Favourite Story vs Favourite Book

[vinay87]

Ever noticed how your favourite book doesn't necessarily have to be about your favourite story? I don't mean short stories alone of course, though that's counted too.

 

My favourite book is Les Miserables because of the depth of the characters, the name Jean Valjean, the description of the Battle of Waterloo etc. But it is not my favourite story!

 

My favourite story is Don Quixote. And, surprisingly, I've not read it! I remember watching a program about it on Discovery Channel and I bought the book three days later. Sadly enough, P A Motteaux, the translator of the Wordsworth Classics edition, did not understand how to use paragraphs and that annoyed me to the point that I can't get past twenty pages.

 

Even more interesting is how even my favourite author, Saki, never wrote my favourite book or my favourite story.

 

So is it just me?

[Readwine]

Vinay, I guess I am not really understanding your question. Maybe it is two questions: What is your favourite book as it pertains to character development and/or language? and What is your favourite plot line?

 

Or is it Who is your favourite author?

 

For example, my favourite writer is Ian McEwan. To me, his prose is pristine and fabulous - stylistically, he is superb. His storylines, however, are so dark and edgy I find some of them difficult to read. Is this what you mean? As to plot line, I am going to have to think about this one - very difficult to decide.

[Kylie]

I'll have to give this one more thought, but for now I can only think of Animal Farm. I think this is a superb piece of writing by George Orwell and I think the writing is technically perfect. He gets the point across using minimal words to great effect.

 

I gave it 10/10 when I read it, which is rare for me, but despite that I probably wouldn't call it one of my favourite books. It's not exactly a rollicking good read.