What’s your favorite book?

Oh goodness! I get asked this question A LOT! And it’s such an unfair question. I mean how could I have just ONE favorite book: it’s impossible! Rather the question should be, “What’s ONE of your favorite books?” Awww, much better! That’s a question I can answer.

I’ll go back in time to share my first favorite book of all time. It’s My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. I read it in an honors English class during my freshman year of high school. I can remember it being the first novel that made me really, really think. It made me contemplate my religion, the influence of my religion from my parents, and my desire to either follow or break away from Catholicism. In the case of Asher, he is raised in a Hasidic Jewish family and community.

Asher also exposed me to art and the idea of being an artistic prodigy. If this were the case, what would come first? One’s religion or one’s inherit need to be an artist? Not being a prodigy of any sort, it still made me ponder the issue. Do we follow our parents or our hearts? At some point, an individual must set out on their own path. Without spoiling the story, Asher must do just this.

There are two ways I know a book becomes a favorite of mine: one, I’m left thinking about it years and years later. That’s a book with an impact, and over 30 years later, My Name is Asher Lev still makes me think! The other way I know a book is a favorite is if I read it again. I do not do this often; there are just too many books out there to read! But, with Chaim Potok’s classic, I have since read it two more times since that initial read my freshman year of high school. Each time I read it, I’m left with an ache in my heart for the conflict Asher experiences in his life.

My Name is Asher Lev is one of my favorite books of all time. There are others, so from now on the question will be, “What is one of your favorite books?” Stay tuned for more….