STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Maddie · Coach

Favorite books...

theotherjess · Chanel

The Great Gatsby: Just beautiful writing and a great story. I could flip to any given page and find something insighful and simple all at once.

The Sun Also Rises: Sort of slow, but the last page was just eyeopening. The part where Brett says to Jake, "We could have had such a damned good time together," and he looks at her and says, "Isn't it pretty to think so?" Looove that. So poetic and beautiful and mysterious. I always play what if.

Pride and Prejudice: Great wit and banter and also beautifully written. Plus I love Darcy.

If I think of more, I'll post them.

Collette · Chanel

My ultimate favorite book of all time

The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds.

Deuce · Dooney & Bourke

East of Eaden: Steinbeck I really like Steinbeck but this is my total favoirte. Before reading this when people would ask what my fave book was or wanted a reccomendation I drew a blank. But now this book is totally my go to book. I really like the story and the way it is a modern day version of biblical stories, but twisted.

NCshopper · Hermes

Deuce wrote:

East of Eaden: Steinbeck I really like Steinbeck but this is my total favoirte. Before reading this when people would ask what my fave book was or wanted a reccomendation I drew a blank. But now this book is totally my go to book. I really like the story and the way it is a modern day version of biblical stories, but twisted.

That is a great book! I love Steinbeck--his book Travels With Charlie is great too.

My all time favorite book is Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It's an amazing story, and Marquez has a way with words that blows me away. It's a great love story and Marquez is IMO the best storyteller there is.

jen · Kate Spade

Not a book, actually a play, but Hamlet brings me to tears. I LOVE the concept of a play within a play and testing the King's reaction. Hamlet's character speaks to me for some reason. Just love it!

Maddie · Coach

Ok I've given it some thought and here are mine...

Shabanu by Suzanne Fischer Staples...This my favorite kids' book. It's about a girl in Pakistan and deals with some pretty adult themes.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck...Steinbeck is my favorite author and this is my favorite Steinbeck. It's so complicated and epic. This is also my favorite book of all time. It is just a joy to read.

The Stranger by Albert Camus...I wish I could read this in French. This book is a case study in character development and even in the English translation I love how closely the wrting style follows the narrarator's emotions or lack thereof.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving...I love how complicated Irving is and then in the end it all falls together. His books are so crazy, but when reading them it makes perfect sense. He is able to make insane characters totally believable. I also love The World According to Garp.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris...This seems like a cheesy pick, but I think David Sedaris is a great writer. Comedic writing can be very difficult and he gets it just right. However, this is my favorite of his books because there are stories that are not all comedy.

Other favorites are One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, Heart of Darkness by Joeseph Conrad, Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis, The Dubliners by James Joyce, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor, The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, The Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks.

Sorry there are so many and a lot of kids' books.

-- Edited by Maddie at 22:37, 2005-09-25

honey · Gucci

like jen my all time favorite book isn't a book, it's a play, but i read the book version -- for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. i love that book, i pretty much love anything by ntozake shange (she has a really beautiful/unique style and she tells a good story).

eta: why -- it's pretty much the first book i had read (up to that point) that kind of summed up how i felt (not that i am/was suicidal) but the book really hit home.

that's my fav. there are lots of other books that i like too, but i'm sure others will list them.

-- Edited by honey at 22:51, 2005-09-25

kenzie · Chanel

The Great Gastby- I just adore this book. I could read and reread it over and over again and never tire of it.

The Stand (Stephen King)- It's like Lost. Everytime you read it you notice something new. There are so many underlying themes and every time I read it, I have a new 'a-ha!' moment.

Not a book, more like a collection of short stories, but anything by Edgar Allen Poe- The Telltale Heart, The Mask of the Red Death, The Fall of the House of Usher. I like creepy stories.

And I'll also devour pretty much anything by Stephen King.

mikacat · Coach

Gone with the Wind---can't explain why really but i have read and reread it.

oh the places you will go---dr. suess---good inspirational book

Who moved my CHeese?---good inspirational book as well

A Separate Peace---had to read it in high school and i have just always loved it

Girl Interrupted --- deep and funny at the same time---interesting to me how close sanity/insanity are at any moment

A girlfriends guide to pregnancy---just freakin hilarious!!

Sophies CHoice---fiction but it is about one womans choice between her children in a concentration camp outside Germany.....deep and meaningful

Great Expectations--- just a great classic with multiple subplots---i loved it

Why bad things happen to good people --- just a wonderfully written deep and meaningful look at life and why bad things happen

-- Edited by mikacat at 09:35, 2005-09-26

theotherjess · Chanel

Maddie wrote:

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving...I love how complicated Irving is and then in the end it all falls together. His books are so crazy, but when reading them it makes perfect sense. He is able to make insane characters totally believable.

Ahh, I totally forgot about this one! Love, love, love this book! I love books where everything comes together and ties in the end.

sfcaligirl · Dooney & Bourke

another vote for "the great gatsby" and "love in the time of cholera." i also looooove "to kill a mockingbird." that is probably my all-time favorite.

rocky · Coach

I am a huge Anne Rice fan (her older stuff though, it was more creative)

So Queen of the Damned. My favorite in the series.

Also, in junior high my favorite series was The Vampire Diaries.

Lets just say I have a tiny obssession with vampires

cc · Marc Jacobs

The one book that I come back to again and again is Brideshead Revisisted. It reminds me a lot of The Great Gatsby, which I also love, in that it's set in the period between the World Wars and is about an outsider (the narrator) who becomes entraced by a wealthy, somewhat dysfunctional group of people - in this case a titled British family whose world is sort of falling apart. I've probably read it 4 times. I've read the Great Gatsby 3 times but it was always for school so that doesn't really count.

I think my other favorite book might be Master and Margarita which is what inspired the song "Sympathy for the Devil." It's a really weird allegorical novel filled with black humor and combines a story about the devil showing up in Moscow with one of the character's novels about Pontius Pilate. Actually maybe it's a tie between this and Crime and Punishment.

Other lit that I love:
Adrian Mole Diarie - I guess they're sort of a teenage boy version of Bridget Jones. The first two books were written in the 80s so some parts are a bit dated but I read them as a teenager in the 90s and thought they were hilarious.

The Executioner's Song - a "non-fiction novel" about the life, crimes and execution of Gary Gilmore. One of the most amazing things that I have ever read. It's over 1000 pages and I tore through it.

Gogol's short stories - more allegorical, satirical Russian lit including a story about a man who wakes up without a nose.

Maddie - I also loved The Stranger. I haven't read it since high school and would love to re-read it but I've got 2 other Camus books on my shelf that I started and never finished. And I wish I could read it in French too. My boyfriend can tear through French novels and I can barely read menus.

-- Edited by cc at 00:54, 2005-09-28

flknight24 · Dooney & Bourke

I love quite of few of the books which were already mentioned like East of Eden and Pride and Prejudice so here are a few of my other favorites:

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - I get most of my books from the library and I actually went out and bought this one after I read it. It's a fable about following your dreams.

The Alienist by Caleb Carr - "Silence of the Lambs" meets Jack the Ripper...scary!

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory - A "real" fairy tale.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - A biblical tale with a twist.

The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - I just thought this book had so many interesting twists and turns. Plus, I really fell in love with the characters.

I have a million more but these are a few that came to mind.