Revisiting Old Favorites

Everyone who loves to read has a favorite book. Sometimes it’s difficult to choose one out of hundreds or thousands of titles. Love stories, thrillers, mysteries, fantasies… so many choices to keep us up into the wee hours of the night.

But sometimes it’s an easy choice when the story reaches into a part of our lives and speaks to our dreams. There’s always one that saturates our waking moments and drives us to finish mundane chores so we can put up our feet and escape through an author’s words into another world.

For me, that book is Jude Deveraux’s Knight in Shining Armor, published in 1989. I still remember how utterly captivated I was by the story. I laughed…cried…walked every step backward and forward in time with the heroine. Now, 25 years later, I still look forward to reading her romantic tale of undying love at least once a year.

I adore Jude’s style of writing and have amassed a huge collection of her work. Truth be told, I learned a lot about myself through her endearing characters and creative, romantic tales. Her books took me through some very difficult times in my life and reminded me that I am a strong woman. For that, I will be eternally grateful to you, Ms. Deveraux.

Coming in at a close second is John Grisham’s The Testament published in 1999. The powerful novel about addiction, recovery and redemption is not as well-known as most of his works, but it rightfully deserves a place, front and center, among his accomplishments. Thank you, Mr. Grisham, for inspiring my students to read more and for being so poignantly vulnerable with your words.

What about you? Do you have a favorite book you revisit now and then? One you recommend to friends who need a “good book” to read? One that sparked your dreams?

I’d love to hear from you!