Tough one, but I'd give it to JD Salinger's, "The Catcher in the Rye".
What's yours?
GOSH !!! An impossible question to answer - But some of my favourite writers are
Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility --- both by Jane Austen
The many stories of Georgette Heyer covering the period of the late 1700's to early 1800's
Janet Evanovitch and her Stephanie Plumb novels are hilarious- great wit and humour
Dick Francis - terrific stories covering so many different wonderfully researched backgrounds
John Grisham is a great favourite
Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone private eye stories
Bill Bryson who writes with great humour about his world travels
Patricia Cornwell's forensic stories fascinate me, although her niece is a bit of a pain in the bum.
I still re-read Agatha Christie when I'm in the mood, too.
The list goes on and on and on. One favourite is impossible to identify.
Nobody else likes reading?
120 days of Sodom, Marquis de Sade for erotic tales.
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, Robert M Pirsig for general heavy reading.
I have no single favorite book actually. I do have a rather large library I suppose though. If I had to choose just one...Hmmmm...well, for assistance in my writing I like "The Pocket Muse" by Monica Wood.
I am learning things about other pathways in life, other than Christianity, and in those matters, I've found that "The Mysteries Of Druidry" by Brendan Cathbad Myers to be a very good informational source.
For some reason, "Eragon" and "Eldest" by Christopher Paolini have been in my mind lately. Though written for younger (by far) readers than myself, I have found the first two books to be good reading for entertainment only.
Then, pretty much any book by Louis La Amour will be read by me on any given day.
Watership Down by Richard Adams. After reading this book, the world of animals and the world of mankind did not seem so far apart. I also loved his British idiom and style of writing, too. A very gentle-yet-exciting adventure.
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak