Books I Love

As any book lover would understand, it is difficult to say what book is your favorite. Our interests in books in terms of genres, storylines, and other categories tend to change through time. As we grow older, as we get exposed to more things, what we thought to be our favorite book or genre gets overshadowed by another. What may seem to be a favorite now may be a book you do not even remember later. 

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Plus, it is hard to say that there is just one book that you would call a favorite. There are bound to be plenty of books that you could say that you love. Choosing just one out of many that have made a mark would be difficult to do. 

In an episode of the Fandesals Podcast (episode embedded below), my friend Judith and I shared the books that have made their mark with us. While I can’t say that the books I mentioned were the definitive list of my favorites, I can say that they are books that I did enjoy reading a lot. Because let us face it: there are books that can be forgettable. You read them and then after a while, you do not even remember what it was about exactly. I can admit there are books that I enjoyed that I do not remember much about (I was not reading to draft a book report, so it is not a big deal), but I do remember the details that matter. But if I cannot remember what the book was about at all, then it just did not make a mark on me and is on my forgettable books list.

Apart from the books that I mentioned in the podcast, there are still other books that I remember with fondness that I was not able to mention. Again, I cannot say that they are part of my favorites, but they are books that I did enjoy reading:

The Path to Tranquility, Dalai Lama – The book is a compilation of daily quotes from the 14th Dalai Lama, taken from his other works and organized into one book. When I first bought it, I tried reading it the way it was meant to, which is one per day based on what date of the year it was. But after a while, I started to just randomly read a quote depending on what page I would open. There are quotes that are thought-provoking, quotes that are inspiring, and there were others that were a learning moment for me to read. I do not read this as often as I used to but when I need something good to start or end my day, I usually open this book to find a good quote to read. 

Gmorning, Gnight, Lin Manuel Miranda – I have been a fan of Lin Manuel Miranda since I discovered Hamilton. I have been following him on Twitter and for a time he used to have these good mornings and good night tweets that I found myself looking forward to on that platform. Turns out I was not alone because there was a clamor for him to compile all those tweets together into a book which resulted in Gmorning, Gnight. I love that not only does this book have those tweets that he had shared before, but there are also cute illustrations that accompany them. Like The Path to Tranquility, I find myself grabbing this book and opening it up to random pages when I need a nice, light-hearted good morning or good night for my day. You can read this from start to finish but I prefer reading a set of those tweets one day at a time, not always in order. I hope he makes another one of these.

Diane Von Furstenburg’s Book of Beauty, DVF – This was one of the books that I discovered on my grandmother’s shelf one summer and I found myself bringing it home. It was my aunt’s book and when she was no longer reading it, she left it at my grandmother’s house for anyone else who might want to read it. I do not remember the exact details of the book, but I remember that it shared about beauty and etiquette, health, and fitness and all the things that Ms. Von Furstenburg thinks would encompass a woman of true beauty. I remember wondering if her tips and tricks are things I should do as I grow up so that I could be a woman of “true beauty” as well. In my young mind, this book gave me a lesson on how one should act and behave as a “grownup” woman. I thought that it was mature and sophisticated of me to be reading this when I was in grade school…if only I was, hahaha!

I think that books will always be part of my life and as my reading list grows, I am sure there will be more books that will be part of my favorite or unforgettable lists. The ones that are already on the list might fade in time after new ones take their place as my interests and habits change. That is just the way it is.

But that is the good thing about books, right? There is always something out there for everyone, at any given point in our lives. We should go out there and discover them!