking about some of my favorites will help with that! Let’s see if I can think of some that I haven’t already recommended on your older posts…

    Yesterday’s Child by Sonia Levitin was really really interesting. A YA book, as most of my favorites are, this one had me so captivated by Laura’s quest to learn about her dead mother’s past. It might be a little slow or even seem predictable now, but the first time I read it I was completely stunned with how it turned out.

    If you can stand really emotional true stories involving disturbed/abused kids, any book by Torey Hayden is a must, especially One Child. I have to be careful reading her books because they are so very upsetting in certain ways, but my goodness what a read. One Child is the story of Sheila, a young girl tossed into Torey’s special-ed class because no one else knows how to handle her. She’s violent and wild and barely communicates, but Torey works hard to help her. Emotional and frustrating but such an amazing book.

  732. Before I burn by Gaute Heivoll very well drawn characters and fantastic detail or for a comedy Christopher Moore is good, funny but not irritatingly lightweight.

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  733. Stephen King’s 11/22/63 or “The Time Travelers Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger.

  734. This will sound cheesy but The Thornbirds. was one of the first grownup books I read and then they made it into a mini series. I have always loved it. The forbidden romance, the sweeping saga of it all….

  736. My favorite author is Geoff Dyer. He writes a mixed bag so genres but they are always thought provoking, funny, moody and just flat out brilliant. My favorites are “Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It” and “But, Beautiful. A Book About Jazz” – You won’t be disappointed. Also, I feel like I’m the only person on the planet who knows his work so I need someone to talk to about how great his writing is.

  737. Having to choose just one is really stressing me out. How will the other books feel if they know I chose another?! It’s a close race between Sabriel by Garth Nix, Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman, and Persuasion by Jane Austen. Each for different reasons and for when I first read them in my life.

  738. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver A family of missionaries moves to the Belgian Congo. The story is told through each of their voices.

  739. Everything by Terry Pratchett. Seriously. Everything. His Discworld series has changed my life forever, and if you’ve never read any of his books, I urge you to start. This is a wonderful, hilarious, enriching adventure into the most fascinating universe one can have ever imagined.

  740. I’m seconding Paige’s recommendation of “The Thirteen Clocks” by James Thurber. The language is so delicious it almost has to be read out loud.

  741. Oh how I wish I could read all of Dorothy Sayers ‘Lord Peter Whimsy’ series for the first time again. So fun to read everyone’s favorites!

  742. My go-to recommendation tends to be The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt, a strange and wonderful book, but I just finished The Electric Woman: A Memoir in Death-Defying Acts by Tessa Fontaine, and I kinda want everybody to read it, even though it’s one of those books that’s “not for everyone.” You can tell I love it, because it’s made me write run-on sentences. It’s about a woman whose mother has a stroke, and because Tessa doesn’t quite know how to cope or how to help, she joins a traveling sideshow and learns to eat fire and swallow swords. It’s nothing at all like my life, but it turned out to be something of a survival guide for everything I’m going through.

  743. Moon palace by Paul Auster. It’s typical Auster but so well written and I just love the story.

  744. My favorites: The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Goldfinch, A Man Called Ove.

  746. Sorry, but that’s “The Long Run” by Daniel Keys Moran autocorrect hates my favorite book today

  747. Almost anything by Pratchett, but I think “Night Watch” and/or “Thief of Time” run a close race for me, next to all the others.

  748. My immediate thought was A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It was one of the books that we had to read in high school, and I fully expected to hate every second of it. I loved it, and I have read it several times since then.
    My second pick is Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal. It’s a World War 2 period book, and it’s about Maggie Hope who is a math and code whiz, but because she’s a woman, she’s only qualified to work as a typist for Winston Churchill. Needless to say, she doesn’t let that hold her back. 🙂

  750. Harry Potter series, of course!
    But also, the Kate Daniels Series by Illona Andrews. Or their Innkeeper Series.
    However, also The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern!

    OH! And my current obsession: anything by Brandon Sanderson. I’m currently in the middle of the Stormlight Archive series, but I’ve read Mistborn and started Elantris and it’s all such good storytelling. <3 Love.

  751. The Gatekeepers (Power of Five) series by Anthony Horowitz. They are young adult novels but they have stuck with me. It started with the Devil’s Doorbell (LOVED as a kid) but he has since reworked the series. The first one – Raven’s Gate – is my fave.

  752. Two very different books come immediately to mind… Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. And if you like audiobooks, listen to The Graveyard Book read by the author. Simply amazing.

  753. I’m such an avid reader that I have too many to list as favorite but what I enjoyed reading this year was Educated by Tara Westover and The Shades of Magic Series by V.E. Schwab (kind of like a grown-up Harry Potter series).

  755. this one is a litle out there… “All Dogs are Blue” by Rodrigo de Souza Leão..
    it’s an autobiography of an often non-medicated schizophrenic.

  757. It is so hard to pick just one but “The Measure of a Man” by Sidney Poitier inspired me. Without doubt “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama is on the list. “The Grapes of Wrath” moves me every time I read it and I read it often.

  758. Several fall into this category for me, but the one currently on my mind is Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. (I mean, blue haired girl with hamsa tattoos and this first line: “Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.” I was powerless.) When I finished the series, I mourned. Like, I felt as if I’d moved and would never see friends again. I wasn’t okay. So… maybe scratch that recommendation (though her similes and metaphors are just so lovely, and the story gets so much bigger than I ever anticipated).

    Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Boys series is also incredible, as is The Scorpio Races. And I’m biased, but my friend Tessa Gratton’s Lost Sun is pretty amazing, too. (It’s the U.S. but based on Norse theology instead of Christian – complete with berzerkers and valkyries and an epic quest.)

  759. I’m currently reading 100 years of solitude, it’s pretty interesting to see the people evolve with the village and over the generations in the jungle in south america.

  760. Beauty by Robin McKinley…a retelling of Beauty and the Beast that I have loved since I read it in a women’s studies class in high school 🙂

  761. I have to give two – I have worn out two copies of A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle, and there is not a better mix if sci-fi and realism out there for the YA crowd, in my opinion. My grown up self loves, loves, loves The TimeTravelers Wife (but not the movie; in the book it was somehow not creepy when 6 year old Clare met her husband naked in the woods. The movie did not pull it off with the same aplomb.) by Audrey Niffenegger.

  762. I have two and, oddly enough, they both have to do with the complexities of motherhood and dangerous children. The first is Rosemary’s Baby. One of the many examples of a movie that I thought was underwhelming based on a book that kept me so riveted that I read it all in one day. The second is We Need To Talk About Kevin. I don’t even have adequate words to describe that book… but it is truly haunting. It honestly hurts that I’ll never get to experience my first reading of those books again.

  767. I have SO many favorites, SO many! I think I would have to say either Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, or My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, I haven’t read either of them in years (but remembering them makes me want to read them again). They taught me that books are the best things ever and that I can drop into a story and be happy there! I haven’t been without a book since reading them in grade school. Where the Red Fern Grows was required reading, My Side of the Mountain wasn’t, but I loved both of them.

  768. Locked In by John Scalzi. It’s about a near future world where a disease ravaged the world and gave a percentage of those afflicted Haden’s Syndrome, meaning these people were locked into their heads. It’s a great series and has three books in it now. Highly recommend it and any of John Scalzi’s books.

  769. Currently re-reading the Mary Russell series by Laurie King. Had them all in paperback, & now have them all on Kindle. It’s the life of a brilliant & deeply troubled young woman who meets Sherlock Holmes & becomes his apprentice, etc. Long, meaty, descriptive books one can disappear into.
    The Beekeeper’s Apprentice https://g.co/kgs/8s7FT6

  770. Janet Kagan’s “Mirabile” …the version where the publisher collected her short stories together with a slight bit of framing text. The love, the puns, the plot twists… the interaction of adults with children as equals — and as children growing into adults… I love it to bits.

  771. Remembrance by Jude Deveraux…I’ve read it about a dozen times and when i bring it with me on vacation, it’s like bringing an old dear friend with!

  772. Patrica Briggs “Mercy Thompson” series. Sookie Stackhouse series. Harry Potter series. Jane Eyre (have read it 14 times).

  774. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. A unique and fun trip through a fantasy land of monsters and good spawn.

  775. I know I’m late but…
    The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. BEST BOOK EVER. Don’t freak out in the beginning when the dog is dying – it’s get so much better.

  776. Well, yours are usually the ones I recommend to people but since you’ve already read those I’d have to say The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Also, Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts is one I’ve read many times.

  779. This is such a hard question! I’ll go with my favorite from this year, and so far its “Maybe in Another Life” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. If I had to say of all time it would probably be the Harry Potter series.

  780. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I recently reread it while I was at a flyball tournament (that’s a fun dog sport btw) and people kept asking why I was grinning and giggling.

  781. Anything by Dave Barry or Bill Bryson or Sarah Vowell. If I had to pick one for each:
    Dave Barry Inside the Beltway
    Bill Bryson’s Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
    Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation

  784. Love when you do this, fills my to-be-read list for the next five years! Just reread Jennifer Egan’s “A Visit From the Goon Squad,” Pulitzer Prize winner, highest recommendation.

  785. I just read The Thirteenth Tale. I think it’s by Debbie Setterfield. Otherworldly and eerie and a surprising twist at the ending. Most Stephen King novels, especially 11/22/63 and the Mr. Mercedes trilogy. The Bell Jar. Of course I’ve read Furiously Happy multiple times (thank you so much for signing mine with my Misery reference. Coolest thing I own!) Harry Potter and Game of Thrones – all of them. Clan of the Cave Bear. Just the first two books. After that, it got annoying.

  786. I just returned We have always lived in the Castle to the library last week!! My favourite book series is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, but I’ll read anything (except westerns).

  787. I really loved The Great Alone by Hannah Kent – it gave me all of the emotions from ugly heartbreaking cry to chuckles, and then back again to more ugly “my heart breaks for this” moments.

  788. You-Caroline Kepnes Hidden bodies-Caroline Kepnes My Sister Rosa Justine Larbalestie

  789. For fiction, I gotta go with To Sail Beyond the Sunset by Heinlein. A bit dated, of course, but it spoke to younger me in so many ways. For non-fiction, Amanda Palmer’s The Art of Asking. So honest and another one that taught me a lot about myself.
    mak@thekropps.com

  790. Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving should be right up your alley. Strangeness abounds!

  791. I tend to get new favorite books every year. This year the best books I’ve read are:

    Circe by Madeline Miller
    Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
    Semiosis by Sue Burke
    Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang

  792. Into the out of. By Allen Dean Foster.
    For reasons I can’t really explain this one has stuck with me for years and years.

  793. A Man Called Ove-Fredrik Backman. Honestly all his books I am in love with but it all started with this one. Brilliant. It is like a cleaner Gran Torino.

  794. Ones I want everyone I like to read so we can talk about them:
    All Systems Red by Martha Wells plus sequels
    Rational Arrangement by L Rowyn (warning, graphic sex)

    Ok, now I can go read all the comments and spend WAY too much time with Amazon……….

  795. The Edge, Dick Francis. Horses and trains and undercover agents pursuing villains. It has everything a good mystery needs.

  797. 4321 by Paul Auster. The story follows the lives of 4 different Archie Fergusons, or more accurately, 4 different possible lives of the same Archie Ferguson. Brilliantly, Auster made me care deeply about each of the Archies. Books don’t usually bring me to tears, but this one did.

  798. I have tons of favorites. But I have been thinking a lot about one recently. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card. It is not all religiousy like some of his stuff.

  799. Mine is a series, The Others, by Anne Bishop. The first chapter of the first book got me instantly addicted, and now she has an offshoot series in the same world.

  800. The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway…time travel from present to past and back – but more importantly, fascinating and believable characters.

  801. I will always, always, always recommend Lottery by Patricia Wood. It’s a story about a man with mental disabilities that is taken advantage of by his own family. But it is a very enduring story and makes you want to embrace the main character and tell him how amazing he is.

    If by chance my comment is picked for the giveaway, please skip me and pick someone else. I love books and simply wanted to mention my favorite.

  803. Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner.

    It’s aimed for young adult readers. It’s gripping and uses dark humour. It’s bleak and really beautiful.

    It’s a quick read, but very engaging and worth reading.

  804. I’m reading “Is It Just Me?” by Miranda Hart. I love it. Awkward, funny, and true to life.

  805. Pingback: Read A Book Day - Buzz Banter

  806. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
    By Anne Lamott:
    “Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'”
    I don’t write and I don’t want to write.
    That said, every “instruction” on writing is really all about life. Example: She weaves this into a discussion of writer’s block:
    “You may start to feel that you are trying to pass off a TV dinner as home cooking.”
    Could that be me, trying to act like an extroverted party-goer? Yep.
    Jenny makes me laugh and sometimes cry, she is my sister. Anne Lamott is my gentle, caring aunt giving me a knowing hug.

  808. I don’t like to recommend books I loved because what if the person I recommended it to disses it and ruins it for me? That said, we’re a tribe who would never do that to another member. Hard Laughter by Anne Lamont. It really spoke to me. I liked the sassy yet insecure heroine of the story. Her life and family were mildly dysfunctional but she just laughed at it and moved on. Very instructional for me.

    Currently I’m reading Meg Primal Waters, which yes is the same Meg of the recent Jaws rip off movie. Fine literature? Not a chance, but I’m enjoying it. Also it makes me think of my father. When I was a youngster and ran out of things to read my dad would ponder his book collection for awhile and then pluck out a gem for me to read. He was never wrong. He always had the perfect book to fit the mood. He totally would have recommended Meg to me at this point in my life.

  809. If you’d asked me last week, I’d have said LOTR or Harry Potter or any of the Old Man’s War books. But then, my insides fell to pieces when I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society two days ago.

    For some reason, I thought it was the first in a series of many. I fell in love with it almost immediately and devoured it with the abandon known only to series readers who know their high can go on for weeks on novels on weeks. I was HEARTBROKEN to discover that not only is it not a series, but that the author has passed away and there CANNOT be any more! I wish I’d read it more slowly so I could savor the experience.

  810. Suds in Your Eye by Mary Laswell. Out of print. The hijinks of three 60-somethings scrambling to keep afloat during WWII in San Diego. They share a love of beer.

  811. Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea trilogy, which I reread ever so often anyway.

  814. 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America. Is the terrific first novel written by actor Albert Brooks. I loved this book and hope he writes a sequel.

    Jenny, you can add another person to your special folder, I hope you read comment #64 and her blog, if my comment wins the free books, you can give to her. Thank you for all you do, I am so happy for you and appreciate what you do to help others.

    garrenb@aol.com

  815. The Miss Phyrne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood. The Australians did do a TV series of these books, but the books are 200% better. (Half the story in each had to be cut for the time format.)
    This is binge worthy.
    Also the Didius Falco mysteries set in Rome of Vespasian. By Lindsey Davis and highly accurate. Falco is in the mold of the 30’s film noir detectives.
    Yes I wish I could start with them each again!

  816. Written in Red by Anne Bishop. First time I read it it wiped out all my old favorites. So phenomenal not only as a book in the Fantasy genre, but with the social commentary. First time I read it, I went “Wow, someday people will study this book in school.”

  818. Oh, Oh, OH so many times I’ve experienced this wish. But I’ll limit it to just what I’ve read this year: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novak. The Stone Sky trilogy by N.K. Jemison. The Bear and the NIghtinggale by Katherin Ardin. And one which prompted me to reach out to the author and tell him how amazing it was: The Changeling by VIctor LaValle. That rec comes with a warning that a major turning point in the novel could be hard for some folks to bear.

  819. Most recently, Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Lacuna.” Beautiful, funny, moving and brilliant.

  820. Anything by Lois McMaster Bujold, but particularly the ones featuring Cordelia Naismith. So funny and so quietly forward-thinking for so long.

  821. Hands down, The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O’Shea. A 10-year-old boy in Ireland who releases the forces of a magical battle of good and evil via an old manuscript, and can only stop it after completing a quest for a magic stone with his younger sister, all while being chased by hellhounds? Sign me up, please! The real quest is finding a decent copy, since it’s out of print.

  822. A recent book I read that I LOVE is Patient H. M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets by Luke Dittrich. They NYT called it, “an exciting, artful blend of family and medical history.”

    It’s about Henry Molaison (Patient H. M.) who is the most studied individual in the history of neuroscience. H. M. was given a lobotomy and the author is the grandson of the doctor that performed it. It is fascinating!

    Also, if you’ll forgive a little self-promotion, I should mention that I’ve been posting books I’ve read that I love on Twitter (@jfaustus, #books #booksilove). I’m on day 58!

  823. Me Talk Pretty One Day. The chapter on the rooster is one of my go to’s when I need a laugh. Hang in there with the depression. Your books have helped me when the most I could do was lay on the couch and escape into your world, which provided some temporary relief from my own.

  829. Dave Butler’s book Witchy Eye is OUTSTANDING. And I really liked Uncharted by Sarah Hoyt and Kevin J Anderson. <3

  830. OOPS. Forgot to put in my email address. I’m the one who just recommended Witchy Eye (Dave Butler) and Uncharted (Sarah Hoyt and Kevin J Anderson)

    Both are alternative history/ sci-fi novels. Witchy Eye is intelligent but also entertaining, and he’s a fairly new on the scene author that people really need to find out about.

  831. I love so many! I re read all the time. Most of my favorites are those that bring me back to a time when books were both escape from a bad childhood and salvation as to the fact people were good. Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis, Any book by James Herriot as they were about animals like All creatures Great and Small, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

  832. A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge. In the top two science fiction books I’ve read over 40 years. The other is The Diamond Age (or A Young Girl’s Illustrated Primer) by Neal Stephenson. Neither is slight, but they kept my attention wonderfully.

  833. A Prayer for Owen Meany & Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. That last one makes you work, but it’s so worth it.

  834. The book of M by Peng Sheppard and Circe by Madeline Miller are hands down my most favorite books of 2018, reading Theft by finding Diaries right now..who doesn’t love David Sedaris?!

  835. “The King in Yellow”, if you haven’t read it you should. It is an oldy, predating Lovecraft, written by an fine art student forced to return to NYC from Paris by his rich daddy. It is about a play name also “The King in Yellow” that just shows up in peoples’ libraries and damns the reader to madness and death if they are lucky and blasts their soul for all time if they are not. Its not for everyone but I think you will like it.

  836. “Circe” by Madeline Miller is my most recent favorite book. It’s a beautifully written story of the witch Circe from Greek mythology. A very interesting take on gods, humans and immortality.

  838. Alas Babylon by Pat Frank. It’s a Cold War era post-nuclear attack novel set in a small town in Florida. It’s really such a story of hope and love and I go back to it every time I need to be reminded that not everyone and everything is awful.

  840. The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

    Great romance and story! I read it once a year.

  841. To Kill a Mockingbird – I first read it as a Readers Digest condensed book, as a 9 year old. I re-read it just about every year. Another favorite was Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley.

  842. my favorite is “Revolution” by Jennifer Donnelly. Family struggles, loss, mental health and time travel to the Kings court during the French Revolution all rolled into a beautiful book that is so much more than it seems! love it!

  843. Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith – my love for this book knows no bounds, it is weird and eloquent and a bit mind-bending, not for everyone, but I think it is brilliant.

  846. I love many books but a couple that I tried to stay in forever were actually random library books with really generic titles so I could never find them again, one was something like “A Collection of Scary Stories” and the other was something like “The Oxford Murders.” (No need to try to check, because I’ve tried & tried to find them both & I cannot.)

    It’s really rare for me to put down a book once I start reading it but, with both of those, I stopped every day so I could savor the experience longer & stay in that world.

  847. So many, but a few favorites – Timbuktu by Paul Auster, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and Bridge to Terabithia (fav as a kid). All three are pretty sad but they made feel on such a deep and profound level I would love to read them all (for the first time) all over again.

  848. The Cat Who….series by Lilian Jackson Braun. You will read, and get food cravings–crackers and cheese in bed WILL happen!

  849. So I checked out the audiobook of We Have Always Lived in the Castle and finished it today. I really enjoyed it ~ thanks!!! I looked it up online to read more about it and discovered that there will be a We Have Always Lived in the Castle movie this year!! https://g.co/kgs/Y8QAjQ

  850. Sabriel by Garth Nix. The first book to my favorite series, The Old Kingdom.

    The Waterborn is also really good by J Gregory Keyes

  851. I think I need to pick up a few copies of We Have Always Lived in the Castle for the All Hallow’s Read book give away. I’ve never even heard of it, but I bet the neighborhood kids would devour it and I’m in love with that cover!

  852. Photographing Fairies, by Steven Szilagyi. Very strange, funny and beautiful. You would love it.

  853. I loved this book as well! 🖤 But my favorite book from her is ‘The Lottery’. I think I had this experience with Ray Bradbury’s ‘The Fog Horn’ and Erin Morgenstern’s ‘The Night Circus’.

  854. Possession by A.S. Byatt. This book is a COMMITMENT to read at over 800 pages, and very dense, but it completely consumed me into another world. Beautiful, mysterious and a love letter to reading, writing, poetry and love. (You can cheat and watch the movie with Aaron Eckhart and Gwyneth Paltrow, but PLEASE read the book first.)

  857. I’ve been so busy reading the Necroscope books by Brian Lumley the pat few days that I haven’t been online so I’m showing up late. But picking just 1 book is like choosing your favorite child. It’s just not possible! If I could push a reset button and read a book or books like it was the first time, it would have to be The Stand or the Gunslinger series by Stephen King. Those are the books I read at least once a year, and some years more than once.
    I’m on a search for all the books I loved as a child and if I’m not too late I’d love to have a chance to add to my collection. My email is myrendal22@gmail.com

  858. I finished Krysten Ritter’s “Bonfire” a few weeks ago and I was and still am devastated it’s over. An unexpected must-read!

  859. I LOVE Shirley Jackson and agree with your selection. But to add another- I wish I could read “No One Belongs Here More Than You” by Miranda July again for the first time.

  860. One of my absolute favorites and one that is SO good, that I have read, reread, and reread it, as I’ve waited for my husband to return from his six-month stay in the hospital and rehab centers, is, “ The Chemist”, by Stephanie Meyer. It’s suspenseful, intriguing, exciting, quirky, exciting, suspenseful, (oh, I said that already!) and a little bit nicely romantic, and a little bit vengeful, too. One of the best things for me is that the main character is a heroine And, she, like me, is a short intelligent female; emphasis on the altitudinally-challenged!

    I’ve mostly been listening on Audible – because I listen while I wait through pain medicine to work on my fibromyalgia, and going to sleep. And, Ellen Archer, the reader/performer, is completely engaging. I highly recommend the audible version as well as the book. It’s one I will give the rest to a couple of months now especially because just yesterday my husband finally came home !!! YEAH!!!!!! Best, Happiest, dear friend, Jenny.
    Please, do at least give “The Chemist” a trial read/listen?!? Leslie Zvolanek

  861. “The Light of Other Days,” written by Stephen Baxter but based on an idea by Arthur C Clarke. Points in time and space can be wormholes to any other point in time and space, so anyone can see anything happening at any time. It raises issues of technology, privacy, and culture — like, why do we bother to wear clothes?

  862. I love when you ask a question like this! I start adding books from the comments to my “want to read list”. Its longer than my life will be at this point!
    I also like that it reminds me of books I have forgotten about–like “MisterGod, this is Anna”. I think it was the first book that made me cry.

  863. I would love to forget and reread furiously happy again, although I still laugh every time I read it. But also janet evanovich’s stephanie plum series. Perfect for a little laugh, a little romance.

  865. Well after scrolling through the responses to this post I have a new list of books to check out!

    I echo everyone who said The Night Circus – the language is so rich that you feel immersed in the story.

    I haven’t re-read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, but I really enjoyed it and should probably give it a new read now that I’m older and wiser.

    A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern – Ever wondered where lost things and people go? This is the book for you.

    Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen – My favorite character is the Apple Tree. That will make sense if you read the book.

    Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley – A librarian who is a recovering agoraphobic who is literally allergic to human touch. It made me cry, but in a good way, and three days after I finished it I went on a car trip with my mom and we listened to the audiobook because I loved it so much.

    Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella – It made me laugh out loud.

  868. The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. Family secrets, vampires, and 1930s-1069s Europe…enough said!

  869. Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp (now in Kindle!) and The Great Alta Saga (three books) by Jane Yolen.

  871. History of Loce by Nicole Krauss. Just thinking about it fills my heart. And your first book. Thank you!!!

  874. Excellent topic from one of my favorite adult writers!
    It seems my re-reads are always books from childhood. Any Ramona Quimby book is still my go-to for sleepless nights and uncomfortable days. As a child, I felt so understood by Beverly Cleary. I have also finally accepted that while I wanted to be a Ramona, I was so absolutely Beezus.
    My copy of Harriet the Spy is waterlogged, broken binding split in two, and well-loved. And Roald Dahl with his kids vs. adults themes were favorites. As a young teen my world was rocked by The Outsiders, To Kill a Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye.
    Aimworld@yahoo.com

  875. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas, or Racing the Dark by Alaya Dawn Johnson! 😮

  876. A Talenof Two Cities, or if I go way back to my childhood, ‘The Dollhouse Murders’. I thought of it just yesterday when you posted the pictures of your dollhouse decorating!

  877. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson ! When I was a little girl, the original movie was on TV. Scared the crap outta me. Read the book as an adult and loved it. Also, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and Watership Down by Richard Adams. Kind of a strange mix.

  879. One of my favorites is Turning Toward The Mystery by Stephen Levine.
    It is beautiful & as spacious as looking out at the horizon over the ocean.

  880. Hamlet: Prince of Denmark – Shakespeare
    The Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling
    The Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
    The Outlander series – Diana Gabaldon
    Ferney – James Long
    Dangerous Liaisons (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) – Choderlos De Laclos
    The Lantern – Deborah Lawrence
    Withnail & I – (screenplay) Bruce Robinson
    The Last Unicorn – Peter S. Beagle
    Losing Julia – Jonathan Hull

  881. The Dresden Files, my absolute favorite series, by Jim Butcher. It’s like Harry Potter with a noir detective twist (to start anyway) for adults, not young adults like Potter. Harry Dresden is a wizard in the yellow pages (no parties, no love potions). He gets a lot of grief from people who think he’s crazy but for those few souls desperate enough to seek out his help, he is a lifesaver, using his magic to find missing persons, consulting for the police on those stranger murder cases that can’t be easily explained. The author started writing this series in college so the quality greatly improves after a couple books. The first book is Storm Front, but a lot of people recommend you start reading the series at book 3 (Grave Peril, once he’d graduated with his English degree) or Book 7 (Dead Beat, the first hard cover so he starts the story explaining things again for new readers discovering the series for the first time). If you like Harry Potter, you will probably like this.

  882. There are a lot of good book and few great ones. Yours is in my top greatest, btw. If you like historic then my favorite is The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. It’s a deep book with roots to our ancestors and regulations in our government. I just finished Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and I throughly enjoy going on her journey. It was relaxing and relateable. I’ve read plenty of other, that are enjoyable too, but I’ll leave just these two. Take care, love.

  883. “Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” by Christopher Moore. It’s great! LOTS of inappropriate laughs and visuals. WARNING! Don’t give this book to your Fundamentalist friends it will make their heads explode—-on second thought—DO give this book to your Fundamentalist friends, then get some popcorn, sit back and watch the show.

  887. I’m a little late to the commenting party on this one (story of my life, actually), but I just read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and I LOVED it. Eleanor might be my new favorite literary heroine. She is genuinely odd in a way that most of the Bloggess tribe will totally get, and the book is both funny and heartbreaking.

  888. “The Child Garden” by Geoff Ryman. Absolutely WTF-I-just-read and so-damn-amazing and WTF-I-just-read all over again.

  889. Tiffany Hadish’s biography The Last Black Unicorn was great, as was Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime – I’m not usually one for biographies, but both of these really caught me. The things both of these entertainers have gone through and somehow came out the other side fierce as hell is astonishing to me.

  890. I listen to books on CD while I’m in the car. I love the Three Pines mystery series by Louise Penny, starting with “Still Life”. Also The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. Both of these are set in foreign countries, and the narrators’ accents and pronunciations really add a wonderful extra layer of enjoyment to these fantastic books. Ditto to the Harry Potter series.

  891. The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye- the illustrations are divine and the story soothed my awkward eight year old heart.

  892. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodges Burnett. The moment the children see the garndwn is my favorite and I wish I would forget it or time I rwad

  893. Oh my god, I love ‘We have always lived in the castle’! I bought it on a whim at a second-hand store because I liked the title and couldn’t believe I’d never heard of it before, once I read it…
    I also love Elizabeth and her German Garden, by Elizabeth von Arnim – it’s a mostly true account of a woman living in Germany around the 19th century and finding peace in books and of course, her garden. It’s beautiful.

  894. One I love that no one has heard of is O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker. Very dark humor, set in Scotland, pokes a little fun at the Gothic. 🙂

  895. Someone sent my oldest a copy of We Have Always Lived in the Castle during the James Garfield Christmas Miracle this past year. 🙂 It’s remained cherished by her, though I really don’t get it. Life is creepy enough, for me. I don’t need to add creepy fiction! But if you like We Have Always Lived in the Castle, you might like a book called White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi. My daughter’s very into it lately, and she says it reminds her of a Shirley Jackson book.
    Probably my favourite book of all time is Middlemarch by George Eliot. I love the turns of phrase she used. Anything by Jane Austen, as well.

  896. Bookmarking this post because there are so many awesome recommendations here! I have to add the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fford- any classic bibliophile will get a silly kick out of them.

  898. The Southern Reach Trilogy. It was so. damn. good. It’s also got an uncanny way of, upon rereading any of them, your brain starts new conspiracy theories about the story each time. I’ve read them at least three times each and each time I pick up on details I didn’t notice previously, which then makes it like a new book.

  899. Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery. Its stuck with me since elementary school. I’ve lost count at how many times I’ve read it. (Only watched Keri Russell in it once, though).

  901. I just wanted to thank you…I downloaded this book after I read your post and I absolutely loved it!

  902. Wow, I literally have an entire blog dedicated to helping people find their next favorite book. You can check it out here if you want: bookrantingsandratings.wordpress.com

    As far as my favorite book of all time (thats like picking your favorite kid or something) but I’d go with My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. Read it in middle school and it still holds up today.

  903. The Rook by Daniel O’Malley. I coudn’t figure out which book I loved the most, so I just went with the one that’s the most beat up. It’s a supernatural spy thriller about a woman with amnesia and it’s just amazing.

  904. Check out The Son by Phillip Meyer. It’s hard to categorize. Part historical novel with some seriously disturbing scenes of early Texas settlers.
    If anyone reads it, tell me what you think of the mom opening the door.

  905. The son by Philip Meyer. Historical fiction and family saga in one. Plus it’s disturbing.

  906. Strange the dreamer by Laini Taylor. It was one of those books I obsessively checked number of pages that were left because I didn’t want it to end. It’s so incredibly well written. Read it, I beg of you.

  909. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Warning: this is a trilogy with the third book not yet published.

  910. I’m so late to this party, but I love love books. My pick: A Confederacy of Dunces by John KennedyToole.

  911. I am almost a week late to this post but I will definitely have to pick this up. A book I recommend you to read(if you haven’t already) is A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. The book is simply heart-wrenching. It can make you feel anger, sadness and joy all at the same time. If you had the time, it would be awesome if you could checkout my blog. I’m new here!

  913. I’ve read all 912 other comments 🙂 Thank you all for the book recommendations. Here’s mine:
    Anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, including his auto-biography.
    Anything by Isabel Allende, including the story of her daughter Paula.
    Anything by John Irving. Yes, he goes on & on & yes, his stories have a lot of similar characters, but man do I LOVE him.
    Time of the Butterflies.
    I finished ‘Circe’ night before last, second that rec.
    I read The Nightingale a few weeks ago, second or third that one too!
    Also this year: The Believers (early years of AIDS epidemic in Chicago, GUTTED me).
    I read East of Eden for the first time this year (!), LOVED it.
    I read The Great Migration recently, second that rec. SO GOOD.
    My boyfriend Trevor Noah’s bio was great.
    Read The Calligrapher’s Daughter last week, learned a TON about Korean history 1915-1945. Ordered her new book AND a book on Korean hx.
    I’m currently reading A Plague on Your Houses: How New York Was Burned Down and National Public Health Crumbled which is INTENSE. The Wallaces are Public Health heroes of mine.
    Also re-reading Betrayal of Trust by another heroine Laurie Garrett.

    I’m sure there’s more 🙂

  914. More! I also bought “Furiously Happy” for 2 friends who were struggling (one 15 yo & one 53 yo). They loved it & you (& me)! 🙂

  916. “We Have Always Lived in a Castle” was part of my masters’ thesis. I love that book and everything Jackson wrote, really.

  917. I love Your books of course! Water for Elephants and The little Prince are two of my favorites,I am also a voracious reader!

  918. Pingback: The Sunshine Blogger Award, #sunshinebloggeraward, #spreadalittlesunshine – ARJung

  919. I might’ve missed the news, but it didn’t matter too much because I read a book every day. Hours every day most of the time. I’ll be happy when one of them is yours. It seems like it’s been a while, but that could just be me.

  920. Probably has to be Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. I absolutely love that book. I don’t usually reread books but I will his books.

  922. My copy arrived a few days ago. Now I’m curled up in bed with the ultimate joy of reading a new book that I know nothing about except for that it comes highly recommended and that the cover is beautifully weird and strange.

  923. Pingback: 2018 Book Review | Baby Steps

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