They can overlap, of course, but it’s fascinating to hear what people consider the greatest book they’ve ever read (plot, structure, themes, prose, message) and also what their favourite book is (100% feelings and personal taste).
Suggest me your top three for each. I find this can be a great way to discover new books. Mine, if I had to boil it down, are:
Greatest: _To Kill a Mockingbird_ by Harper Lee, _A Tree Grows in Brooklyn_ by Betty Smith, _The Way of Kings_ by Brandon Sanderson.
Favourite: _Valiant_ by Sarah McGuire, _All Creatures Great and Small_ by James Herriot, _The Way of Kings_ by Brandon Sanderson.
by Et_set-setera
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I’d have to think about this for days to boil down my 3 greatest and favorites over a lifetime, but to give you a quicker answer based on recent reads or re- reads and fiction rather than nonfiction, my current greatest is probably
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara,
The Lord of the Rings, and
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.
And my current favorites are the
Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin,
all the mysteries by Tana French, and maybe
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett.
greatest: brothers karamozov, anna karenina, lolita
favorite: the scarlet letter, the moon is down, the forbidden game
“Greatest” is hard, but some books that I think were excellently crafted: Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Nevada by Imogen Binnie, The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
Books that I subjectively loved but didn’t think were objectively excellent: The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai, Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio