Ok – I took everyone’s advice and ignored the yarn for this week’s Sneak Up and am reading Harry instead. 🙂 I’m actually almost done with the book. I will admit that I have stopped to do one thing or another (I’m not ignoring your orders – just the new yarn) but I will finish the book today. It’s good and I’m anxious to see how it all turns out. I have enjoyed the author’s creativity in these HP books. (And there are some inventions in there that I think would be darned handy to have around.)
So, since we still need a contest for July, I thought I’d see what everyone’s favorite book is. I love to read and while I can’t necessarily come up with one favorite book (although I will say I loved all of the Chronicles of Narnia), I thought I’d share my favorite childhood books with you. It’s funny to read them now, because I’m not sure why these became my favorites out of all the ones I had. But they did. The Lonely Doll is not a book I ever owned, but I remember checking it out from the library multiple times because I loved it so much. I majored in Elementary Education in college, with a minor in Reading, and somehow during one of my Children’s Lit courses, I rediscovered this book. (I always remembered it – just couldn’t remember the name or author.) I was so happy to find it available to order and now I have my own copy. It’s about a doll and two teddy bears who live in a house (no adults) and get into all kinds of adventures. I think there might’ve been a sequel or two, but this was the one I liked.
My other two favorites were Bunny Blue and Mr. Snitzel’s Cookies. This is my original copy of Bunny Blue from when I was young, but I found Mr. Snitzel on ebay a few years ago. (Is there anything you CAN’T find on ebay?) Now I have these books displayed in a cupboard and I like having them there. Every so often I have to go back and read them. So what about you? Are there books from your childhood or adulthood that you’d call a favorite? I know that a lot of knitters are also book lovers, so it’ll be fun to get some new suggestions for good books. Leave your favorite book here in the blog comments by next Wednesday, August 1st, and I’ll do a random drawing for our monthly Loopy Gift Certificate! I’m also going to do the August blog contest very soon, in celebration of our one year anniversary – so keep an eye out here for that as well. There is a great grand prize for that contest!
Ok – back to Harry………..
Sheri um,no,mySockapaloozaPal’ssocksaren’tdoneyet.Harryisgettinginthewayofeverything.
I’m such a Ramona Quimby junkie. It’s still comfort reading, even now with five kids of my own. And as far as children’s books from when I was very small, I have a soft spot for Sesame Street’s The Monster At The End Of This Book. My little ones have torn the page in our copy trying to move the brick wall (“Did you know that you are very strong???”) the same way I did when I was little!
Persuasion by Jane Austen. To me,one of the most romantic books ever written. I love all of Austen’s books, but that one is my favorite.
Other people mentioned Milan Kundera’s the Unbearable Lightness of Being and also A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.. I love those too!
As far as Harry Potter is concerned, I bought the last one but I am saving it for after I reread the fifth and sixth book again, because when those came out, I read them too fast!
Children’s books? Charlotte’s Web holds a very special place in my heart. It was the first “big” book I read on my own. It was also the first chapter book I read to my kids…. There are so many great books out there.
Adult books? Jane Austen is FANTASTIC. I have a collected works book on my nightstand and if the book I am reading is finished or too boring, I go to Jane and just pick one of her amazing stories.
I love all books, so I don’t know if I can really choose a favorite.
I LOVED The Lonely Doll. Edith, Mr. Bear and Little Bear all illustrated in b/w photos…it was so different from my other childhood books.
I have to admit that my reading has dropped off since my sock addiction began 18 months ago. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is still my favorite, and I read that over 30 years ago in HS!
I have too many favorites. I can’t pick one all time favorite. As a child I kept rechecking out the different colors of fairy books – “The Red Fairy” book etc. As an adult my favorites are even harder to pick. “Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is high up there. As is “Briar Rose” by Jane Yolen and the rest of that fairy tale retelling the publisher did. And the “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” (which my brother read to me as a bedtime story when I was 8). Also in fantasy /sci-fi anything by Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett or Jane Yolen or Diana Wynne Jones. In mystery I really can’t pick just one favorite. I really like the Lord Peter books by Dorothy Sayers. And some mysteries that I keep re-reading are Georgette Heyer’s (I find them very soothing in times of stress for some reason) and both Anne Perry’s works (although I am way behind since becoming a parent) and Elizabeth Peter’s works. The last two aren’t really soothing exactly though.
My favorite childhood books included Harriet the Spy, and the Nancy Drew books. My adult favorites include Song of Solomon, A Thousand Acres, All Creatures Great and Small, Possession…and many, many others!
my favorite younger Lynne books: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights
my favorite big girl books: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Fall on Your Knees by AnneMarie MacDonald.
those are, of course, subject to change.
i am a teacher,and i find whenever i say, “oh, i love this book sooo much” the kids are all over it. i love that about my job.
I think that oftentimes my favorite book is the one I most recently finished reading! Right now that would be “Enchanted” by Orson Scott Card. (Also just read his “Sarah” and “Rachel and Leah”, about to start “Rebekah”.)
But I think I could read “Wuthering Heights” over and over again forever.
As a child I really liked Pippi Longstocking books and then the Little House on the Prairie series, especially The Long Hard Winter. Some of the best stories never made it into the series; it would have been too depressing…
As an adult, I cycle between humorous books and life philosophy books – Humor: anything by Robert Fulghum (of What I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten fame), The Sweet Potato Queen, and Marian Keyes – Philosophical: Viktor Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning) and Harold Kushner (How Good Do We Have to Be?)
Trying to choose a favorite book would be like trying to choose a favorite song or a favorite movie or a favorite hair on my head. I love so many for so many different reasons.
As a kid I really loved Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I think a favorite would be D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. I read that one so much that the pages started falling out.
I can pick favorite authors, but favorite books are impossible. I read 100+ a year usually. But here are some favorites.
Parnassus on Wheels, and The Haunted Bookshop – Christopher Morley
Good Omens – Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett (love anything by these guys)
Persuasion – Jane Austen (but really, everything by her is brilliant)
And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie (the one of hers I remember best)
To everyone who loves Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden (I do!) you should make an effort to track down the Judy Bolton mysteries. Unlike the other two series, these were actually written by just one author, and Judy grows up instead of remaining forever a girl. They are amazing.
Now I think I need to go to the bookstore and drop a fortune on books.
I was a HUGE Dr. Seuss fan as a kid! I remember going to the library with my mom every week, and every time I’d come home with Horton or the Grinch. One week all the Dr. Seuss books were gone, so I asked the librarian where they were. She said I’d read them so much I’d worn them out, and the new copies they’d ordered hadn’t come in yet.
A decade ago, while we were expecting our first child, we started buying Dr. Seuss books so our children could enjoy them as much as I did. My favorite of all is “The Lorax”. I loved the story, and the idea of being able to knit Thneeds that everyone needs – though wool’s a much better material than using up those poor Truffula trees!
Oh, I could never choose a favourite book! I love so very very many. My first real books were the Chronicles of Narnia — my mom read them to me when I was three and then I read them to myself starting in kindergarten. Lord of the Rings and everything else by Tolkien, too. And Lewis’ other books. And Shakespeare. And LM Montgomery. And Diane Duane, sometimes. And Victor Hugo. And Terry Pratchett.
This could easily go on for years, I’m afraid. I think the two closest to my heart are Lord of the Rings and Narnia, though.
I have no idea if anyone’s said this yet cause there are 206 other comments as I post this but I LOVED the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart. I was pretty into Nancy Drew as well….my first “grown up” book that my parents let me read when I was about 13 or so that I love to this day is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Oh the romance and the fear! 🙂
The book that is still in my memory most at the moment is one I have read in recent years, We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Schriver.
As a mum I am rediscovering the wonderful world of children’s books with my son and right now I am thoroughly enjoying a book called The Lamb Who Came to Dinner by Steve Smallman, a very sweet story about a lamb and a wolf. I am secretly miffed when my son flicks through the pages like a typical 2 year old – doesn’t he know I want to read the whole story?!
My favourit knitting books are the Yarn Harlot’s. Love her sense of humour.
As a little girl, my favorite book was “Are You My Mother?”. A little later, I couldn’t get enough of all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books–I read every book in the series many many times.
My favourite book is “At Risk” by Alice Hoffman. It´s just so well written and I cry at the end every time I read it.
Oh my goodness! Look at all the comments! It’s fun to see everyone’s favorites and my two favorites are both Shel Silverstein books. The first is “A Light In The Attic” and the second books is “Where the Sidewalk Ends”. Just looking at the covers brings me back to memories of childhood!
Simon’s Night by Jon Hassler. Wonderful characters and a beautiful book.
My all time favourite must be The Lord of the Rings. I have lost count of how many times I have read them… (I love the films too) As a child I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder series.
When I was very young I loved the Uncle Remus stories (Brer Rabbit). My Nana used to read them to me all the time. I am not sure I could ick my favorite book as an adult, I have too many favorites!! I am jealous that you are reading HP, enjoy it!!
So much fun to scroll through these and see the names of so many books I loved—but my all time favorite has got to be The Lord of the Rings. I read and re-read that so many times I can quote it by the paragraph. And The Hobbit, of course. Before I discovered those, it was The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Yes, I like multi-volume epics! So the Harry Potter series fits right in!
So I’m trying to whittle down favorites by thinking about what I read on my own after my mother read it to us at a younger age. There are still a lot of them then, but the one that keeps popping in my mind is “The dark is rising” series by Susan Cooper. Also about a young boy who finds he has magical powers and has to save the world from evil. (Love that!) Just reading the first words suck me into it even now.
“When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back,
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone.”
My favorite little Golden Book was Hiram’s Red Shirt. I read and reread this book once I learned to read. And I remember asking to hear it read hundreds of times as well. In the book, Hiram reparis his favorite red shirt time and again only to be met with another hole that required his attention. Maybe I liked the story because Hiram sounds like my dad’s name, Byron, or maybe I liked this guy’s pluck and enthusiasm. I’m not sure what drew me to this one book, but I still have my original copy and read it from time to time, when I come across it cleaning. 😀
My favorite book is The Lord of the Rings. It has become the favorite of all three of my sons although Harry Potter is very close!! I read the trilogy at least once a year. It brings back memories of sitting up in the big willow tree in my mother’s backyard reading books.
Mmhmm… This is a tough one, because I was such a reader in my younger days. My favorite book from childhood was “The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew” . I still have a rather battered copy that used to belong to my Mom, but it’s now available on Amazon. I’m flighty as an adult – my favorite book seems to be whatever I’m currently reading…
Hmm. I used to always hit the limit on library books when I was a kid (my mom jokes that I was the reason they HAD a limit!), so picking faves is hard. I’d have to go with Escape to Witch Mountain by Alexander Key (anything by him, really), and The Girl with Silver Eyes by Wilo Davis Roberts. Yes, I am a sci/fi geek, why do you ask? : )
Harry Potter is probably my favorite as an adult, unless you count the War of Light and Shadow series by Janny Wurts.
As a toddler – everything Margaret Wise Brown – Good Night Moon, etc and as an emergent reader – anything Dr. Suess. As a mom, I love the silly ones that my children and I have memorized – Moo, Baa, Laa, Laa, Laa and the Going to Bed Book. My kids love Too Many Monsters – a great one that is out of print, I think. When I was old enough to have a library card, I have to second all the books in Becca’s post – All the Judy Blumes, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Little House Series, and Charlotte’s Web (I can’t even count how many times I read that). And I must add Hariett the Spy and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. As an adult, I love too many to list here, and HP is right at the top. I’m glad that those seven books are in the world so that my girls can have as much fun on Harry’s adventures as I did.
I read a LOT of books when I was young, and loved many of them. I had a built in bookshelf right next to my bed, and a flashlight, so that I could cheat bedtime. Off the top of my head, I’ll say The Velveteen Rabbit.
Favorite this year? I quote from this one all the time —
“When the world is quiet, great art is created — or, at the very least, conceptualized. Now is the moment to sketch, make notes, and dream.”
Adriana Trigiani, “Rococo”
Couldn’t agree more.
Favorite of all time? Harriet the Spy. It’s what started me writing, way back in the days before yarn and boobs and boys. I still have my childhood bedraggled copy that I got from the weekly reader book catalog in third grade. So good.
Favorite brain candy book — anything by Christopher Moore. Fluke and Practical Demonkeeping and Lamb and The Stupidest Angel…if you don’t laugh until you cry, we just won’t get along. Ever. 🙂
I always love “A LIttle Princess” when I was a little girl.
I’m an utter bookworm now, so I have a hard time picking a favorite. But lately, while my little one is romping through the children’s section at Barnes and Noble, I’ve been pecking away at “Fairest” by Gail Carson Levine. I may have to get it to read to her when she gets older.
One of my favorites…looooong before Harry Potter came along, was The Peculiar Miss Pickett. She was a witch who arrived to nanny for two children. It wasn’t at all like Mary Poppins…more like Prof. McGonagall than Poppins.
I’ve read the entire Lord of the Rings saga (The Hobbit included) about five times. First time I read them, I was in junior high so I guess these count as my favorites from childhood.
Sheri,
Wow…look at all those responses! I’ve always been a big reader so it’s hard to choose just one book. I really liked the Laura Ingalls Wilder, Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames series when I was growing up. Now, it’s too hard to name a favorite book. My big challenge is trying to decide which yarn(s) and which book(s) to take with me on a 2 week vacation…unfortunately, I’m limited to one small carryon bag and one piece of checked luggage!
Oh, how difficult it is to decide! I was a voracious reader as a child, but I think “The Island of the Blue Dolphin” was the first book that really made me seriously think about literature and my place in the universe. Well written, its as good today as it was when I first read it years ago….
Well having a mama for a librairian what didn’t we get to read….lol. umm…other than the Bible (still my favorite), i would have to say “Angel Unaware” by Dale Evans. Harriet the Spy, and the like. however now my list includes: “Go GIrl” by MarLee LeDai anything by Oswald Chambers, Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ series: Brokeness, Surrender, and Holiness, Florence Liteaurs: Silver Boxes, Richard Fosters: Celebrations of Disciplines, Anne Lamonts: Bird by Bird, and my most read book other than the Bible Anne Morrow Lindberghs: Gift from the Sea. or the Twisted Sisters sock book…..lol
I loved “Caddie Woodlawn” and “Little Women.” I carried these around with me and I went through at least two copies of LW because I read it so much. 🙂
I am a librarian and I have MANY, MANY favorites!
As a kid I loved The Secret Garden, Tom Sawyer, the Hobbit, and the D’Aulaire Myth books–Greek Myths and Norse Myths. Recently I have loved All Over Creation (like another commenter) and HP and A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore (laughed, and laughed and laughed!) Year of Wonders blew my mind and I have a somewhat shameful but deep love for good chick lit–Marian Keyes, Bridget Jones series, the Shopaholic series, anything by Katie Fforde. Not book group material, but FUN!
My all time favorite book is Pride and Prejudice. I read it over and over again and never get sick of it. I also love anything by John Grisham, particularly The Rainmaker.
Well, my all time favorite book when I was a wee toddler was “But No Elephants.” We kept my copy of it and it’s now Anna’s favorite book.
No, it’s not in the best of shape!
I guess my favorite book as an adult is probably Pride and Prejudice. Yeah yeah, you are hearing this a lot. But I’ve got it in a great big binding that has all of her novels in it, so I guess technically that big book is my favorite book because it has 6 books total in it!
I also have a hard time picking a favorite book. Right now I am in to murder mysteries, Laurien Berenson, Rita Mae Brown (Mrs Murphy series), Joanna Fluke, Monica Ferris, Maggie Sefton.
As a mom of three small children, I love If You Give a Mouse A Cookie, If You Give a Pig a Pancake and The Kissing Hand (a must read for anybody with a kindergartener going off to school).
I also loved trashy Harlequin Romances but hubby doesn’t like me to read them so I stopped.
I’m halfway through HP Book 7 and hope to finish over the weekend or sooner. I haven’t had much time to read this week due to getting our house ready for weekend guests and knitting has been put on hold until I finish the book!
I’m a huge Children’s Lit fan myself! I have so many favorites but the ones that come to mind that I know I read more than once or plan to go back to again and again (and encourage my nieces and nephews to read) are No Flying in the House (it’s about a girl who is born a fairy with magical powers and her companion is this miniature dog), A Wrinkle in Time, all of Judy Blume’s books, Bridge to Terabithia, The Lorax, and all of the HP books!
My favorite book is the Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas.
Disney used to publish these beautiful books (they’re definately NOT the quality now that they used to be) and Sleeping Beauty was an absolute favorite. I loved the colors in that book – so vibrant and saturated and lovely! I was so in awe of the wicked witch Maleficent. And duh, SPINNING WHEEL. Even then I was destined to be a knitter! Then I found the glory that was Little House on the Prairie. All hail Laura Ingalls Wilder. Can I get an amen? THE BEST.
My all-time favorite is To Kill A Mockingbird – I have to read it every summer and every time has the same effect on me! (of course, the movie with Gregory Peck is one of my all-time favorite movies, too!)
I loved the Harry Potter series. Someday, I’ll have to thank my boy for that. I finished 7 last night and it was as wonderful as I expected. I don’t really have a favorite book because I’ve never really met a book I haven’t liked. 🙂
But my favorite from when I was a kid was “The Three Little Pigs.” I bet my poor mother can still quote most of it from memory. 🙂 It still is one of my favorite stories, no matter how old I get. “)
I WOULD HAVE TO SAY AS A CHILD I LOVED NANCY DREW. I HAD THE WHOLE COLLECTION. IT’S REALLY HARD TO NARROW IT DOWN AS AN ADULT. I REALLY LIKED THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CIRCLE THAT IS BEING MADE INTO A MOVIE. AND OF COURSE HARRY POTTER IS RIGHT UP THERE.
I read through the comments and didn’t see either of my favorite books growing up: An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa M. Alcott and The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. Even now I read them over and over – my copies are in tatters.
My favorite adult read is Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert – I found it profound. My favorite childhood story is The Runaway Pancake – I also got a copy off of ebay some years ago.
One of my favorite kid’s books is The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes.
Amy with hair the color of moonlight whose mother gave her a lambchop for lunch each day, Clarissa with hair the color of sunlight whose mother gave her spaghetti for lunch each day, Malachi the Bumblebee, and, of course, the characters Hannah and her baby sister and the Old Witch and the mermaids who lived in the Big Glass Hill.
I just recently ordered a copy and had it sent to my mother, who read this book to me twenty-something years ago.
My favorite adult book… I don’t know if there are any books that I have enjoyed like that as an adult. I really enjoyed The Iceman Cometh, and Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O’Neill. I liked them enough to write a thesis on them.
Ohhhh and the short stories of Saki (H.H. Munroe) are really good too. The Storyteller is such a classic!
Tough one….I don’t read as much as I should…….I was a huge Nancy Drew fan back in my teen days……..I haven’t read 1 HP book yet and we have all the books in the house……college boy just finished the newest one……I read alot of Nora Roberts at the moment and John Grisham…….
And my all time favorite EVERY NITE to my older son (24) and EVERY WORD (if I missed a page, I think it’s 72 pages long) he would know….The Cat in the Hat….
one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish…..
Blogless Diane