The Reading Perusals of Rose Summers

We've finally reached the last day of this respective challenge, and last prompt as well. My first Book Challenge completed - yay!

I have to name my favorite books of all time, though. (At least as of the present day.) *sighs*  And I'm limited to ten in terms of the feature.

This is painful.  I have so many favorites, even all time favorites.  But might as well bite the bullet and do it. Naming favorite books is already hard enough, but naming my all-time favorites...yikes - I can't name just one.

All right, let me start with the first two that come to mind and these were easy enough to cite because I've noted them as favorites for so long that whenever someone asks me "Rose, what's your favorite book?" these come to mind:

Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" was a favorite of mine when I first read it for a school assignment.  It's a novel that's important not only on its social commentary on behalf of racial injustices, but also for its coming of age/coming to terms of its protagonist(s).  The cast of characters is so well rounded that they feel real in their motivations, observances, and interactions of the time and place:  Jem, Scout, Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, etc.  I remember loving Harper Lee's prose and the way the story drew me into Scout's observances of things that transpired in this novel.  Atticus counts as one of my literary heroes, and very interesting that the characters and the story was loosely based on Lee's own experiences.

"Pride and Prejudice" is one of my favorites for reasons I've expounded on many, many times during the course of this month, as this was featured in many of my cited lists. :)  Darcy and Elizabeth are charming and are both characters that stayed with me long after I'd finished the work.

Phillip Pullman's "The Golden Compass" was the start of the first major fantasy series that I called a favorite.  I read it around the age of ten or eleven.  My twin had checked it out of the library, loved the cover but never got around to reading it.  On the contrary, I snatched it up from her, and it became one of my all time favorite novels. Loved the worldbuilding, the characterizations, and overall, I just adored the series in general, but the first book will probably always be my favorite because of how much it drew me into the narrative.  Lyra's a fiesty girl, and I liked following her.  I also remember thinking that Mrs. Coulter was a witch of a woman.  (At a young age, I also wanted my own daemon too.  I definitely remember thinking.  Though I kept thinking if I had one, it'd probably be a wolf or a cat.)

"Rebecca" - My first Daphne DuMaurier novel and I had to read it for school. Among all the choices my teacher gave me, this was one of the ones that was most alluring and I don't regret reading it one moment  - I was 14 (funny how I ended up reading this and "To Kill A Mockingbird" in the same year and they both made my all time list) . It's beautifully written, haunting, and evocative.

"Ready Player One" is a newer all time favorite for me, I had so much fun reading this and thought it was a enthralling, wonderful journey full of nostalgic references.  Even better while narrated by Wil Wheaton in the audiobook version.   "Jane Eyre" is one of my favorites for reasons already mentioned through some of the other posts I've made throughout this challenge.

I had a hard time choosing between "The Piper's Son" and "On the Jellicoe Road" (because there was room for only one Melina Marchetta novel on this list - and it killed me just to consider the one!)  But Thomas McKee was a character I adored through the narrative, as well as his aunt Georgie.  Both were incredibly compelling perspectives.   Patrick Ness's "The Knife of Never Letting Go" was an instant favorite.  I didn't always like Todd's actions, but I found myself following him through every harrowing detail through his journey.  And I'll admit I laughed quite a few times in the course of the journey with Manchee.  The audiobook for this first book in the Chaos Walking Trilogy is among my all time favorite narratives (as delivered by Nick Poedhl.)

Last two.  Man, I struggled trying to decide what two to feature, and "Ender's Game" "On the Jellicoe Road,"  "Bet Me" by Jennifer Crusie, and "Unwind" by Neal Shusterman all came really close, but ultimately, I had to cede to William Gibson's "Neuromancer" and "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer.  "House of the Scorpion" really impressed me and I had such a hard time finding the book to read.  When I finally read it this past year, I loved Matt's character.  Loved watching him grow up, sympathized with his hardships, and loved the overarching cast of character surrounding him (Tam Lin!!!)  It emotionally gutted me but at the same time left me on a book high days after I finished it.

"Neuromancer" I think really impacted me in more ways than one the more I think about it, in terms of its attention to place and just impressing me on more levels than anything else.  I'm about to re-read this soon but I think in terms of what I love in sci-fi as a reader and writer, it's where I stand now, and I love it not just because it defined cyberpunk, but as a great novel of its genre on its own.  

I guess that's it for this respective challenge.  What a month. *whew*

Happy reading all.  Glad to have taken the time to share all of this with you. Hopefully you now know a little more about me in terms of what books I enjoy and have reflected upon, though it's always open to expand as I read more books.  I hope to be able to do more prompts like this soon.

Cheers!

~Rose