My family does not, in general terms, understand my obsession with Umberto Eco. Pretty much any of Eco's novels.
I can live with that. DD at least didn't mock me for wanting my photo taken with the pendulum-- no, the Foucault pendulum, really-- while we were in Paris. So there is that.
I deeply regret not buying that French translation of Foucault's Pendulum from a Left Bank book stall, however.
I don't generally re-read much of anything, because I'm a narrative person, and my memory for narrative detail is simply too good, so the "story" is more or less ruined for me after the first read, unless I read it fast-fast-fast and while tired. There are exceptions to that, but those are the books that I love and truly treasure. I'm kind of promiscuous in my reading tastes, but there are some things that I'd read again and again just for the delight of it.
Some books that I love, find haunt me, or have spoken to me at various times in my life;
Jonathon Livingston Seagull-- really, a very powerful metaphor for life as an HG+ person (if one chooses to read it that way). One of my most prized possessions is a signed first edition that was a gift from my father-- it's a lovely memento of a perfect rainy day spent in a rare book crawl with him-- and one of the last of (many) such memories, when I was a teen.
Pillars of the Earth. Love this book-- love the rich and accurate FEEL of the character development, and the grimy, sort of desperate THINKING and actions of those characters. Both horrifying and fascinating. Made me think very deeply about how brutish and traumatic life used to be for all but a tiny minority of human beings, and inspired my wonder at the collection of world heritage sites and cultural treasures that exist in spite of that fact. Still amazing after all this time. I can't say that I recommend the "sequel" which I wasted 14hr of my life reading with great eagerness... I cared not one bit about ANY of the characters in that book, and was sorry to have wasted the 1000 pages-- something that I rarely, if ever, have to say about any book. LOL.
Another all-time favorite is Helprin's epic fantasy, The Winter's Tale. Love that book. It's not a great story, not a great work of prose (by any means), not great in ANY way-- but it was great for me when I first encountered it as a teen a bit older than my daughter. It was, for me, the right book at the right time. I think that The Night Circus reminded me somehow of this book-- I enjoyed that novel very much, and so did DD.
I also love Pushkin, Kafka, and Tao Te Ching, but only in lovely translations that preserve sense (and, I suppose, sensibility).
The Making of the Atomic Bomb, All the President's Men, and A Beautiful Mind all speak to me.
I like poetry. My favorite modern poet is probably Billy Collins, but in terms of older poetry, I have a deep appreciation for Langston Hughes (my daughter is the one who hooked me!!) and Riley (because of my dad's fondness for him).
I also return fairly often to my out-of-print anthologies of Ray Bradbury's short stories, and his magnificent Dandelion Wine. I know that it's not strictly an "adult" novel, but it is remarkable nonetheless.
Another "children's" author that I adore is George MacDonald. Oh, and Betty MacDonald's Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books, because they are just a delight in every possible way.
My desert island author is probably Shakespeare, though. There is just so much gravity and compassion about human nature and the ways that human beings relate to, or interact with, others. I can't think of another playwright that seems to grasp and convey both light and dark so well.
