National Book Lovers Day

[crchan123]

Today is National Book Lovers Day! Woot woot, shoutout to all of our bookworms 📖

Community members, what is your all-time favorite book and why? If you don't have one, feel free to share your favorite genre of books or a book that you are currently reading! 

I’ll go first ✋

I love reading autobiographies, and recently just finished up Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. 10/10 recommend, it is hands down one of my all-time favorite autobiographies.

[Bri]

My all-time favorite book? That's such a good question! I just finished up Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson, but my all-time favorite book would have to be Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas. I'm a huge fan of young adult books 📚

[S_K]

I just looked up Allegedly, and it doesn't look like one I should read on a long flight. It's definitely on my TBR list now though!

[Bri]

@S_K It was a bit of a heavy read in my opinion but definitely a good one! 

[molly]

This is such a hard question-- I don't know how I can pick just one! My all time favorite might be Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, but my favorite and one I'd highly recommend from 2022 is True Biz by Sara Nović. 

[Bri]

@molly Sara Nović was my professor! 

[molly]

What?! So cool! Have you read True Biz?

[Bri]

Not yet, but I definitely plan to 😍

[PK]

True Biz is on my "want to read" list!

[0927738781]

wow

[S_K]

Fun topic! ✍️ My favorite book is The Shining by Stephen King. I also love Kubrick's movie but even more so, the made-for-TV miniseries because it's closer to the book. He's a brilliant author, and I love that we share the initials SEK!

I love suspenseful thrillers (not horror), and this is definitely one worth digging into! Living near The Stanley Hotel where King was inspired to write this novel is a bonus. I even have a 16x20 print of the black & white group photo of the "Overlook Hotel July 4th Ball 1921" that's seen at the end of the movie hanging on the wall over my desk with a brass ornament of the hotel below it. Fangirl much? You betcha! 

I do have to say that The Stand is a much wordier read/listen. I'm currently listening to this audiobook, which is especially creepy on the coattails of the pandemic. ☠️

Any other Stephen King fans out there?

[Bri]

Adding these to my TBR list 🖋😁

[itsTyren]

My favorite book ever is "The Color Of Water" by James McBride.

Some of my more recent favorites are:

• "Anxious People" by Fredrik Backman
• "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• "Daisy Jones & The Six", also by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• "A People's History of Heaven" by Mathangi Subramanian

[Bri]

I JUST bought The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I've heard great things about it! 

[haileeb]

Seven Husbands was a fun read for me last year! I couldn't quite get into Daisy Jones, but I may give it another go! 

[alexisbrown]

I read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and loved it! I also tried Daisy Jones & The Six, but struggled to get into it. I may give it another go though because I've heard it's great.  I also read Malibu Rising earlier this year, and it was another great Taylor Jenkins Reid book! 

[itsTyren]

Give it another shot, and if you still don't like it I've heard that "The Final Revival of Opal & Nev" by Dawnie Walton is similar (and better).

Also, each of  Taylor Jenkins Reid's books are overlapping and loosely exist in the same universe across different decades (Evelyn Hugo, Dasiy Jones, Malibu Rising, and the upcoming Carrie Soto)

[haileeb]

I may need to listen to it on audio because I admittedly had a hard time following character voice and development. I made it ~60 pages in and decided it may not be the book for me. 😅 

[itsTyren]

Listening is worse actually, because every time a new character speaks they have to introduce them by saying their name before their dialogue. You got this, there's about 10 characters (and some get more screen time than others) and you find ways to know them fairly quickly.

[evanratt]

I've heard The Sevens Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a must read! Adding it to my list!

[haileeb]

Ooo, it's so hard to pick just one, but recently, I absolutely LOVED The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune! 🌊🏠

[molly]

I need to read this soon! I am currently reading TJ Klune's Under the Whispering Door and it is breaking me in the best way. 

[haileeb]

I have that on my list for October and can't wait! If its anything like Cerulean Sea, I'll cherish every page! 

[AinsleyM]

There's no way I can pick an absolute favorite book! Too many to count!

But, from what I've read in 2022 (so far), these stand out:

For fiction:

• "Sea of Tranquility" by Emily St. John Mandel
• "Long Way Down" by Jason Reynolds
• "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi
• "Virgil Wander" by Leif Enger

For non-fiction:

• "As You Wish" by Cary Elwes
• "Labyrinth of Ice" by Buddy Levy
• "I Am, I Am, I Am" by Maggie O'Farrell

[evanratt]

It's difficult to pick just one, but every year I re-read "A Day No Pigs Would Die" by Oliver Netwon Peck. I read it for the first time in sixth grade and the story has stuck with me ever since. 

Other great reads: 

- All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr 

- The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett 

-  The Couple Next Door, by Shari Laperna

[itsTyren]

Really enjoyed The Vanishing Half too! I picked up The Mothers but haven't had a chance to read it yet.

[S_K]

The Vanishing Half is on my list.

[molly]

The Vanishing Half and the Mothers are both worth the read!

I need to check out the others on your list. 

[Bri]

I agree! Loved both The Mothers and The Vanishing Half. Also, VERY excited for The Vanishing Half limited series that's in the works 😍

[PK]

I don't think I have an all-time favorite *yet*, but here are a few fiction books I've read recently that I really enjoyed: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Sentence by Louise Eldrich, and A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne.

In a change of events, I'm currently reading a non-fiction book, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey. Not even that far into it and already learning a lot!

[CarlaA]

Okay, so I LOVE greek mythology, and Circe by Madeline Miller was sooo good! I could not put it down. I also really loved Where the Crawdads Sing even though I know it is probably over-hyped 😅

Can't wait to read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo!

[molly]

Circe is one of my all time favorites! If you haven't read Song of Achilles, read that too! 

[CarlaA]

I have heard a lot of good things about Song of Achilles, I am going to have to read it after 7 Husbands! Another one you might like is The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. 

[allieblum]

I don't have a favorite book, but the book that has impacted my life most to date is On the Road by Jack Kerouac. It opened me up to a love of the open road and all of the possibilities that come with it when I was a very impressionable 18-year-old. Now, I love memoirs, and some of my favorites written in the last few years include Heavy, The Yellow House, Crying in H Mart, and Punch Me Up to the Gods.

[JuliaS]

Loving the inspiration on this thread! Hard to choose one... here are a few standouts than come to mind:

• The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah ( The story of two sisters in France, during the second World War) 
• HoneyBee by Craig Silvey (A gritty but beautifully written coming-of-age book covering a number of issues: self-acceptance, trans, relationships etc - contemporary Australian)
• The Uncaged Sky by Kylie Gilbert-Moore (The true story of an Australian woman's  fight & resilience to survive 804 days of being unfairly imprisoned in Iran).

[Pannaga]

My all-time favourites are Harry Potter series and Sapiens by Yuval Noah

[david-vola]

Being shocked as a child  Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, actually "crims" by Carles Porta.🤘

[ZoomTLee]

The Stand Stephen King. @S_K I see you!!

It's been a favorite since I was a kid, and I reread it from time to time still. I probably read every Stephen King book at some point in time!

Great question, thanks @crchan123 !

[S_K]

Is it abnormal to fall asleep to The Shining audio book? Campbell Scott is a great narrator!

[Bri]

🤣😂😂