Someone asked me to name my favorite book, and I immediately panicked … as I always do when faced with this question.
How can you possibly expect me to pick just one??
And also: When asking this question, could you PLEASE BE MORE SPECIFIC?? 😅
Before I share my favorite(s) with you, I have a confession: You’d probably expect some or all of these four to be on my list. BUT even though I’m (of course) familiar with them … uhhh, well (you’ll be shocked, I know 🤭) … I haven’t yet read them all the way through: Anne of Green Gables, Peter Pan, The Secret Garden, and The Wind in the Willows. (I’m sure you’re now wondering what I’ve been doing with all my book-time, so read on!)
Here’s a list (in no particular order) of some of my favorite fiction.
Favorite children’s books with swoon-worthy illustrations:
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden, and The Rescuers by Margery Sharp, both illustrated by Garth Williams
Favorite vampire book: Sunshine by Robin McKinley, although I do also love the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness
Favorite Jane Austen novel: Persuasion (but Northanger Abbey is a close second)
Favorite historical fiction when I was a budding young feminist: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Favorite recent fantasy (as a grown-up feminist):
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Favorite book from Madeleine L’Engle’s extensive catalog (I’ve read them all and ended up re-reading this one every summer for years): A Ring of Endless Light
Favorite cozy fantasy: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
Favorite fantasy when I was 10: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Favorite children’s fantasy series that I first read as a grown-up: The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
Favorite vibes-only book: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Favorite dystopian book: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Favorite genre-bending time-travel book: The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley
Favorite fairy tale: The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen
Favorite mysteries when I was 10: Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene, and The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Favorite classic children’s book: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Favorite picture books that I’ve discovered & read recently: Evergreen by Mathew Cordell, Little Fox in the Forest by Stephanie Graegin, and The White Cat and the Monk by Jo Ellen Bogart
Favorite obscure book that was given to me as a gift, right when I could relate to it the most: The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen by Elizabeth von Arnim
Favorite book when I was a young teenager who wanted nothing more than to be a writer: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
* * * *
Just as that novel you set aside as a “DNF” might actually (instead) be a “not right now” book for you … so, too, do some books find us at exactly the right time.
So it makes sense that our own personal lists of favorites would be — and by all rights ought to be — as wide, long, and varied as our interests, our experiences, and our reading moods.
What are some of your favorites?
Hi there! I’m Jennifer, coming to you about once a week with brief essays on my writing (and reading) & gardening life.
I also write four Tiny Garden Stories each week, and post one here on Substack each Monday.
You can buy my books here.