What is your favorite book?

Sentimentally "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", it was the first book I ever read over four hundred pages, I was too young at ten to get several of the jokes, so as I went through my life occasionally a puzzle piece would fall into place and I would laugh hysterically to myself. The most valuable lesson I took from it was realizing that it actually IS a guide, to teach people how to see the world. I refuse to see the Disney adaptation because I respect Douglas Adams too much.

Qualitatively I think "Marcovaldo" by Calvino and 'The Interpreter of Maladies" by Lahiri tie. I perma-borrowed Maladies from my friend AM and am still touched by a sense of guilt sometimes that I deprived him of such a great work before he could read it and now have no idea where he is to send it back to him.

Classically my favorite book is "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". This is the only "Great Illustrated Classic" I wasn't annoyed with the interpretation of after rereading the actual source text. I refuse to see the Disney adaptation because I respect Victor Hugo too much, and also from a synopsis it looks like they have bastardized the plot more than even the life of Pocahontas.

Scientifically my favorite book of non-fiction is hard to choose.

Economically my favorite free E-book is "Secret Chambers and Hiding Places"