What’s Your Favorite Book?

My favorite book I’ve read is To Kill a Mockingbird.

I sometimes wonder if that’s too cliché to admit, especially since I’m a former English teacher. Harper Lee’s classic is a little simplistic. The moral lesson is really black and white.

But I love that book.

I wish I could claim a different book was my favorite. Maybe something more challenging, like Moby Dick or War and Peace or Ulysses.

Or a book that proved I was more cool and cultured! Like Beloved or Reservation Blues or Invisible Man or You Shall Know Our Velocity.

But I’ve never finished any of the books in the first list, after many attempts; and the books in the second list are in my top ten, but I’d be lying if I said any of them was my favorite.

To Kill a Mockingbird still holds the title.

* * *

I didn’t fully grasp why Harper Lee’s wonderful story was my favorite until a former student told me what his favorite book was.

One of my former students came to see me play a concert at a little coffeehouse by the college he attended. After my show, we stood outside and chatted.

“What’s your favorite, book, Mr. Vial?”

It’s funny how former students still call me Mr. Vial, even if they are old enough to buy beer, and I no longer teach at the high school.

“To Kill a Mockingbird,” I said.

“Oh yeah, I think you taught me that freshmen year, right?” I nodded.

“I probably didn’t finish it, I wasn’t much of a reader in high school,” he admitted.

I laughed. “What’s your favorite book?” I asked.

“Looking for Alaska!” he said. His eyes shined and he went elsewhere.

He took a long drag on his cigarette. “Have you read that book? I don’t remember who wrote it—but I do remember Mrs. Farkus gave it to me to read. That book f—ing changed my life.”

“Oh yeah! I’ve read it. John Greene wrote it. It’s a great book.”

He went on to explain why it was his favorite, offering more details about what was happening during his life during a difficult year in high school, than details from the actual novel.

“I wish we were given more books like that to read during high school,” he concluded as he finished his cigarette.

* * *

I drove home from my gig that night and realized what makes a book our favorite.

A book becomes our favorite not only because of the details in the book, but what was going on during our lives while we read it. One’s favorite book might be more about ourselves than the actual story.

If anyone criticizes you for your favorite book, they are missing the point. Same with favorite song, or favorite movie.

If you criticize someone for their favorite book, you are indirectly ignoring how deeply personal the action of reading a book is in parallel to the events of their life while they were reading it.

We don’t read in a bubble. Books are stories, and stories are alive inside us.

I now understand why To Kill a Mockingbird will probably remain my favorite book. It affected me when I first read it at age 14, and then it affected me as a teacher as I taught it to freshmen.

That story is now embedded into my own story.

It’s my favorite book, and I now say that with pride.