All-Time Favorite Books | Let’s Talk Bookish

This week’s Let’s Talk Bookish prompt was a freebie! I actually have a few different drafts of blog posts that I never had time to finish that are related to Let’s Talk Bookish prompts. After looking through them, I decided to focus this week’s post on my all-time favorite books!

The prompt: What books would you say are your all-time favorites? Do you have lots of them, or just a few? What makes a book one of your all-time favorites?

Let’s Talk Bookish is a bookish meme that was created by Rukky @ Eternity Books where each Friday, bloggers write posts discussing the topic of the week. Since April 2022, it has been hosted by the lovely Aria @ Book Nook Bits.

What books would you say are your all-time favorites? Do you have lots of them, or just a few?

When people ask me what my all-time favorite book is, my immediate answer is always The Night Circus. I reread this book every few years, and every single time, it gives me goosebumps. I have a tattoo on my ribs of “rêveur,” which means dreamer in French. This is what members of the fan club of the Night Circus called themselves. Also, for some reason, this is the tattoo I chose to get while I lived in Ireland for a summer, so there’s another fun memory attached to it.

There are a lot of books I would also described as my favorite books, but not necessarily an “all-time” favorite. I feel like that title needs to be reserved for the best of the best. While The Night Circus is number one for me, there were five other books that popped up in my head when thinking of my all-time favorite books.

Looking for Alaska and The Perks of Being a Wallflower are two books from my junior high years that still sit with me today. Six of Crows was one of the first YA fantasy books that made me obsessed with the genre, and I still have a love for all of the characters.

Illuminae was a book I read for the first time a few years ago, but I always recommend it to all of my students when they are stuck on what to read. Finally, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo kickstarted my love for Taylor Jenkins Reid. The book hangover was real on this one.

What makes a book one of your all-time favorites?

I have never thought about the criteria that deems a book one of my all-time favorites, but all of these books have some things in common.

I read them for the first time at least three years ago. I think to constitute being an all-time favorite, longevity is a major factor. I have recent reads from the last couple years that I consider favorites, but it really takes something special to make me consider them an all-time favorite.
They still impact me in some way today. Whether it is the lesson I took from the book or the fact that I still constantly think about them, these books are a part of my identity.
I have reread them multiple times. Illuminae and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo are more recent, so I’ve only read them twice. But, Looking for Alaska?! I have easily read that book at least ten times. Same with both The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Night Circus.
I can never seem to get tired of the story. I have a feeling these are books I could read over and over again for the rest of my life, and they will never bore me.