What are your most favourite books ever?

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If we’re going to talk literature, I was always digging up the stuff that didn’t come up as often in school. One of my favorites was Frank Norris’ “The Octopus” which I envisioned as a soap opera miniseries. It was great how the villain got his payback in the end.

In high school, I used to also like fictionalized biographies of people like Rachel Jackson, Mary Todd Lincoln and Judah Benjamin. I learned lots of US history that way.
 
Ahhh, poetry.

Sheldon Van Auken
Christina Rosetti
and for various sentimental reasons, Walt Whitman
 
If we’re going to talk poetry, then
John Donne
William Blake
e.e. cummings
Patti Smith

And for fun, Ogden Nash, Phyllis McGinley, Dr. Seuss.

My big problem with poetry and literature is I just like to read it, I don’t terribly enjoy analyzing it and the analyses of it often seem at best not useful and at worst a huge waste of everyone’s time. I might read some background to understand where the author was coming from when s/he wrote, that’s about it.

I remember reading some horribly complicated exegesis of Donne’s “The Flea”, or maybe it was “Air and Angels”, that went on and on about how it was one of Donne’s most difficult/ complicated poems, and thinking that I doubt very much Donne sat down and thought through/ intended all that when he was writing the poem.

Also, let’s not forget St. Robert Southwell, martyr and also respected poet.
 
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Alice in Wonderland—Lewis Carol
The Swiss Family Robinson—Johan Wyss

Many children’s books, including the Narnia series by C S Lewis, and of course the Lord of the Rings, which I am still reading.
 
I like whodunits – mysteries and detective stories, true or otherwise.
 
I love the poetry of Robert Frost. “The Road Not Taken” is so beautiful!
 
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is probably my favorite book. I cannot say that it is very uplifting, but it does capture the sense of dystopianism and how individuals struggle.
 
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Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.
The Lord by Romano Guardini.

Having a blank here otherwise I’d list more. The poetry of Wallace Stevens and Ezra Pound comes to mind.
 
Round 2…

Babe: The Legend Comes to Life. by Robert W. Creamer
The City Game by Pete Axthlem
The Civil War Trilogy by Bruce Catton
Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas
Exiles by Ron Hansen
 
Some really good books I just love:
The Count of Monte Cristo- by far my #1
Les Miserables
The Way of Kings- Amazing modern day fantasy
Of Mice and Men
Enders Game
Lord of the Rings
The Summa by St. Thomas Aquinas
Reasonable Faith
Mere Christianity- my favorite Christian book besides Sacred Scripture, has an enormously special place in my heart
 
That’s some good ones.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Les Miserables
Of Mice and Men
The Summa
Mere Christianity.
Are some of my favorites too.
 
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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. I came to love this book when I wasn’t really religious a while ago. I still love the book. It is a tragedy, no doubt. It seems to describe in beautiful detail God all around these characters trying to reach out. Sometimes the characters see this. Often not so much. I could relate.
 
1984
Holes by Louis Sachar, from kidhood
The Book of Genesis
The Book Of John
 
True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis De Montfort

The Love of Eternal Wisdom by St. Louis De Montfort

The Revelation of Divine Love in Sixteen Showings, by Dame Julian of Norwich

The Admirable Heart of Mary by St. John Eudes

Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevski
 
Yes, that’s a good analysis! Fitzgerald was Catholic, although he was not practicing as an adult. Nevertheless he grew up seeped in Catholic culture and his books reflect the longing for something greater than wealth, status–something more than the “things of the world.” Great Gatsby is a beautiful story, beautifully written–and very deep. It bears re-reading as one matures; there’s always something new to find in it.
 
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A couple of other favorites of mine:
My Antonia
The Power and the Glory
Cry, The Beloved Country
The Death of Ivan Illych
The Sound and the Fury
Bleak House
The Blithedale Romance
A Separate Peace
 
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