Favorite book of all time

[MrsCrazyPete]

What is your most-loved book you've ever read?

Rules: you may only pick ONE book. Please provide the title and author, if you know it. Give a brief synopsis and explain why you love the book.

Mine is Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. It's a great coming-of-age story about a boy who writes anonymous letters to an unnamed friend during his first year of high school in the early 90's. I love it because the boy, Charlie, is so wonderfully written, and reminds me so much of myself (and I think probably a lot of other people of themselves) during those awkward early teen years. I highly recommend it.

What is your favorite book?

[P-p-p-penguin]

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.

It's a sci-fi story set some period of time after large parts of the world has been destroyed in a nuclear war. The people believe that the war was punishment from God and that any mutation is an abomination because it deviates from God's image, so any people with mutations are banished to the Fringes of society.  The story centres around a boy called David who has telepathic powers, as do a number of children in his town. They have to keep it hidden for fear of being banished, but then his little sister, Petra, is born, and her telepathy is much stronger than the others'.

I love it because it's clever, exciting, really imaginative, well written, feels really ahead of its time (it was written in the 1950s), and the end is amazing.

[amandaelizabeth]

The Poisonwood Bible.  It is about my childhood and brought back wonderful memories

[BarensMom]

I'm going with an easy answer:  The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.  I won't go into the plot (everyone knows it anyway).  My reason is that as you read it, you become engrossed into this complex other world and want to become part of it.  Every time I finish it, the real world seems so mediocre in comparison.

[Sharnita]

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

It is the story of a young girl, her family and her Southern town over the course of three years in the Great Depression as they are impacted by a court case.

I love it because it has engaging characters that make you laugh and cry and because it demonstrates with little and small examples how to live life with simple Christian love and decency while treating deeply flawed characters with compassion and insight.  I wish I were more like Atticus FInch.

[finecabernet]

Ha, you guys have cool stuff. Mine has to be "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." The themes, the characters, the descriptions were incredibly rich and satisfying.

[siamesecat2965]

I'm going to have to think about this one.  There are several books that fit this description for me!

[Thipu1]

Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic.

There are so many different ways to read the thing. 

[Sirius]

The Mating Season by P.G. Wodehouse.  There's nothing deep or philosophical about it, but even after reading it a gazillion times it still makes me laugh.  And I'm always finding throwaway bits I never noticed before.

[Acadianna]

Although I could have picked several other books by various authors, I'm going to go with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein.  I've read this book at least twenty times (no exagerrating), and love it more with every reading.

This book is about a lunar colony which rebels against its absentee landlords on earth.  It is practically a handbook for revolution.  What I love best, though, is the way Heinlein creates well-developed, interesting cultures and characters.

Even those who aren't science fiction fans may still enjoy this book.  (Not a whole lot of science in it.)

[cabbagegirl28]

Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti. It's a funny, sweet, realistic book about growing up and realizing that you don't have to rely on other people to grow as a person. It also has a romance between older adults, which you don't see very often, especially in YA novels.

My favorite quote from the book, said by an older woman who talks about why she never got married after her husband died: A lady I will be, but a man's accessory, his handbag, no thank you. I will not be someone's ornament. I will not just be someone's honey, baby, sweetheart.

[siamesecat2965]

I think mine would have to be "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez - I was introduced to it in HS in Spanish class, and had to read it in spanish.  Loved it so much I re-read in English and pull it out every now and then to read.

[Bijou]

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
It's a book about people in a small country village in England around the 1940's.   It focus' on them and their everyday lives.  I love also that she brings her characters from this place into her books about other small villages.  It just makes me think that things are not so complicated and maybe remind me of my childhood which was not in England, but still the characters light candles way in the back of my mind.

[Outdoor Girl]

This is really tough for me because I read a lot, in quite a few different genres.  In terms of sheer impact and somewhat surprising ending, I think I have to go with 'Ender's Game' by Orsen Scott Card.

It is a story about exceptional children, including Ender, who attend a battle school where they play games and run war simulations.  Ender is identified as the ultimate leader; he isn't the smartest or the strongest but he is an incredible tactician and knows how to get the best from his team.  As they move on to war simulations, he develops a plan to wipe out the enemy, and does.  And then he finds out it wasn't a simulation.

There are a number of sequels and simultaneous stories about other characters written later that are also good but none of them have the impact of 'Ender's Game'.

[Kendo_Bunny]

I'm going to have to go with 'Catch-22' by Joseph Heller. I read it for the first time when I was a kid, because it was one of my Dad's favorite books, but I keep finding new things to love about it.

I particularly love the bureaucratic insanity, since I am rabidly anti-bureaucracy.