People Explain How They Fell In Love With Their Favorite Book

Eden.

East of Eden. I learned a lot about people and why they are motivated to do the crazy things they do.

I also learned that there are people who are just straight up rotten. Can't be fixed. I think it's chapter 3 where he describes Kate as a monster, comparing that some people are missing an arm or a leg. Kate it missing something in her mind which makes her evil. AsbestosDude

The Myth. 

Circe and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

I am a fan of any Greek Myth interpretation or re-telling, but the way that Miller portrays and gets inside the heads of characters that have existed for thousands of years is incredibly unique and powerful. These books do not have to be read together as they just share a world, but would highly recommend both! Though just a side character in both, her Odysseus might be my favorite. RedReismicht

Kitchen Diaries. 

Kitchen confidential

It's just so honest. The way he reflects about his career while dropping in little bits of knowledge of how the culinary world works. Madranite

I still need to read this. His death is the only celebrity death that actually made me emotional. I have not read any of his books, but his show was the only show that my wife and I religiously watched together. We love to travel and have several times gone to places on his recommendation.

I feel like I will get emotional reading the book. I thought of buying an audiobook of his, as I drive a lot for work so at any given time I am usually reading a heavy content book while listening to a novel or easy listening business book, but I think I would get upset listening to him talk. ycpa68

Eulalia!!!

The Redwall series by Brian Jacques. I love the adventure and questing and figuring out riddles. The way he described the feasts... God I always wished I could experience a feast like that. The way he would write the different dialects for the different animals was so much fun. They are young adult books, but I'm nearing 4 decades and still love them. Been reading them since I was just a wee lad.

Eulalia! For Redwall! turtlepowerpizzatime

Always Fun.

The Phantom Tollbooth. It was fun to read as a kid and then I picked it up again as I got older and noticed so many little details that kept it fun and interesting. ahappypoop

Thanks Dan. 

Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Fabulous sci-fi imagination, filled with characters, worlds, technology, politics, and innocence which invoke the most vivid movie reel of a story in my mind each time I read it and the others in the trilogy.

Update: KWaTZ! Blew up more than I expected, Thanks for the gold kind stranger. StarrangerAU

"transient"

Contact by Carl Sagan, about a radio astronomer named Ellie Arroway who discovers extraterrestrial life. (There was a movie too which is also good, but different enough that I think the book is worth reading.)

I feel like I still read a lot, but I don't have obsessive favorite books like I did when I was younger that I read and reread a million times and underline favorite passages.

But Contact came across at just the right stage of formative years for me, and showed me the kind of astronomer I wanted to be... and I'm now a radio astronomer who specializes in "transient" radio signals that turn on and off over time! No aliens yet though. :) Andromeda321

Tolkien. 

The Hobbit. I remember my dad reading it to me when I was really little before they got divorced so when I read it on my own I remembered some parts from then. PLUS, it's a great story that I loved. Hellboy32607

I read it in middle school. I then reread it as an adult in anticipation of the movies, and I was riveted at points and couldn't put it down. I couldn't remember what happened and was completely on the edge of my seat.

Then the movies came out and they were bad. rnilbog

Revenge. 

The count of Monte Cristo. A fantastic tale of revenge and if it's worth it. douglass_ft8f

I completely agree, this book is always a top recommend. The story of ultimate revenge is beautiful and sad. It will leave you just as broken as the characters in the book, and I love it for for it. DevoidAxis

Algie....

Flowers for Algernon that book was a roller coaster of emotions at the end. Project_ZS