What’s your favorite book?
The New York Times released the results of writer’s survey: What Is the Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years?. Their answer: Beloved
I agree — not that I’ve read scads of books to compare. Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer-prize winner is just incredibly rich, complex and multilayered. It’s one of a few books that I’ve read twice, and I may just re-read it again this summer. It’s by far my favorite, followed closely by Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple.” (Also known as The Black Broads’ Literary Canon. 
)
Since summer (and hopefully a summer vacation) is a’coming, I’m sure we’re all looking to boost our reading lists, right?
So I’d like to know:
- What’s your favorite book (include why if you’re so inspired)?
- What book are you currently reading / have you most recently read?
- Have you read any of the books mentioned in that Times’s piece, and if so, what did you think?
- What books do you plan to read this summer (or at some point)?
nope i haven’t read any of those, but i don’t read like i used to. i recently started reading again though in the last few months and i’m all about the cheap thrills. dan brown, lewis perdue, michael crichton, etc. i used to have a thing for star trek books but not so much anymore.
currently i’m reading the broker, by grisham. it’s just ok so far.
my favorite book, that’s hard! it used to be this star trek book called metamorphasis, where the data character became human. reread that a bunch. but now.. dunno.
It’s been a while since I read Beloved, but it’s a well deserved choice for best book. I don’t read fiction as much as I used to–spend way too much time reading technical books. I would, however, like to read Morrison’s literary criticism book, “Playing in the Dark”, especially since I’ve read quotes from it over the years, but for some reason have never read it cover to cover.
Other than that book, I have to honestly say that I’ll probably be steeped in reading design books over the summer–such as “Problem Solved: a primer in design and communication.”
Two of the last three books I read were travelogues. “A Taste for Adventure” by Anik See really gave me a case of wanderlust. In the book, she travels through about a dozen countries by bicycle, eating food along the way. At the end of each chapter are recipes from that country.
I just (as in, an hour ago) finished “12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time.” It was as much a memoir about family (esp. fathers and daughters) as it was about their trip. Kind of all over the place, but still an interesting read.
I’m going to force myself to read “The Souls of Black Folk” this summer, and possibly a religious work (either the Bible or the Upanishads). I’ve got a weird thing about religions, even though I’m unaffiliated.
My favorite book ever is 2001: A Space Odyssey. The book and the film combine for my favorite artistic work ever. The take on evolution and humanity’s place in the Universe is grand and poetic.
This is followed by Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man which I’d like to take in again this weekend..
Right now, I’m reading a lot of stuff, the best is Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object Oriented Analysis and Design and the Unified Process. Unfortunately, all that I read is tech stuff these days, but this is by far the most useful tech book that I’ve ever read and manages to transcend it’s subject matter due to incredible writing.
It talks about Object Oriented design and analysis, design patterns, and the Unified Process in such clear language that it is almost impossible not to get it. This has to be one of the great literary achievements of our time.
I have seriously dropped off from reading. I just can’t seem to make time for it. I’m impressed Morrison topped the list. She’s my favorite. Although, I prefer her later work, Paradise especially.
Ok. I’ll bite. Not much of fiction reader.
Last three books –
“Think and Grow Rich” Napolean Hill
“ClueTrain Manifesto” Doc Searls and others
“Millionaire Mind” Thomas J. Stanley
@j: you liked Paradise? I read it and was lost. Linguistically, Morrison was on point. I love the way she strings words together. But the plot had me saying “Huh?” I think my second-favorite Morrison book is The Bluest Eye.
I believe that “Catch-22″ by Joseph Heller is the greatest book I’ve ever read.
Give it a try.
I tried to read “Catch-22,” but I couldn’t get into it. Maybe I’ll give it another shot. I think I still have that copy.