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 am an unrepentent bookie. My favorite book as a small child was the Child’s Garden of Verses. I had it memorized by age 5 and my mother would make mistakes as she read to see if i would notice. My mother gave a copy to my children as they came along. The Secret Garden was my favorite in grade school. I also read a book about children that were shipwrecked on a sinking island, but I have not been able to remember the name of it for years. My favorite book is Tryst, a book I read first in high school and read at least once a year just because I have too. A book I take to any baby shower or to small children is the Very Hungry Caterpillar. I will read anything but do not care so much for cowboy books or books about submarines. Submatines give me the creeps.
My favorite books are James Herriot’s books (All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Wise and Wonderful, etc). I also enjoyed reading the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Anne of Green Gables series, etc. And, I enjoyed reading the Box Car Children books to my sons and the Berenstain Bears books. When I was quite young, I could not put down the Nancy Drew books; I had the complete set.
My favorite as a child was The Phantom Tollbooth.
Enjoy Harry! Its fantastic! 🙂
favorite book = east of eden, by John Steinbeck. It’s such an enthralling story… the best character development i’ve ever encountered.
My favorite childhood book was Soda Pop – a book about a goat who pulled a soda pop cart (did they ever really have those?) but was never allowed to have any of the soda. One day he saved the cart from a disasterous roll down a hill, and was rewarded with his very own bottle of soda! Thankfully my grandmother, who used to read me the book, saved it so that I can read it to my own children some day!
It is impossible to pick just one, however, if forced to I will say the Little House books (okay- I know it is more than one, but it is just one author!).
My alltime favorite book is Little Women by Lousia May Alcott. I read it every few years….just because.
My favorite book as a child and it still ranks up there today is Anne of Green Gables. It always seems to come back to Anne Shirley. As an adult who discovered British literature my favorite is Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
Hmm – favorite book as a child or as an adult? As a child my favorite series was Cherry Ames – Student Nurse. I know I’m dating myself because Cherry’s big accomplishment was being an Army nurse in WWII.
My favorite book ,when I was small, was Mr.Bear Squash You All Flat–I have to admit the title still makes me laugh today.My mother saved all of my Little Golden Books so I was able to share them with my son.His favorite was about a train called Sneezer.The books are packed away for the grandchildren I hope to have one day!
As a child my favorite books were The Great Brain series. I remember reading them over and over again until the pages fell out! I have started reading them to my son, hoping that he will enjoy them as much as I did… alas, he is still enamored with the Captain Underpants series!
As an adult, I think my all time favorite book is Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I love her writing, and each book is so very different from each other. I must have read that book 15 times now and will probably pick it up again this fall.
I usually love whatever book I’m reading best, but as a kid, the one I wore out was “An Album of Horses”. Wonderful stories and pictures! As an adult, I think “Ender’s Game” stands out. Our whole family reccomends it frequently.
Favorite book of all time? Like, only ONE?! That’s hard to do… most recently, as a grown-up, I’d say it would be “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert, but as a kid, hands down, “A Hole is to Dig” and “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak. I’ve been buying them for baby showers when I don’t have time to knit something!
My favorite books when I was younger are the Little House on the Prairie series – especially These Happy Golden Years. That’s my favorite because it shows Laura growing up and courting Almanzo. The whole series I have read over and over again – I can tell you what happens in each one (and this is because these were the only books I owned at the time).
I think my favorites now are the Harry Potter books – yeah I know. My favorite of them is Prisioner of Azkaban because we learn more of his father and meet his father’s best friends. And the Deathly Hallows (of course).
So hard to pick just one – I read almost (sometimes more) obssessively than I knit :). My absolute favourite would be the Anne of Green Gables series – I’ve read them all at least 10 times since age 8. Closely followed by the Nancy Drew/Dana Sisters series. I am enjoying reading the re-released Nancy Drew’s, with all the original 1930’s terms and pictures intact – wonderful!
I loved to read “where the Wild Things Are” to my daughter when she was young.
I also liked “Eat, Pray, Love” but I wouldn’t classify it as a favorite.
My adult favorites would be – Cold Mountain, Bleak House, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, The Source (Michener), The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley.
As a kid I loved both Nancy Drew and the Bobsey Twins.
My all time favorite book is Gone With the Wind. I discovered it in high school and have reread it several times since then. As a child my favorite books were the Nancy Drew books. I wanted to grow up to be a detective just like her.
It’s impossible to come up with a single favorite book, BUT… Favorite childhood book is “The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet” which was my introduction to scifi. My favorites as an adult have to be anything by Robert Heinlein or Isaac Asimov. I’m still a scifi lover.
Babar! I remember coming home from school to tell my mom that I’m going to Paris with Babar. I did end up going to Paris, but with my mom and not Babar.
p.s. Oh my goodness, how could I forget the Outlander series??? Especially the first one. So good! Not to be missed.
I wore the pages out on “The Little Engine That Could”. I think I can, I think I can became my mantra throughout my lifetime. My sister who is 5 years younger than I favored “The Little Red Hen” and I read it to her sooooo many times that I kind of wished that chicken was in the pot for Sunday dinner.
My favourite book from my childhood is without any doubt “Krabat” from the German write Otto Preussler. I read it in dutch, “De meester van de zwarte molen” it is called then. It is like the Harry Potter books (which I like very much) about magic but in this book it is real dark magic . Very atmospheric , almost claustrophobic and genuinely scary. As a grown up I can’t really say what my favourite book would be, there is nothing that sticks out although I have very fond memories of the “Unbearable lightness of being” by Milan Kundera and also of “De ontdekking van de Hemel” by Harry Mulish but if they are the best books I read, I simply don’t know….
The first book I bought for myself (2nd grade?) was Thumbelina. I loved mythology, fairy tales, biography , Walter Farley’s Black Stallion series and Andre Norton and other science fiction. As an adult, one of my favorites is Jane Austin’s Persuasion.
My favorite book as an adult is “If on a winter’s night a traveler” by Italo Calvino.
There are so many favorite children’s books it’s hard to pick just one. Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl and The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall are 3 that are standing out right now.
When I was a wee tiny one, I loved anything and everything by Maurice Sendak.
Hmmm…I had lots of favorites but I’ll say Marjorie of Monhegan is the one that sticks out in my mind right now. I’ve got a tattered copy on my bookshelf and have to treat it very carefully as it’s been out of print since almost after it was purchased for me!
Hmmm… as many others have said, picking just one book is impossible. I’d have to say the Nancy Drew series was a wonderful read when I was young. As an adult I read a little of everything from Susan Johnson for steamy romances to Star Trek stores my hubby recommends :> Great topic Sheri – it’s a real treaure to read everyone elses choices – gives me some good ideas for summer reading!
In the 6th grade, I belonged to the Nancy Drew Mystery Club and received 2 new books every other month. I would devour both books in the first week and then have to wait almost 2 months for the next ones.
As an adult my favorite book is Hannah Fowler by Janice Holt Giles. I reread it at least once a year. It’s like visiting an old friend.
I loved Nancy Drew, Tom Swift and the Hardy Boys. They were my favorites around age nine. After that I became fairly acclectic in my taste, I love classics, Mark Twain, Tolstoy, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Tolkien, Green Eggs and Ham, and Star Wars books. Right now I’m rereading…….. The Anne of Green Gables books(For the 30th time), Paradise Snare(For the third), The Fellowship of the Ring(For the 15th) and the Iliad(For the fourth). I love books.
I loved all of the Wizard of Oz books – that was a great series! Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon, and also the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books. And the Chronicles of Narnia…Oh, and I loved the Enid Blyton books. Apparently I had a thing for books featuring kids going on adventures!
Two of my favorites are A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Mists of Avalon. I actually recently had this conversation with a friend of mine, driving from NJ back to Boston – turns out one of his favorites also comes from Arthurian Legend (though I don’t remember what the book is right now!).
Looking forward to the blueberry pie recipe tomorrow – I just made one last night, and I’m curious to see how similar/different the recipes are! 🙂
My favorite books when I was little was the Little Bear books. I was really excited they brought the books back and made a TV show on Nic Jr. about the time my youngest started being interested in books and TV. Unfort. he didn’t take to them like I did. He is such a Thomas the Train fan.
That’s a tough question! My favorite books… As a kid, I was in love with the Baby-Sitters Club. I read those like crazy and am still collecting them when I see them in used bins or at garage sales. I also really liked The Westing Game, Nancy Drew, Hank the Cowdog… that’s all that’s coming up for me right now.
But as of now, I think my favorite books are anything by Margaret Atwood (especially The Blind Assassin and Alias Grace) The Ya-Ya Series by Rebecca Wells, Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman, both of Barack Obama’s books, John Grisham novels, and, of course, the wonderful Harry Potter series (to name the ones on the top of my head).
Book House Books, particularly Little Pictures of Japan. This book of poems and pictures resulted in my living in Tokyo for 3 years.
My favorite children’s book is actually a series: The dark is rising by Susan Cooper.
I am reading it to my 5 year old now.
My favorite book as an adult….too many beloveds to count…I cannot choose amongst them:)
My favorite book is The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber. The setting is a yarn shop.
A few of my favorites were The Tall Book Of Make Believe, a collection of poems with illustrations by Garth Williams. The “Shoes” books by Noel Streatfield, especially Ballet Shoes & Dancing shoes.
My favorite childhood book, and even adult, is “Where the Red Fern Grows”. I still cry. Another favorite author for my early years was Richard Scarry. I still have a couple of his books.
Oh my goodness favorite books. I’ll have to make a list:
Picture Book: Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss (from before I was a knitter, but I guess it was always in me)
As a Child: The Little House Books, my Dad started reading these to us every night when I was little and only stopped when I got so impatient that I read the rest of the series on my own. I’ve read them many times since then too.
As a teen/has changed my life the most: Harry Potter. They are so wonderful and have served as a catalyst for almost everything good in my life (including knitting, which I learned in order to make myself a Scarf like the ones in the movies)
Now (considering I’ve been not a teen for all of 4 months): Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte They’re so different that I couldn’t pick one over the other.
When I can’t think of anything to read: Yarn Harlot by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
I would like to thank my unfounded belief that Comic books/Graphic Novels do not count as real books for making this list much easier to write and of those, if I have a favorite, right now it’s Ed Brubaker’s ongoing run on Captain America (or his runs on Daredevil or Uncanny Xmen)
I love Nancy Drew books! Even today I like to go through and read them. My kids enjoy me reading the books to them 🙂 Nancy is Timeless.
Oh! I can’t pick just ONE favourite! I LOVE books, love to read!! Anything by James Herriot, for starters. “Watership Down” was a book I read several times in school. “Tin Can Tucker” was another. Jilly Cooper has a hilarious but rather racy series, which I’ve read multiple times. Lately I haven’t had TIME to do much reading-how DOES one read and knit at the same time anyways?? But I have started reading “The Birth House” and am enjoying it!
Anything by Douglas Coupland. I can read ‘Miss Wyoming’ over and over again.
Oh there are so many good books. I remember really liking Ferdinand the Bull, we didn’t own it, it was at some elderly friends of my parents so I would only get to read it when we visited there and that made it extra special for me.
Lately…hmmm…have you read any Neil Gaiman? He’s one of my favorite authors – American Gods is quite good. Also Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel, that was really good.
My favorite book is “A Prayer for Owen Meany.”
My favorite book….I can’t pick just one so I will give you two. My favorite book from childhood is “The Monster at the End of This Book” by Jon Stone. My mother read this to me all the time, and those were some of my favorite times with her. My favorite book as an adult is “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” by Mitch Albom. This book helped me deal with the loss of my mom, and I have shared it with many of my friends. I highly recommend it.
My favorite from childhood is “They Loved to Laugh” by Kathryn Worth.
Now I like series, mysteries, and romance. I’d love to have the brain-space to read literary fiction again — Solzhenitsyn waits on the bookshelf!
my favorite book(S) are stephen kings, whether the short stories or novels. Another fave is Heart of the West by penelope williamson. totally different genre but love it all the same.
My favorite book from when my Mom still read to me was “The Poky Little Puppy”. I can still hear the way she made the puppies have different voices. I read so much I can’t possibly name an all-time favorite book …but “Perfume” by Robert Suskind is one of the best. I’ve always been fascinated with scents (yes, I sniff yarn as well as pet it), and the book is just so different from anything else I’ve read. A close second would be any of the Prey books by John Sandford…or the early Stephen King books…or the Dirk Pitt books by Clive Cussler…or the Bourne books by Robert Ludlum… I could go on and on about spy and mystery books.
it’s too hard to narrow it down to one favorite children’s book — there are too many to choose from! I was and still am, an avid reader who would sooner read than do anything – I love stories!
My favorite preschool aged book is “How Fletcher was Hatched” – the story of a girl anmd her dog, and how new baby chicks cause Fletcher to feel left out and “Hatch” a plan to be the favorite again in his little girl’s eyes – only to discover that he is more important to her than all the baby chicks in the world (touching and still a good read at nearly 40 years old).
My favorite elementary school book is “harriet the Spy” which shows you the value of being kind to your friends (even though being mean can sometimes be fun), and that friends do stick with you even when you really screw up.
And my favorite preteen book “The Hobbit” – even though I didn’t read it until university in my Kiddy Lit course. I could read it over and over.
My favorite story overall is “The Velveteen Rabbit” – always makes me weepy (I liek stories about the power of strong friendships) … and i wish “The paperbag Princess” had been around when I was a kid — I like the idea of teaching children that you don’t need a prince (or a princess) to come to your rescue – it is good to be self reliant and strong on your own!
My fave book growing up and still to this day is Called Miss Sussy. It was a book about a squirl who lived in the tippy top of an old Oak tree. Mean squirls came and kicked her out of her home and she had to find a new one. What she found was an old house with a doll house in it with little toy soldiers living in side. She was their mom type person and told them about what happend. So they marched back to the tree and kicked the mean squirls out and she got her house back and the soldiers lived with her from then on.
My mom read me this book almost every night for years. It is a very old book, and they don’t print it anymore, I have it now to read to my kids.
I was a book obsessed kid, so it’s hard to name a favourite! The one I took out from the library every week when I was in kindergarten is one of the favourites! It’s called ‘Norbert Nipkin’, and I have my copy from way back when… My mom bought it for me for Christmas that year, because I obviously LOVED it! And I still do!