What do your favorite books say about you?

[Jilly_in_VA]

Telling me your single favorite book won’t actually tell me much about you. It is but one data point, a tiny thread in the tapestry of you. Give me a handful of your favorite books, though, and then some patterns may emerge from the noise. Looking for repeated motifs in the books you read has two benefits. One, it’ll be easier to gauge whether you’re likely to enjoy a given book you haven’t read yet. And two, it may help you know yourself a little bit better.

A friend recently asked me if I thought my favorite movies revealed anything about me. She’d seen a discussion about this on Twitter and found it revealing for herself. For me, this question crystallized my love for very cinematic cinema. Music, visuals, and dialogue all contribute in equal measure in personal faves of mine like Jurassic Park and The Third Man. It was tougher to come up with thematic connections in the storytelling, however. The next morning, still mulling over the question, I wondered if my favorite books would bear more food for thought. I told myself to shoot from the hip, to list favorite books without worrying about whether they’re well-respected or intellectually rigorous. (Speed is another of my favorite movies, after all; an intellectual I am not.)

The first three books that jumped to mind were Moby Dick, Rebecca, and The Secret History. It was comical how immediately the theme linking these stories jumped out: tales of obsession gone horribly wrong. I invite you to do this same exercise. Don’t overthink. Just list 3-5 books, straight from your heart. Jot them down to keep yourself honest. And then ask yourself a few questions.

WHAT’S YOUR LITERARY STYLE?
When it comes to finding the patterns in your favorites, you may first see stylistic similarities. Are your favorite books written by authors who are birds of a feather in some way? Perhaps your books all have multigenerational plot lines, zippy pacing, or first person perspectives. Without your books to consult, I can only walk you through my process with my faves. Among my three books, meticulously crafted prose ties them together. I know I’m a sucker for prose that verges on purple, and all three authors walk this line boldly.

https://bookriot.com/what-your-favorite-books-say-about-you
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Mine won't qualify as great literature by any means but they're the ones I practically have paragraphs memorized from: Katherine, by Anya Seton; The Rising of the Lark, by Anne Moray; Ingathering, by Zenna Henderson

[Midnight Writer]

1. I have lost my taste for, in my view, overwriting in books. To me, it dilutes the storytelling.

For example, a character pours himself a cup of coffee, To me, it should be as simple as that. I don't need a step by step of the character selecting his brand of coffee, his memories of coffees drunk in the past, a lengthy description of setting up the coffeemaker, inserting the filter, scooping the coffee into the maker, the history behind his favorite coffee cup, etc. I find that frustrating and a distraction from the story.

I think it was Elmore Leonard who advised writers (paraphrasing) "You know those parts of the novel you come across and find yourself skimming through? Leave those parts out."

So, I tend to like faster-paced stories like thrillers and mysteries with a style focused on telling the story.

[Claire Oh Nette]

2. Beantrees, The Poisonwood Bible, Not Wanted on the Voyage

Barbara Kingsolver and Timothy Findley.

[Polly Hennessey]

3. I think you might be right.

Four popped into my mind: Wuthering Heights; Paradise Lost; 1984; A Farewell To Arms. All have been read twice. I am sure the theme is loss. Interesting.

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. I think the theme of mine

might be growing into the person you're meant to be. A fourth favorite, also sci-fi like Ingathering, is Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin