REUTERS/Alessia Pierdomenico
The "Harry Potter" series are the favorite books of millions of readers.
J.K. Rowling herself has some books she'd like you to read.
Since she became famous with "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," Rowling's talked a lot about books. And over the years, she's mentioned dozens of books that she's cherished over the years. Here they are in one place.
I've included only books that Rowling counted among her favorite, or that she said had a deep impact on her and she still cherishes. I've excluded books that she considered influences for "Harry Potter," but doesn't necessarily love.
As you can imagine, a lot of these books are about magic and childhood. Others are much darker. They give a sense of the tragedy that came to penetrate the later "Harry Potter" novels, as well as the violence and sex that show up in "The Casual Vacancy" and Rowling's "Cormoran Strike" novels.
Here are J.K. Rowling's favorite books.
Penguin
Jane Austen is J.K. Rowling's favorite author of all time, and "Emma" is her favorite of her books. "I've read all her books so many times I've lost count," she told Amazon. Of those many book-reading sessions, she said she read "Emma" at least 20 times.
On Oprah's website, Rowling cited Virginia Woolf to describe Austen's mastery of the novel: "For a great writer, she was the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness."
Vintage Books
"My favorite living writer is Roddy Doyle," Rowling told Amazon. This novel in particular — about a woman's relationship with a violent man — was one of the most important books in her life. "I don't think I've ever encountered such a believable, fully rounded female character from any other heterosexual male writer in any age," she told O, The Oprah Magazine.
"The Woman Who Walked Into Doors," $12.98
Simon & Schuster
Goodwin's Pulitzer Prize-winning book about Abraham Lincoln's political skill isn't one you'd necessarily expect as a favorite of an author of British fantasy novels. Rowling was attracted to how skillfully Goodwin conjured Lincoln's America.
"I lived in it the way that you do with truly great books; putting it down with glazed eyes and feeling disconcerted to find yourself in the 21st century," Rowling told The New York Times. "I met the author at a reception in the American Embassy in London last year, and I was so excited that I was bobbing up and down on the spot like a 5-year-old."
"Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," $14.28
