The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I've read it 5x. Innocence of youth vs. the sins of age. Absolutely love that book.

A close second is the recent book. Finn by Jon Cinch which tells the unknown fictional account of Huck Finn's father. Dark, sad and uplifting all at once.

Book: tie - The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Naked by David Sedaris

Novel: tie - The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

The Bible is a socially desirable response. After all, does Cosmo/Essence/Vogue/Maxim/XXL count as literature? A good follow up question would be this: other than in church, when was the last time you read the Bible?

The Bible is number one b/c most American's do not read books and this is the only one they can remember off the tops of their heads.

Doh! Americans.

Should the Bible even be considered in this list? Yes, it's a book, but it has an entirely different relevance in comparison to the other nine books in the top ten. How many Lord Of The Rings churches to you see?

Well…here in San Francisco there's a Church of The She-Goddess, so you never know.

The idea of reading Gone with the wind makes me want to stab my hand with a butter knife. The movie is classic though

ooh, david sedaris.

naked is excellent.

i have always loved the great gatsby and a farewell to arms.

oooooh, can i have more than one?

Pale Fire, Nabokov; A Blazing New World, Margaret Cavendish; Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud (Don't let the author's name mislead you; it truly is an amazing book); The New Science, Giambattista Vico; Charlotte's Web, E.B.White; Souls of Black Folk, DuBois; Another Philosophy of History, Johann Gottfried von Herder; Inferno, Dante; Paradise Lost, Milton (does that count?). Oh, and the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer.

great. now ask me who's my favorite kid. that one is so much easier.

just kidding, kid. oops!

I've got a few:

"My Name is Asher Lev" & "The Gift of Asher Lev"

"The Harry Potter Series" (and what…. say sumthing… lol)

"The Golden Compass" and the rest of P.Pullman's trilogy.

"48 Laws of Power"– some really good stuff.

"Biomimicry"– yeah… I'm a treehugger.

"Choke" — good stuff… the same writer of Fight Club.

"Great Gatsby" — classic

Okay…. that's enough. Kinda stole the show there didn't I? I can never choose just "one" thing as a favorite.

William Shakespeare (fun/school)
As a kid my favorites were:
1. Hamlet (a beautiful descent into madness)
2. Macbeth ( a glorious evil)
3. The Merchant of Venice (timeless life lessons)
3. King Lear ( a earthly tragedy)
–
Jayne Eyre (School)
——
The Count of Monte Cristo (fun)
Anything with a bit of real science (fun)
—
Nostradamus predictions in Olde French.
Had too much time on my hand as a pre-teen.
———–
War and Peace - Didn't finish. (school, wrote a great essay though))
———————-
Present day:
1. Anything and everything that Stephen King writes
2. Quantum science books.
Hate autobiographies, people tend to see their minutiae in a grandiose light.
Now my tomes are mainly related to work (drudgery)

Their Eyes Were Watching God is my Favorite as well. Zora has a poetic command of language. She inspired me to write. The tale is so layered and the prose is beautiful.

Gatsby is great. I should get Fitzgerald's other books.

souldecirce, are you serious with Canterbury Tales? I took British Lit. Chaucer made my brain bleed a little.

stopthemadness, Sedaris is the only reason I read. Short stories for my short attention span. Also hilarious. Every time I see his picture, I just imagine him crawling on the floor with a straw in his nose trying to snort up any leftover meth from the carpet. Hmmm. Well, it's funny when he tells it.

I suppose I should add the usual:
The bible: as a teen, read the book of Revelations, out of curiosity to determine if it was really prophetic and if the prophesies laid out could be related to geographic locations on BC/AD maps. Also to see if there were hidden codes as I was told.

Also some guy in 1848? London called Marx and his manifesto:)
My only excuse is, my parents hated idle minds.

I would have to say Black No More by George Schuyler, Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed, The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty, Native Son and Black Boy by Richard Wright.

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. I read that book when I was 17 and fell instantly in love with it.

The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker

Harry Potter series

Secret Life of Bees

I could go on…..

Richard Wright results in at least mild depression for a few weeks. Read both in African American lit. Here are some other highlights from that course: Passing (Larsen), Sassafrass Cypress and Indigo (Shange), Beloved, Color Purple, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

My dislike for Their Eyes Were Watching God has everything to do with Janie. The redeeming part of that book for me was Tea Cake's death because passing off some abusive idiot as sympathetic wasn't working for me. The part that pissed me off the most was how the other men were kinda jealous that when he beat Janie, it showed whereas their darker wives apparently bore no souvenirs from their abuse. It was a well-written book though.

Passing is supposed to be serious but I giggled every time I read "nig."

oh, my goodness, there are some very interesting selections out there! I've been meaning to read Secret Life of Bees.

@ TruthTeller: Shakespeare, yes! favorite there has to be Richard III.

@daria: Did you read Chaucer in translation? Reading in translation (modernised English) takes the kick out of Chaucer's prose. "The Miller's Tale" and "The pardoner's Tale are two of my fave stories within the book.

Come on, check this out, from "The Miller's Tale":
And Absolon, hym fil no bet ne wers, / But with his mouth he kiste her naked erse / Ful savourly, er he were war of this. / Abak he stirte, and thoughte it was amys, / For wel he wiste a womman hath no berd."

The tale is hilarious, ribald, and raunchy. Just me cup o' tea. and i love that all the characters (white) say axe instead of ask. true story.

T

@ Eric T: i never got around to Mumbo Jumbo, eve though i was told it was "superior" to flight from Canada, which i loved. did you read the latter? what'd you think?

i must add Harryette Mullen's muse & Drudge (a book of poetry, but hey, Milton's in) that i turn to, repeatedly.

a sample of Mullen:

bittersweet and inescapable
hip signals like later
some handsome man kind on the eyes
a kind man looks good to me

cosign, Harryette, cosign.

Can't pick a favorite but had to say something! Passing and Quicksand are amazing… Ilove Nella Larsen…I have to say Passing is top 5 if not #1; it's such an amazing story. I'm also a huge Zora fan and love Their Eyes Were Watching God, I love Wuthering Heights and Jan Eyre and I love The Yellow Wall-paper (kind of short story, does it count?) but my favorite books are actually contemporary…I love Danzy Senna's two novels Caucasia and Symptomatic and I love Benilde Little's first two novels Good Hair and The Itch…also great is Bebe Moore Campbell's Brothers & Sisters, Your Blues Ain't Like Mine, and the best one What You Owe Me (AMAZING novel…)

I read a lot but the ones that i like the most are

1. Animal Farm –George Orwell
2. Richard the III
3. Man for All Seasons
4. Assata —-Assata Shakur
5. To Kill a Mocking Bird—-Harper Lee
and A Rasin in the Sun

Shit, this is soooo hard!! Lauren; this isn't fair?! How can we think of our favorite books??!! Urgh, I've read so many and some only once-that I can't remember so I'll guess I'll pick the one's that made me question life and myself when I finished them!

In no order:

Bluest Eye, Beloved, Jazz-Toni Morrison
The Dubliners-Jame Joyce
Crime And Punishment-Doytevesky
The Outsider-Albert Camus
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being, The Book Of Laughter And Forgetting, Immortality-Milan Kundera
One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Love In The Time Of Cholera-Garcia Marquez
Blindness-Jose Saramango
The Famished Road-Ben Okri
1984-George Orwell
The God Of Small Things-Arundhati Roy
Metomorphosis-Kafka

I can't think of any more but I know there is so so much more but will have to check out some of those books above…

Thanks this was fun!

This was a great post…there were a few here I haven't read in a loong time (showing my age, but hell I am still Gen Y)…looks like I'll be adding to the massive pile of books to read or re-read.

Yay, Eric T. Mumbo Jumbo is also one of my favs. I first read it in college and return to it repeatedly every couple of years. I also love (and highly recommend) Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents and Parable of the Sower. I’m a huge fan of sci fi, particularly Af-Am. Daria I agree with you on Their Eyes were Watching God. I know feminists are always touting this book but my thoughts on Janie mirror your own. However, like you I enjoyed Hurston’s use of imagery and language. Beautifully written.

Love Shakespeare, again love the use of language – genius. Other books I enjoy: Two Thousand Sesaons by Ayi Kwei Armah, anything by Haki Madhubuti, Blueprint for Black Power by Amos Wilson, anything by J.A. Rogers or Ivan van Sertima, The Spook Who Sat By The Door by Sam Greenlee.

Books – my favorite topic of discussion. Two weeks ago, I finally got my wall-to-wall bookcases built in my loft. So far I have unpacked and catalogued 800 of my books (still about 100 boxes) to go – heh! Plus the public library is having a sale starting today. Can anyone recommend any Af-Am blogs geared towards books (outside of the ones that focus on the urban lit). I have found indigocafe so far.

Speaking of your best books, I have to share the worst book I have ever read. Sister Souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever. I had seen so many recommend this book on message boards and not only was the book poorly written but the characterizations were just so trite.

the red and the black - stendhal

this side of paradise - f. scott fitzgerald

cloud atlas - david mitchell

manhattan when i was young - mary cantwell

any book writte by haruki murakami

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
It was very inspirational in terms of encouraging people to pursue their purpose actively and without fear.

Right Now, its Naked, Black Women Bare all about their Skin, Hair, Hips,Lips and Other Parts by edited by Ayana Byrd & Akiba Solomon. I really loved the essays from the women featured in the book, great stories and life learned lessons. I also like Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America by Ayana Byrd, The Accidental Diva by Tia Williams, The BAP Handbook and Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner

oops, Hair Story by Ayana Byrd & Lori Tharps, and also, based on that interview, Party Crashing by Keli Goff is soon to be my next fave.

Lauren, I love your blog by the way. I must say that one of my favorites is Gone With the Wind. Sorry, I am about as "black girl" as they come, but I do love that book. HOWEVER, my absolute FAV is Gloria Naylor's Mama Day. I was introduced to the novel by a former college professor (Dr. Jacqueline Brice-Finch). It has some Shakespearean undertones, but the main theme is about the relationship between a great aunt and her niece, and the measures the aunt takes to save her niece's life- literally and figuratively. If you were one of those close to a family matriarch, this is a must read. It has romance, wit, history, charm, root-delving, metaphysics, and did I mention wit?? In case you can't tell I am a diehard fan…Really surprised that Naylor had not been mentioned yet…she's the author of The Women of Brewster Place, another classic. Thanks for letting me share.

I love this post!!! I cant pick 1 book: The Merchant of Venice, Assata, Their eyes were watching God, Roots, and newer My Soul to Keep and The Living Blood series by Tananarive Due. I'm definately going to be adding some of people's selections in my Amazon wishlist!!

*Girlish squeal of delight*

I agree with Truth Teller re: The Count of Monte Cristo, rantmagazine re: The God of Small Things, and jazzy melanin re: Octavia Butler's Parable books.

Other books (I'm a bigger non-fic reader than fiction, y'all)

1. East of Eden–John Steinbeck
2. Bulletproof Diva–Lisa Jones
3. Boobs, Boys, and High Heels–Dianne Brill
4. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, Ain't I a Woman, and Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black–bell hooks
5. Fear of Falling and Nickeled and Dimed–Barbara Ehrenreich
6. This Bridge Called My Back–ed. Gloria Anzaldua and Cherrie Moraga
7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy–Douglas Adams
8. So Far from God and Massacre of the Dreamers–Ana Castillo
9. In the Time of the Butterflies and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents–Julia Alvarez
10. House on Mango Street, Woman Hollering Creek, and Loose Woman–Sandra Cisneros
11. Ceremony–Leslie Marmon Silko
12. No Logo and The Shock Doctrine–Naomi Klein
13. The Age of Innocence–Edith Wharton
14. Stiffed and Backlash–Susan Faludi

See, I consider the Bible a book–in this case, a collection sacred writings about and from Judeo-Christianity. My fave are the Song of Solomon (or Songs)and the Gospel of Luke, Ecclesiates, and Proverbs.

Thanks for this post, Lauren–brills as always. Happy Friday, y'all!

Ok, I gotta say the bible tops my list and I read it, too!

Plus, I also love Lauren's favorite "Their Eyes Were Watching God", "Sweet Summer" by BeBe Moore Campbell (I loved my Daddy, too)

I also love Sonia Sanchez' poetry compilation "Shake Loose My Skin"

To Kill a Mockingbird
Invisible Monsters
The Reader
Atonement

* Ike if you like "Choke" check out "Invisible Monsters" and "Diary"

Favorite = a book i love to the point of reading it more than once. The top of my list :

1- Beloved, The Bluest Eye,…,Toni Morisson. She's a voodoo writer, she speaks directly to the soul, almost skipping the mind. Loved all her books except Paradise.
2- Pride and prejudice, Jane Austen
3- Black skin, white masks, Frantz Fanon
4- Les fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire

Can the Holy Bible, the Coran or the Torah be added to a list of books… not so sure about that.

1. Kindread by Octavia Butler
2. Purple Habiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
4. Their eyes were watching God
5. Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood
6.Harlequin Presents romance novels(forgive me)

Jazzymelain don't get yourself cut talking about that Sister Soulja book. You know that book started the street lit explostion. I prefer her first book, No Disrespect. No Disrespect is her authobiography detailing the troubles she had with men before meeting her husband.

Cruel Sectary- I borrowed Nickeled and Dimed from the libary twice but never got around to rading it. I may borrow it again since seeing it on your list.

Chic Noir, I need to read Half of a Yellow Sun. Got it from half.com for my stepfather who was a Biafran soldier.

souldecirce, I should try it. Loved The Wife of Bath.

Tae, Mama Day was also

Ashley-Nicole, "Good in Bed" is hilarious. I met Jennifer Weiner shortly after reading it. She has a book coming out which is basically Connie's life 13 or so years after GiB ends.

jazzymelanin, glad someone agrees. I seem to be the only one who felt this way in my class.

rantmagazine:boohoo, The Outsider/The Stranger is my least favorite book. EVER. Okay, maybe not so fair. I had to finish it. Generally, when I dislike a book I'm reading for leisure, I'll stop. Lolita is a great example of this. I had to write a long paper about it and have nothing but hate for Camus.

@ Chic Noir–why are you apologizing for loving Harlequin romances, friend? I still have a soft spot for Kathleen E. Woodiwiss novels (though she has some troubling racist and sexist stereotypes). The word "pulchritude" is in my vocabulary now, thanks to her and her steamy books.

@ jazzymelanin–congrats on the new bookcases!

Oh, this is gonna go to my girl, the late, great Octavia Butler, by a long shot.

Her 'Parable of the Sower' is just amazing.

let me throw my lit hat in:

"Choke", "Invisible Monsters",
"Clarissa,or the History of a Young Lady", "If Tomorrow Comes"
"The Chronicles of Narnia"- you do not know how many times I've read these books
"Weetzie Bat", "Baby Be-bop" and "Missing Angel Juan"
"Lord of The Flies"
"Where the Red Fern Grows"
"Atlas Shrugged" "47"
"The Hobbitt"
"1984"
"Animal Farm"
"Of Mice and Men"

and so many others I've forgotten at the moment

For anyone who's read Doctor Zhivago, please let me know at what point it was supposed to become interesting

Secretary - Bulletprood Diva is the bomb! I'm looking at it right now on my bookshelf. Thinking I should read it again.

While Huck Finn is my fave book some others I've come to love:

*Run, Man, Run - Chester Himes (love most of his books actually)
*Blood Meridian - Cormack McCarthy
*Push - Sapphire
*Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
*The Dark Tower series of books - Stephen King
*Henry & June - Anais Nin
*Bloodsugar - Nicole Blackman (poetry)
*The Divine Comedy - Dante
*I Love You, Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle (the funniest book I've read in a long time)
*all of the short stories of HP Lovecraft
*Interview w/ A Vamp - Anne Rice
*Another Country - James Baldwin
*Sanctuary - William Faulkner
*The Merideth Gentry series of novels - Laurel K. Hamilton
*Slaves of New York - Tama Janowich
*Naked Lunch - William Burroughs
*Hamlet - Bill Shakespear
*The Color Purple - Alice Walker
*The Godfather - Mario Puzo

That's enough….

* "The Wedding" by Dorothy West
* Any novel by J. California Cooper