Last week, it came up in conversation with someone that I was a book blogger. So, naturally, her next question was: “What are some of your favourite YA books?” I had a total “deer in headlights” moment. Favourite books? Uhh.. well, surely I have some. Surely. I must. I read so many, there must be some that stand out and stick with me… right? They’re going to come to me any moment now. Aaaaany moment.
Crickets.
I finally managed to sputter out two favourite series: Throne of Glass and The Lunar Chronicles (because I happened to be wearing a Lunar Chronicles sweatshirt).
But I completely blanked on anything else. It’s like I’d forgotten every single book I read in the whole world. I feel like reading 100+ books a year has caused so many of them to blend together in my mind. I may read a book and think, “Wow, this was amazing! It’s one of my new favourites!” But later, when I’m trying to recall those “favourite” books, I totally blank.
I used to have the same lol. Still do I think. Because there are so many books I love, it’s hard to choose one on the spot. But among my favorites are Lunar Chronicles, Throne of Glass series, Harry Potter and Grisha trilogy.
The books I read tend to blend with each other too! Lol! I thought I was the only one having that problem. I usually say that Harry Potter is my all-time favorite, which it is. And if someone asks me of my recent favorites I usually mention some books I read and loved in the past couple of months! Not that I always remember them.. Haha!
Harry Potter is definitely one of my favourites too! I don’t like saying that though when asked, because I feel like it’s in almost everyone’s list of favourite books. I like to try to pick something new that maybe they haven’t heard of!
I havo no clue what my favorite books are. I have a list of books I really enjoyed and books that I loved, but if people ask, I kind of have to open up my goodreads list and name books from that list, because I can only recall a couple of them when people ask.
Yeah I think I could totally name them from a Goodreads list. Not on the spot though! I need to be like, “Come back in 10 minutes, then I’ll tell you.” LOL
I’m so incredibly picky when it comes to dubbing a book a ‘favourite’ that it’s really easy for me to recall them, haha 😀 But then again I also have an awful, awful memory. I always remember my #1 favourite book but that’s a rare instance when it comes to readers. I’m always surprising people with the fact that I have a favourite book (which is Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, if you’re wondering).
I can totally understand the deer in headlights feeling, though. This happened to me the other day when someone asked me for some music recommendations. My favourite three bands came to mind and then it was just a blank, haha 😛
Ugh if someone asked me for music recommendations, I’d totally blank. I still only listen to music from like 10 years ago X_X
Considering I don’t read nearly as much as other bloggers do, it’d probably be a bit easier. A few years ago, if you had asked me this question, I’d have blanked because there wasn’t much variety in my reading. Maybe 5 books a year, max. This year, I’ve read at least 30 so far, and it’s only April. That’s a huge accomplishment for me.
I consider favorites to be books I can read again. Most times, I’m good for one initial reading. But those books that stand out… Right now, I’d have to say The Testing trilogy by Joelle Charbonneau and Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick. Long-term, Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin and The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.
Oh god, at least I am not alone in this. I once did an internship in a bookshop and they asked me what my faves were and I genuinely couldn’t answer. I eventually managed to think on it and respond to the question a day later. Awkward aardvark moment.
I love a lot of things, but picking faves? Remembering actual faves? It’s so hard! Nowadays, I always blurt out Lirael by Garth Nix. (And Harry Potter, but many people (not the bookshop people) frown upon that often because they are proper adults who do not take up with books for children. Sucks to be them.)
Yeah it’s so difficult!! Harry Potter is one of my favourites too, but I feel like that’s kind of an easy answer, because it’s like in 99% of the population’s favourites lol. I feel like I need to respond with something different.
I have a lot of favorites, but in that moment when someone asks me what they are, I freeze too.
I agree with you too, with so many books read, the tend to blend. But the really good ones, or bad ones, always seem to stick out 🙂
I feel like I always blank out when someone asks me what my favorite book is. There’s just too many to choose from, and sometimes I’ll be thinking of a book but won’t remember the title, which makes it difficult. Even before I was book blogging, it was difficult for me to say what my favorite book is. So I don’t think book blogging changed anything in that respect.
I have favorites, but I can never recall them when someone asks me! I actually keep a list of books on my phone that I love & recommend so if someone asks me for recommendations or my favorites I just let them see that list.
That’s a good idea!!
I always have a favorite books list ever since I was young and my list just keeps getting longer and longer. But when people ask me what are my fave books… I am like… “Ah…wait…ah” mind goes blank!!! :–(
I have favorite books, but like you, I have trouble recalling them. I agree about all the books starting to blend together which is sad in a way, but there’s also so many good books out there and I want to experience them all! I do have some standard answers: Throne of Glass. Amazing. And…. aw crap, I’m drawing a blank. So yes, I do have the same problem you do. Lol
Hahaha, yeah after Throne of Glass it just all goes blank. That’s an epic series though!
AAAA, I feel the same way whenever anyone asks me this question! They kind of do blend together and sometimes a really favorite book of mine pops up in a conversation and it’s cardiac arrest for me because I can’t even remember a few MC names! But I have instilled into my brain that for the time being, it’s going to have to be Divergent by Veronica Roth (because there’s a movie and people’s reactions will be all, “Gosh, she’s so lucky, her favorite book ever got turned into a movie!) Also, I don’t think I’d ever forget Tris and Four.
Yeah Divergent is a good one. I think I tend not to bring it up though because even though I LOVED the first book, I didn’t like the second two, so that almost taints my memory of the first one a little. 🙁 *sigh*
I have tons of favorite series, but not books. It’s easier to remember series since they’re longer and get stuck into your mind since you’ve been with the characters and the world for a while. When people ask for my favorite books, I name series. I get what you mean about forgetting them. I also read around 100 books a year and easily forget them. Just recently, I pitched On the Fence as my new favorite and forgot everything that happened a week later. 🙁
Yeah that’s a good point. That’s probably why the two I mentioned are series!
BUT OMG! You mentioning On the Fence totally had me remembering two of my favourites that I could have mentioned: Pivot Point by Kasie West and Parallel by Lauren Miller. WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THOSE?!?
I do have favourite books. They are often the one which made me think a lot, gave me the feeling of learning something or getting an insight on a specific subject, or sometimes really, really moved me. A favourite book usually crosses the line between “entertaining” and “insightful/though-provoking”.
I try to read really different books even though I have a strong preference for Sci-Fi & Fantasy (with a lot of exceptions): I pick from different countries and time. I found it gives a lot of perspective. Otherwise, sometimes it’s true that contemporary books can feel a bit all the same (just like contemporary hollywood action movies).
I swear if someone asked me and I didn’t have time to think about it, I don’t know what I’d say. Probably “All of them!” 😉 I have favourites from every category I think. To name just one single favourite… it would be tough. It’s hard to remember. I read anywhere between 100 and 150 a year. Last year my favourite is different then what it might be this year and prior years. The series thing is a good one too. I agree it’s a lot easier to remember the series rather than one title.
The favorite book question is easy for me: Sleeping Naked is Green and The Host. It’s the “what kind of books do you like?” question that stumps me every time. I read so many genres and subgenres, and I enjoy just about all of them, so it would take more words than I’m use to using at any one time (I’m super shy). Then I just say “everything” the person is always like “Oh, does that mean you read {insert some book}?” Just because I like everything doesn’t mean I’ve read everything!
This happened to me before! I was trying to recall my favorite contemporary books but I completely blank out. Good thing I have my ‘favorites’ shelf on Goodreads haha. Some of my all time favorite books are The Hunger Games trilogy, Divergent trilogy, Across the Universe trilogy, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, Thousand Oaks series, The Tragedy Paper, Anna and the French Kiss… I’m sure there’s more but those are the books that pop out of my mind immediately.
Yep-Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, The Parasol Protectorate series, by Gail Carriger, and the Penryn & the End of Days series, by Susan Ee. I could list these in my sleep 😀
Ohh Susan Ee’s books! Great one!
I’m the same way! I love to read but sometimes I feel like too much reading is not good. Stories, characters, authors, etc. start to blend together and I can’t remember who is who, who wrote what, etc.
I would be a deer caught in headlights, too. But I think for me it’s that, since I read sooo many books every year, I HAVE so many books. I don’t think my FAVORITE books blend together (although books that aren’t my favorites do), but when you have so many favorites, pulling out some at a moments notice is difficult. But once I get started, it’s impossible for me to stop.
Favorite books, so hard! I can think of some books/series I adore, but I don’t think I could ever pick one favorite or a top 3. I guess I read too many books and I like too many things to pick just a few. If I think about some: Wildwood Dancing, The book thief, Lunar Chronicles, Grisha trilogy, Tiger Lily, Throne of glass, Scarlet, His fair assassin, fire and thorns, Harry Potter & Cruel beauty :p
Most of the times I just answer “EVERYTHING” haha. I just love reading in general 🙂
If I were put on the spot, I’d probably say “Broken Symmetry” by Dan Rix is my favorite…at the moment. It’s bound to change at some point, but for now, that is the most amazing book I’ve read!
I desperately need to read the Lunar Chronicles though, I feel like I’m so out of the loop!
Ehh… favorite book? As in singular? That’s impossible to decide.
Even narrowing my list of favorites down to three is difficult. I tend to think that, if you can say the title of your ONE favorite book on the spot, you don’t read enough books.
I totally know what you mean! I also feel like right now I’m at that stage where I’m kind of forgetting about every one of my favorite book, or there are just SO many books I loved that I can’t focus on just one to highlight and gush about lol.
I must admit that I cheat and just default to Sanderson every time. However, I recently was talking to (future) in-laws and found out that they had just finished Allegiant and liked dystopian YA books in general. And I was like, “I read lots of those kinds of books, let me recommend some more to you!” and I couldn’t think of anything!!!! This is especially depressing given that I had literally just been reading Rebel (Reboot #2)…. go me 😉
Happens to me all the time. :sigh: The only one I can ever think of on the spot is the Game of Thrones series – probably because we’re watching the series also and it’s on my mind. LOL. Given a LOT of time to think, I’ll come up with more, by mentally going through my bookshelf. But not straight away. LOL. When I was 10, I was starting a new primary school, and had an “interview” with the headmaster – he asked me who my favourite author was. I went completely blank, and ending up saying “Um, Enid Blyton”. Sheesh. At 10, I was reading Stephen King, Joseph Waumbaugh and everything in my parents bookcase – I hadn’t read Blyton since the bedtime stories when I was tiny. :headdesk:
For me it’s easy because I have a favorite series and every book in this series trumps every great book I have ever read. The Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews. Effing genius. Okay, also The Sea of Tranquility and Dark Triumph.
ALL the books are my favorite books. Or none of them. This is such an EVIL EVIL EVIL question to ask a book worm. Really? A favorite book? or even a few? Um, why don’t you instead just ask me a recommendation from a specific genre or to give you a book I liked that was similar to another. But don’t ask me to give you a favorite because I’ll either yell at you or stare at you blankly and run away LOL
Hahaha! I totally agree!
The only favorite books I seem to have and be able to recall are Pride and Prejudice and Easy. Otherwise, I have favorite series and can usually recall about 6 of them right off the bat. My problem comes when people want recommendations, because I can’t think of them right there, or can’t remember what author wrote what. I am better at shoving books at my friends when I can pop on Goodreads and link them to the series or something and just tell them to go go go.
You’re so right! When I can look on Goodreads, remind myself of the book a little, I can give tons of recommendations. It’s so much harder to do it on the spot though.
Ahhh, I was just thinking about this the other day! I’ve told a few people I read YA, but when they ask what books I like, I can NEVER think of any, except what I’m currently reading, or the books I totally obsess over — which, oddly enough, are usually adult books…? Awkward. =S Whenever someone asks me what YA books I like, I freeze. I am so glad to hear I’m not alone in the “deer-in-the-headlights” feeling!! =S
Coming up with the answer to the question is really hard for me. I might name one book if you ask me today but that answer might be completely different if you ask me tomorrow. I do have favorites which I would reread over and over again but their “ranking” for me always changes. =)
My answer has been the same for several years so its easy for me. American Gods, Neil Gaiman. its amazing. Also, the Thursday Next series-I always pick one of those books up when I’m in a bad mood and end up feeling better.
Nope. Too much pressure. I’d freeze too.