Book Kaleidoscope 2013 – Day 5: Top Five Most Favorite Books

And here we are…..on the last day of 2013, and this would also be the last post of Book Kaleidoscope 2013, as well as my last post of year 2013. It has been another great year in term of reading, I have read 54 books; 34 of them are classics (63% of my reading is of classics…yay to me! :D). Most of the books are great, I have conquered (at last) two chunkster I’ve been dreading all these few years: War and Peace and Moby Dick, but both are proved to be great books. It’s quite difficult to pick only 5 from these tough candidates, but at last I came to this…

5. Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw

I am very grateful that I decided to read one of Shaw’s plays: Saint Joan. It is so inspiring and enjoyable. Joan’s character is lovable; she is far away from your image of a saint (well, at least mine :D). She is naïve, witty, enthusiastic, and very brave. Her lines are very deep, inspiring and touching. The other characters are interesting too. In fact, this is the best play I read this year, and becomes my favorite after Julius Caesar.

4. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

David Copperfield is the most intense novel of Charles Dickens I have ever read so far, and certainly becomes my new favorite. Dickens wrote it from the heart, he seems to pour down his childhood burden onto this book. I could sympathize with David so much, it feels like reading Dickens’ diary. It is well written too, with not too much blabbing like in Little Dorrit, for instance. I would love to reread it again some other time….

3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I have a feeling I could never completely ‘move-on’ from The Great Gatsby. This is the second time I read it, and it still amazed me. I love especially Fitzgerald’s beautiful narration and his metaphors (a lot of it!). I think this novel would never bore me, and I will love to read it every two years or so… :)

2. Moby Dick by Herman Melville

How can we not love Moby Dick? It is epic, adventurous, and makes you think at the same time. The Shakespearanish style Melville sometimes used makes it more lively and colorful; and when Moby Dick finally appeared, it is epic and unforgettable. Captain Ahab’s character only adds the uniqueness of this novel.

1. La Bete Humaine by Emile Zola

If you are a follower of my blog, or have been reading my posts often, you would not surprise to learn what novel—or rather from which author—would claim the first place in my bookish year of 2013 (by the way, his novel was also my favorite for 2012!). He is, of course, Émile Zola. And La Bete Humaine is another intense and sharp novel from Zola. It speaks a lot about human nature, and how modernization is like two sides of a coin; it brings prosperity on one side, but also moral corruption on the other. So, it’s not because Zola is my favorite author, but because this book is really awesome, that I awarded La Bete Humaine as…..

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