Why do you love the books you love?

[Rechka]

I got an e-mail recently that tried to explain "that instant connection" you can have with someone; it went like this:

"Many times I've had people tell me about someone they've met or maybe seen across the proverbial crowded room. They tell me about the instant connection they felt with this person, or how it seems like they know the person already. They are convinced these are the signs of a soul mate relationship. My belief, however, is that this is rarely the case.

Instead, these instant connections are simply the intuitive recognition of a familiar pattern.

When we're born, our early interactions with others indelibly shape our definition of love. [...] When we meet someone and feel an instant connection, it's usually because they carry out the pattern that matches our definition of love..."

I was thinking that this explanation applies to other aspects of our lives. For instance, it propably explains why I happen to love, absolutely love Hispanic Literature; whether it be modern or from the Century of Gold. However, when it comes to English Literature, I can only enjoy the contemporary. I find Shakespeare, for example, too darn difficult for me, in English anyway.

Is there anything else we can add to this? I'd really appreciate your comments.

[Dahiru Musa]

when the going get tought the touth get going

[starrwriter]

Inspiration to live a more complete life, insight into myself and other people, the escape of entertainment. These are a few of the reasons why I love the books I love.

[RobinHood3000]

I love Michael Crichton novels because they're thrilling, original, humorous, and especially informative.

[Pensive]

I like Harry Potter series because it is entertaining.

I like Mill on the floss because it is also entertaining, informative and Eliot's character writing is also good.

[Weeping Willow]

I love books in general because they help my imgantion evolve and allow me to think of ideas for how could our world can be so different then it really is.
Also i think that books are an endless source of knowlage that inriches my mind and changes who i am and how i see, hear or feel my surronding....

[Riesa]

I love books because I feel like they offer me insight into the world around me, allow me to participate in times, countries and actions that I would never have time or the ability to do in actual life. I love it when an author can pull something that I might of had a half formed thought about, or observe something beautiful or profound and put it into words. My favorite books substantiate and clarify what I might have only half thought or realized. Entertainment value too,of course.

[rachel]

In the reality of the planet on which we live, work, laugh, play, live and die -life is all too often hard to bear and the daily grind can chip away our understanding of who we are as individuals.
I believe passionately that each one of our lives is by Divine ordination a Once upon a time and although certain things are beyond our control, I also believe that each of us chooses to live out our Faerie tale as the hero/heroine , the villain or a bystander.
By opening the pages of books one steps into another's Once upon a time and becomes for a little intertwined with the saga of other humans. In doing so we learn much about ourselves, see our lives as rich and meaningful instead of dull and purposeless. After all when you think about it some of the greatest stories ever told were about ordinary folk, even if some were Hobbits, who were just catapulted suddenly into an adventure. Giving birth, moving to a new location, buying a puppy, going to school all these seemingly ordinary things all culminate into our own special Faerie Tale. Books are wonderful train rides to Faerie Land.

[PeterL]

I love different books for different reasons. Some I like because they are pleasant to read, while I like others, because they say something that I find useful, and others I like because they are funny. The list of reasons goes on.

[Xamonas Chegwe]

I love the books I love for the same reasons I love the people I love:

- Some because they are easy to get on with and make me feel comfortable.
- Some because they challenge me and force me to confront what I'd rather avoid.
- Some because they can make me laugh so effortlessly.
- Some because they can bring pain and tears with equal ease.
- Some because they reflect my own life and experiences.
- Some because they are so different from my own life and experiences.
- Some because they confirm me in my views.
- Some because they convert me to new views.
- Some because they show the confusion in what seems simple.
- Some because they clarify what is perplexing.
- Some because they have nice covers - although this applies to the people more then the books!
- Some because they are constant and true.
- Some because they are changeable and unpredictable.
- Some because they tell the truth.
- Some because their lies are so beguiling.

And some for no reason at all. Just because I do. And these are often the best of them.

[The Unnamable]

The books I love most are the ones with the really nice covers. I love them because they are so lovely.

[Virgil]

LOL!


Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. - Rick in Casablanca

Unnamble, this could be the beginning.

[mhyrrmayde]

I have often felt isolated in my love for reading, as if I were an outdated bookworm, and when I do open the pages of something, my mind is focused not on the outer world of squalor and noise, but of some inner cinema, if you will, that is as deep and wide as any universe. How awful it must be to not be able to read. But I guess one wouldn't know how awful it was, would one, if one had never known the pleasure of, not only mere literacy, but the power of connecting and inferring, the wonder of the mystery of thought, the marvel of the brilliance and grandeur of language?

I love that you have asked the question, "why do we love...". Thanks for asking.................. :brow:

[Virgil]

Oops. I posted twice. Ignore this one.

[Virgil]

I have often felt isolated in my love for reading, as if I were an outdated bookworm, and when I do open the pages of something, my mind is focused not on the outer world of squalor and noise, but of some inner cinema, if you will, that is as deep and wide as any universe. How awful it must be to not be able to read. But I guess one wouldn't know how awful it was, would one, if one had never known the pleasure of, not only mere literacy, but the power of connecting and inferring, the wonder of the mystery of thought, the marvel of the brilliance and grandeur of language?

I love that you have asked the question, "why do we love...". Thanks for asking.................. :brow:

Mhirrmayde - That is absolutely beautifully said. Welcome to the forum.

[Vedrana]

In answering your question, I have to quote Jane Austen (albeit poorly), who said that, "Any person, be they man or woman, who does not take pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid." I find it hard to disagree, because usually I don't get along with people who don't read.

I really like to read because it's a good form of entertainment, it's informative, and it gets you thinking. And it's always good for a conversation. :-) Sometimes I feel like people think I'm too old fashioned and behind with the times just because I prefer to read ("You prefer reading to cards, do you? That is very singular"- Pride and Prejudice), but I really like it. And if the authors write the stories, we might as well read them, right?

As soon as I pick up a good book that I enjoy, I am transported to the world created by the author, very much like Mhyrrmayde describes as being like a cinema. It is a lot like a film, actually, now that I think of it.

It's sort of hard to remember what it was that brought me to love reading so much, because all I can remember is that I learned to read, and then a whole world was opened to me, cliched as that sounds.

Anyway, that's why I read.

[Virgil]

In answering your question, I have to quote Jane Austen (albeit poorly), who said that, "Any person, be they man or woman, who does not take pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid." I find it hard to disagree, because usually I don't get along with people who don't read.

I really like to read because it's a good form of entertainment, it's informative, and it gets you thinking. And it's always good for a conversation. :-) Sometimes I feel like people think I'm too old fashioned and behind with the times just because I prefer to read ("You prefer reading to cards, do you? That is very singular"- Pride and Prejudice), but I really like it. And if the authors write the stories, we might as well read them, right?

As soon as I pick up a good book that I enjoy, I am transported to the world created by the author, very much like Mhyrrmayde describes as being like a cinema. It is a lot like a film, actually, now that I think of it.

It's sort of hard to remember what it was that brought me to love reading so much, because all I can remember is that I learned to read, and then a whole world was opened to me, cliched as that sounds.

Anyway, that's why I read.

Well said too, Vendrana. You reminded me of how much I loved to read as a young boy. It was pretty much out of the ordinary in comparison to others I knew. I would love to read on my own volition. I would force my mother to take me to the library once a week. I couldn't have been more than seven or eight. Today I've amassed a large number of books in my own home. I never throw out a book, ever. I can't. My wife is frustrated with them being all over the place.

[AimusSage]

I agree with never throwing away a book, to me that would be like throwing away a part of myself, something I would regret for the rest of my life. Unfortunately I don't have nearly as many books as I would like, as the librarians always have me return the books I loan. They never like it when I return one late, not that that ever happens. :rolleyes:

[The Unnamable]

LOL!
Unnamble, this could be the beginning.

“In my beginning is my end…In my end is my beginning.” :)
TS Eliot

[ClaesGefvenberg]

and when I do open the pages of something, my mind is focused not on the outer world of squalor and noise, but of some inner cinema, if you will, that is as deep and wide as any universe. Well put. I can relate to that.

The books I really like all have that quality: They provide a sense of wonder, a feeling that what I read is really happening, and the outside world fades away.

Once, when I told a girl just how much I read, she simply stared at me, slowly shook her head and retorted: - God, what a boring life, sitting there with a bunch of books. :lol: Somehow, I think I failed to convey what I express above. :D

/Claes

[Dark Lady]

I think I would have to say that I like a book if it allows me to escape from this world for a little while but I love a book if it won't allow me to escape from it.

[danielrsmith]

I agree with Dark Lady completely, something doesn't have to be a great work of literature to be a good book. Take Harry Potter for instance, or even the DaVinci Code (god forbid) I've read them, and what's more i've enjoyed them because of their ability to captivate me and not let me go to sleep until 3am.

[Bookworm Cris]

I love the books I love.... because they make me think, see other people's lives (real or not, like mine or not), because they entertain me, or because they shock me. It´s like Xamonas Chegwe said (that list was really good), we like different books for different reasons, in different times. But the pleasure of reading is the same, even with books so different from one another. And even Da Vinci Code may be a good reading (I liked it!), just don't take it serious, it´s just for fun.

[subterranean]

it's usually because they carry out the pattern that matches our definition of (books)..."


Well, I don't really have any definition of "books that I must love to read". In some occasions, people's opinions are the reason why I read certain books, and yes, some become my all time fav books. But there are those which I found randomly and "fell deeply in love" with (Catch 22 is one of them). And why do I love them? Well, I think it's like eating something which is not only filled my stomach, made me healthy, and gave me energy, but also brought delicious tastes to my tounge. You get almost everything in one plate (book)

[rot]

they keep me sane.
they kindle the lives of my muses and, sometimes, makes them.

[Mary Sue]

I collect and read books---and love them---because a good book is a portal to another universe, really. Read a good book and you're inside someone else's head. You're able to see through someone else's eyes, and with a new and unique perspective you can take a "virtual reality" tour of somewhere else. And along the way you get to meet some fascinating new friends. PLUS if you're reading a Shakespeare or say, a Tolstoi, you have the added pleasure of language and the magic of words. What could be better than all that?

Other people may prefer other things: stamps, coins, jewelry, antique vases. But these other collectibles seem to me pretty one-dimensional and limited as compared to books!

[The Raven]

Mhirrmayde - That is absolutely beautifully said. Welcome to the forum.

And my turn to answer the question. There are several reasons why I love literature, and I should say I prefer quite old literature than contemporary one, whether the original language it was written in. But most importantly, I love the books I love because they have more than touched me, messed with my very guts, emotive novels that don't fall into ridiculous phrases or oversweetened happy endings. I love them because I can see in them reflections of a reality that either is so close to mine or it is so exotic that comes to be even more attractive. Mostly, the reason is that whether any of the previously mentioned features, I find verosimile, believable human beings put into situations which cause them to make crucial decissions, and might end up doing the opposite to all reason or benefit (illogically from an external point of view), but is not it what some of us do sometimes, when pushed into unexpected situations in which our very deep feelings are involved?
I love mankind, and human nature, and every expression of art, is an actual evidence that there is such so-called human soul (for me). So I love the books I love because they help me find it, and remind me of it everytime I get to them for a re-reading. These are the ones I read over and over, some even at certain times of year, although I'm on a steady search for new authors, books, plays, that shake me the way Pound, Faulkner, Kafka, Joyce, Hawthorne, Eliot, Hemingway, Shakespeare, Borges, Cortázar, García Márquez, Orwell, and Rulfo, have done.

[amalia1985]

I enjoy reading all genres, but what applies to me is history,actually. Why? I haven't really though about it...Psychology, perhaps...

[Nossa]

I read everything, but I 'love' to read things by Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde and recently Khaled Hosseini. I love how they put thier characters together to give you a vivid image that you can picture in your mind, and for me it becomes a three dimensions pictures, cuz I can almost see them moving and talking in front of me.

But generaly speaking, I love reading cuz sometimes it feels that it is the best company you can ever have. You can live hundreds of lives, see different places and meet various people through the pages of any book. I love it cuz it simply makes me want more in life.

[Dark Muse]

The books I priamarily read above all else are historical fiction, and I love them more than anything becasue I am a bit of a romantic, and I have something of a love affair with the past. I love being transported into these long ago times and imagine how people might have lived then and watch them come to life in thier lives on the page. Of course logicaly I know that living in many of those times would be far from glamorus, and there would be a lot of hardship and no true conveinces, as well as much danger, but at the sametime, sometimes I imagine such ages would suit me better then the modern age so I live vicarruously through the characters in my books.

[Dori]

In answering your question, I have to quote Jane Austen (albeit poorly), who said that, "Any person, be they man or woman, who does not take pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid." I find it hard to disagree, because usually I don't get along with people who don't read.

I find it easy to disagree with that. I'm sure Mark Twain would too; he once said, "Just the omission of Jane Austen’s books alone would make a fairly good library out of a library that hadn’t a book in it." ( :lol: I can't help laughing everytime I read this.) But I don't disagree for the same reasons. In other words, I have no grudge against Jane Austen.


Although I might exaggerate, I think the following quote from one of my favorite books will suffice in explaining why I love reading.

"[Frollo] was possessed by an absolute fever for the acquiring and storing of knowledge. At eighteen, he had made his way through the four facalties; it seemed to the young man that life had but one sole aim: knowledge."

(from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo)

Like I mentioned above, this quote exaggerates my condition. In a few words, I love reading because I love to learn.

[Hira]

The first time I truly fell in love reading books was with Harry Potter. And then Lord of the Rings. It was an escape. I stood entranced at my tiny doorway. I could feel these worlds. Hogwarts castle, MiddleEarth. They lifted me out of my mundanity.

I feel an uncanny exultation in words. In sentences. The way they unveil, bring out hidden meanings. Beautiful, beautiful meanings. Seem to explain our very existence. So, I go on, with the hope that things would stand in more light perhaps, in the end.

[watuknocankillu]

some books with just a story in them to lose your imagination in are fun i guess.
but i like to read books with a meaning and something you can take with you after you've read them. to teach you things you never wouldve thought of and give you a different perspective than that which normally comes across in books.

[Bakiryu]

They just "feel" good. Is like explaining a love for chocolate. Why do you like it? it's just good.

[LadyWentworth]

They just "feel" good. Is like explaining a love for chocolate. Why do you like it? it's just good.

:thumbs_up Exactly!! :D

But then I suppose you'd have to really love chocolate to agree with this statement! :)

[crazefest456]

When I read books, I go under trance where I just lose my physical consciousness and become (not neccesarily part of it but) part of the narration...Like, I take the narrator in the book's place. It sort of gets too intense (in Crime and Punishment) and I start getting very emotional...That's why I love it; I become human again.

[aeroport]

I love the books I love because they stave off the impending, the ever-imposing, terrible loneliness of life.

[amanda_isabel]

when the words become real, that's when i know i like a book. like, when you fall in love, er.. become infatuated with the characters in the book. but then, author must be pretty good if they can call for infatuation to a fragment of stimulated imagination :)

[karo]

I love the books I love for the same reasons I love the people I love:

- Some because they are easy to get on with and make me feel comfortable.
- Some because they challenge me and force me to confront what I'd rather avoid.
- Some because they can make me laugh so effortlessly.
- Some because they can bring pain and tears with equal ease.
- Some because they reflect my own life and experiences.
- Some because they are so different from my own life and experiences.
- Some because they confirm me in my views.
- Some because they convert me to new views.
- Some because they show the confusion in what seems simple.
- Some because they clarify what is perplexing.
- Some because they have nice covers - although this applies to the people more then the books!
- Some because they are constant and true.
- Some because they are changeable and unpredictable.
- Some because they tell the truth.
- Some because their lies are so beguiling.

And some for no reason at all. Just because I do. And these are often the best of them.


How excellently well put! There's little I could add to this. Reading for me is about learning, discovery, gaining perspective, appreciation of language and creativity and, above all, enjoyment in the colourfulness of literature. I like the way you've expressed your answer.

[Oniw17]

Intelligent Discussion. History(specifically history that I know). Philosophy. And backstories.

[Wyoecho]

I love the books I do because they allow an escape from the mundane existence of the work-a-day world. Books also give me new ideas.

[ThePianoMan]

It depends on the book, but there are a number of things that make me love books.
- Characters that really feel real. Fictitious people that seem like real human beings, pleasant or not.
- Plots that make me want to keep on turning the pages.
- Really good writing, which by itself is a joy to read.
- Insights on life. I love it when a book gives me a new way of looking at things.

[naomi moon]

"When I read books, I go under trance where I just lose my physical consciousness and become (not necessarily part of it but) part of the narration...Like, I take the narrator in the book's place" Well said crazefest456 I feel the same way when it comes to reading books :lol:

[Erichtho]

I don't think I have a pattern for loving a book. My two favourite writers, Franz Kafka and Friedrich Hölderlin, couldn't be any more different, they have absolutely nothing in common except for the language they wrote in.

I always recognise a book as being good or bad, no matter in which situation I read it, but what makes a great book lovable for me is not so much its beauty, but the biographical moment in which I pick it up. Sometimes one is just more impressible, more capable of indulging in greatness...

Kafka was for me love at second sight; I had read already a collection of his short stories, which I enjoyed but thought of as nothing too outstanding. At one point I spent some weeks abroad, had nothing to read anymore and couldn't read in that country's language, so I went to the student's corner of a bookstore, where they had different readings for foreign language classes, and amongst the few German books was Kafka's Das Schloß. I bought it and read it three times during my sojourn; I fell in love with it, and still there is this tattered book on my shelf, printed on bad paper and with footnotes with explanations for "difficult" phrases.

My love for Hölderlin was much more immediately, after I read the first sentences of Hyperion it just clicked, I read slowly, as slowly as I could, and with increasing pleasure, and by the time I had turned around the last page I remained in adoration.

[chasestalling]

One criteria for me: will it be as good if not better when reread.

[DapperDrake]

For me a good book is enriching, by which I mean it educates me in some way. A good book (to me) will always have some quality that leaves the reader enlightened, be it political, Philosophical, moral, historical, poetic, etc.. there should always be that vital "depth".
I despise books that are just hollow "page-turners", the literary equivalent of of a TV soap opera.

[JBI]

I feel poetry is just a way to prepare myself for death. A little bit grim, but when I read it, I can literally feel my brain expand, to the point where I know of more experiences than I could have felt, and hear far more within the world.

[novelsryou]

I've always thought about reading, reading the classics mostly, but for one reason or other I just didn't. I read the usual high school stuff, well some of it anyway. Finally at age 49 I started and I can't get enough, so I enjoy everything I have read so far. I mix in some WWII history, which I love, as some of you may have noticed by my posts.

Well, back to mowing the lawn...

[bounty]

For me a good book is enriching, by which I mean it educates me in some way. A good book (to me) will always have some quality that leaves the reader enlightened, be it political, Philosophical, moral, historical, poetic, etc.. there should always be that vital "depth".
I despise books that are just hollow "page-turners", the literary equivalent of of a TV soap opera.

i agree with dapper---i love when books have some redeeming characteristic that makes them meaningful. at the same time however, sometimes i can thrill at an authors ability and facility with the language. thats the main reason why i dont like hemingway's writing (though i do like his stories) all that much---the overly short, and even terse style doesnt captivate me. lastly, i love books in series, with the same main characters---after awhile, its a lot like visiting old friends.

[kelby_lake]

And my turn to answer the question. There are several reasons why I love literature, and I should say I prefer quite old literature than contemporary one, whether the original language it was written in. But most importantly, I love the books I love because they have more than touched me, messed with my very guts, emotive novels that don't fall into ridiculous phrases or oversweetened happy endings. I love them because I can see in them reflections of a reality that either is so close to mine or it is so exotic that comes to be even more attractive. Mostly, the reason is that whether any of the previously mentioned features, I find verosimile, believable human beings put into situations which cause them to make crucial decissions, and might end up doing the opposite to all reason or benefit (illogically from an external point of view), but is not it what some of us do sometimes, when pushed into unexpected situations in which our very deep feelings are involved?
I love mankind, and human nature, and every expression of art, is an actual evidence that there is such so-called human soul (for me). .

That is basically exactly how I feel and why I have subconsciously shunned the 'fantasy' genre. I think humanity and the potention of it is far more fantastic than dragons or vampires.

[Joreads]

I have often felt isolated in my love for reading, as if I were an outdated bookworm, and when I do open the pages of something, my mind is focused not on the outer world of squalor and noise, but of some inner cinema, if you will, that is as deep and wide as any universe. How awful it must be to not be able to read. But I guess one wouldn't know how awful it was, would one, if one had never known the pleasure of, not only mere literacy, but the power of connecting and inferring, the wonder of the mystery of thought, the marvel of the brilliance and grandeur of language?

I love that you have asked the question, "why do we love...". Thanks for asking.................. :brow:

I often felt that reading was an isolating past time also. I love to read and my family do not. The best thing I ever did was join a book club. I have formed some really close friendships with people that I would never had known had it not been for books.

I love books that make me feel - it doesn't matter what they make me feel as so long as they make me feel something. That is why I love the books I love.

[valleyjune]

I love the books that make me immerge and get absorbed in worlds different or similar to mine inner world. In worlds I would like to experience and these books give me a unique chance to do so. It really feels like, as someone said before, cinema. So the language being attractive to me is one factor. Books that evoke in me the sense of recognising or having shared similar feelings is another category. Or books where I identify with some of the main characters, whose story, reactions, ideas etc would probably help me psychoanalyse myself or sometimes find solutions. And sometimes all the above together or perhaps more which I cannot recollect now...

[armenian]

any book ive liked/havnt been bored by/been able to read through was because i related/found the main character similar to myself.

im very self centered :D

[Statistic]

I have often felt isolated in my love for reading, as if I were an outdated bookworm, and when I do open the pages of something, my mind is focused not on the outer world of squalor and noise, but of some inner cinema, if you will, that is as deep and wide as any universe. How awful it must be to not be able to read. But I guess one wouldn't know how awful it was, would one, if one had never known the pleasure of, not only mere literacy, but the power of connecting and inferring, the wonder of the mystery of thought, the marvel of the brilliance and grandeur of language?

I love that you have asked the question, "why do we love...". Thanks for asking.................. :brow:

Good point, mhyrrmayde. I learned to read later than most, so I can remember what illiteracy was like quite clearly. Looking back, it seems like my thoughts were always shallow and self-absorbed, like "When will I get my next sandwhich?" I think reading shapes peoples' minds more than they realize, and introduces them to a deeper state of consciousness. Without the printed word, humans are pretty much just talking animals (which is not necessarily a bad thing, but that's another discussion).

Since literature hit my life, all else has grown pale. I read books because they are more real to me than my own life, and make more sense.

[Sjo]

A book by Ian Mcewan-is there anything else more sublime??

They're just so sinister but he writes in a very subtle, tantalizing way that's really disconcerting. Especially in the more macabre ones like The Innocent and The Cement... he has a very clever way of keeping you out of your comfort zone but it's fascinating.

On Chesil Beach-wow. That made me cry so much, I don't think I've ever read anything so complex and poignant; he's so discerning of other's emotions it seems he knows them in reality. Very articulate and sympathetic with everyone he writes about.

[Viola Hathaway]

Why do I love the books I love? Escapism, basically. There's nothing more wonderful than to lose yourself in a book for a while and completely forget the monotonous routine of real life for a time. Also, the very fact that a variety of shapes on a page are capable of conveying such a wealth of ideas, senses and feelings, and being so deeply affecting...

And then there's the moment when you read the last sentence of a really good book, close it and can't do anything but sigh deeply, as if you truly have followed in the footsteps of the characters from the first page.

[1n50mn14]

Originality: like something I have never read before. Different content, a new style of writing, an original point of view.

Inspiration: spurs me to action, to love, to write, to read MORE, to lead a more complete and fuller, more satisfied life.

Humour and entertainment: some things simply make me laugh out loud.

Informative: books about subjects I am intrigued by and need to learn more about.

Romance and fantasy: I love books that fill me with love and hope and a sense of wonder, and romantacism.

[Dr. Hill]

I love Crime and Punishment because of the psychological depth of the novel. It's truly fascinating to see the intricacies and the amazing honesty with which Dostoevskii examines the human mind.

[Redzeppelin]

I love the books that put into words things that I've felt but never had the words to express.

[BloomingRose]

I love Louisa May Alcott's books because I love the XIX century, and I like all the manners of that time, that you can obviously learn and understand by reading her books. I love the dialogues she writes, and the plenty of characters she has, though many of them seem quite similar to me :P
Also, I've read Little Women a thousand times so far, and now that I'm older I belive each of the main characters represent a part of my own character and temper, and that's why this book is so meaningful to me :)

[rangini]

Reading is a passion that we cultivate, just like we do with the relationships. I've read and re-read Graham Greene's The End of An Affair and Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, both love stories, both classics. I love Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Dickens and Willa Cather. Of the recent authors, Khaled Hosseini is one writer whose books I find difficult to put down once I begin. There! Those are my prejudices. The greatest fear I've is not being able to read books, Virgil.
Rangini