Books are a great way to escape reality. Following an author’s words page-to-page can captivate you and keep you hooked on an alternate universe for hours.
Books are also a great way to learn new things in different ever-changing industries. Reading can keep your brain sharp no matter what genre you’re reading.
What are some of our favorite books around the office?
** We are not responsible for any spoilers that might be included…
Amber: It is hard to choose one book that is my favorite- any book that that takes me out of my world and lets me live in the characters world for a little is a good book and it’s hard to remember which one stands out the most to me. However, back when I was younger, I was that girl who knocked out the Twilight series within a week and was completely, totally, #TeamJacob, which I am still mad about because Taylor Lautner is a babe. I think those books are a prime example of why movies can’t compare to reading the books because the descriptions of the characters were so much more vivid than the directors and movie producers could ever show. They were long books, and it was the quickest I ever read through something. I felt as if I was Bella because her thoughts and emotions were so well written.
BTW: My cat I adopted is now named Bella 😉
Korryn: Not for the lack of trying to not sound completely cliché, but The Fault in Our Stars has to be my favorite read… a modern-day love story that tugs at your heart strings and might or might not leave you sitting in your tears while reading several different chapters throughout the book. I had a box office job once and when it was slow I would read. I was fully engaged in this book and had tears streaming down my face when, of course, a customer walks in. No, I wasn’t sad about my life but rather the unfortunate events in lives of Hazel Grace and Gus. Oy. My heart. I kept Kleenex in business that week.
"I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.” – Gus
P.S. – also in full agreement with Amber, loved the Twilight series – but I’m #TeamEdward over here.
Razonia: This is a hard question for me because I love reading. My favorite book is Door to December by Dean Koontz. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. It’s about a little girl that keeps getting put into a sensory deprivation chamber so she can hopefully make contact with the “other side”. It has been 20+ years since I read it, but I think it will always remain one of my favorites. I also love Catcher in the Rye! I read it for my Honors English Class in High School. I read it over again from time to time. The book I read most recently that also stands out in my mind as a favorite is The Help. The movie was hilarious, but the book was even better!
Gabi: I really enjoy reading and therefore having a favorite book is hard to choose. Every book has made me feel something unique and unforgettable. I would say that one of my favorite books is White Oleander by Janet Fitch. This book was very intense for me to read since it is about a daughter being separated from her “crazy” mother. I was 16 and very naïve when I read it so the story really touched my heart. I also love Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. This is a book of poems and it’s just so open, human, and beautiful that it makes me cry every time. I am currently reading You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero. I’m enjoying it so much because it’s a very positive book about following your dreams and being confident about who you are and what you want to be in life.
P.S. - I loooooooveee Catcher in the Rye also!!
Kari: My favorite is probably Lysa TerKeurst's Uninvited! It really helped me through a rough patch when I moved to Kansas City. It really taught me to cling to God in my loneliness and missing my family!!!
Katy: When I first thought of my favorite book my mind immediately went to Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, unlike most who would say this is a childhood favorite I didn’t get around to reading the series until I was halfway through high school! My heart fell for the books though, and especially this book. I love how in this story, the sixth of the series, things start to fall into place and relationships that the audience has grown attached to evolve so much. I actually have three copies of this book!
If we’re talking my favorite book from a pure literature standpoint though, that is The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This is the story of a man and his son who are in a post-apocalyptic society. They travel down a single road together and the book tells about the triumphs and tributes they face. I originally had to read this for my high school literature class, but have gone on to read it twice since. The man and his son along with deep story line, create a novel that grabs you by the heart.
Sarah: Given my love of many a book series -including but not limited to Harry Potter, The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden, Existence Trilogy, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Ender’s Game…you get the picture- I have decided to make my choice on single books not connected to any series or particular storyline’s universe, so to speak.
Thus, my choice is made simple: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. It is categorized as a gothic suspense novel, but I consider it within the mystery genre. It is about one young woman who is chosen by a famous, mysterious, woman author to “tell her tale” and write her biography as she has finally reached the last few months of her life. The famous author has 12 award-winning, but all very different, published books, but the world has yet to hear the true story of her childhood and life journey; her own story is her 13th tale. The young woman, after speaking to the writer every day, took her time proving the parts of the stories she heard by doing historical research, as the writer is known for outlandishly lying to reporters. The writer’s story is one including a complicated family history, a raging fire, manipulation, and lots of human emotion and mistake.
Now, growing up I read a lot of Encyclopedia Brown, Maisie Dobbs, and a couple Nancy Drews, so I am great at predicting major plot points of story even in TV show finales.
With this book, I was baffled more than once. I first read it years ago, and to this day I still obsess over it. I await the day I can discuss it with another fan!
I’ve also recently thoroughly enjoy a book titled The Raven by Aderyn Wood. It is technically part of The Secret Chronicles of Lost Magic, but it is the only one published so far, and the books will be separate, unconnected stories, so I’m counting it for this topic. It was good enough that I desperately did some digging to learn spoilers for the next book only to find out that there will not be any more info for this character’s account and I was sorely depressed.
The rest of my top favorites include the British Warm Bodies (which I finished while in line at the movie theatre for that American movie, and has a much different focus which I complained about the whole time), Life of Pi (I also complained about this movie because it left out the whole religious struggle of the first half of the book), and Doctor Zhivago.
The next time you're bored, trying going to your local library or book store! There's nothing like a good book.
