Favorite Book - pick one

A modern children’s picture book called All The World (Scanlon/Frazee)

This is Happiness by Niall Williams

I answered Little Women earlier in the thread, but probably should have also included Prince of Tides. I love how Pat Conroy explored his complicated relationship with the South in his books.

Mine might be a strange one—Paper Lion by George Plimpton. It was assigned as summer reading the summer before high school. I really wanted no part of school work during the summer but picked it up at some point and could not believe how much fun reading a well-written book about football could be! To this day, 50+ years later, I have a soft spot for the Detroit Lions as a result.

That book turned me into a life long reader.

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The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Readers who enjoyed one of these books may enjoy the other.

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I really loved “Life After Life” by Kate Atkinson.

Also loved “The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead and “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler, which is too close to home right now (written in 1993 and set in 2024).

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Also everything Barbara Kingsolver has ever written.

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Charlotte’s Web.

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I almost listed Charlotte’s Web. My third grade teacher Miss Hoff read it to the class. I’ve reread it since.

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I was obsessed with this book as a child. I even wrote a song about it and would sing it all the time. My dad is right - I was an odd child!

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Charlotte’s Web was the first real book I read for pleasure. I can still recall being devastated and just crying and crying.

I’m going to write many of these down. I have a fairly new kindle and never know what to read!

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Kane and Abel

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

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Wrinkle in Time has stayed with me since I first read it as a child. I have lost track of how many times I’ve read it.

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My friends like A Wrinkle in Time, but I did not read it until my daughter read it in about 5th grade. Liked it enough to start a habit for a few years where I’d read books that my kids enjoyed, have something to talk about.

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I vividly remember the first time I discovered A Wrinkle in Time. I was visiting a cousin and went to school with her and her teacher read it aloud to the class. I knew I had to read the book, but of course didn’t remember the title. It came in a box of books they sent us for Christmas that year. We were in Somalia where there was no real bookstore, so it was a big deal. Later I read her adult books and imagine my delight when a number of characters reappeared.

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Little Women ( I have my copy from when I was young).

Phantom Toll Booth (I’ve read it so many times that I have replaced the paperback at least three times).

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This made me think of a major childhood favorite:

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

… whose naughty protagonists made me think of my #1 childhood favorite Harriet the Spy. I just love Harriet. One of the great American female characters of all time IMO, right next to Ramona Quimby.

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Such a fun thread. Phantom Tollbooth is another book I discovered when 5th grade daughter was reading it. Mixed up Files… was on of my childhood favorites. I think I reread it when my kids were in elementary school. Definitely read Harriet the Spy. And Holes (plus saw the movie at the theater, special treat for my son when we had lots of time to kill between piano competition events).

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Ramona Geraldine Quimby
:smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

And don’t forget Beezus. :heart:

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God Bless Beverly Cleary :raised_hands:

She really added something to the American childhood identity, and captured some very beautiful aspects of our society.

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