Winner of the Book Contest and Your 24 Book Recommendations

Before announcing the book winner, let me just delight in the impressive show of contestants on Prolific Living’s Book contest. We had 24 unique entries from you on your all-time most favorite reads and the ways in which you had been impacted by these great books. Thank you!

The variety, creativity and interesting approach to your responses and the books cited made it such a good challenge for the judges to select a single winner. We used a point system where each judge allocated up to 33 points to each entry, with 1 default point given for entering the contest, totaling a maximum of 100 points per contestant. The judges did not discuss the candidates or the scores amongst them. We used an automated algorithm to compute the final results. To recap the judging criteria explained in the book contest, we were looking for genuine writing and heart-felt expressions of the book’s impact on you and your life, an exercise in writing and in self-expression with polished and clean use of the English language.

It gives me such a pleasure to announce the Winner of this Book Contest: Lilias Folan. Her winning entry is below:

“I first read The Fountainhead as a senior in high school. I was skeptical about such a large book. However, after reading it, I could not stop talking about the intense philosophy Ayn Rand introduces with Howard Roark. The idea of Objectivism, essentially the glorification of individual man’s prominence, is intriguing and worthy of consideration. I love the character of Howard Roark because he is the perfect example of a man who becomes successful despite the restraining presence of a society bent on the normal. Our greatest historical thinkers were Howard Roarks: Galileo, Einstein, Da Vinci, and the list goes on and on. This book taught me that mankind has the desire to move forward regardless of other people. I see Roark not as a depressed and pitiful weakling who blames society for the downfall of man, but as a true hero among men. He stands out because he does not fold under the pressure of the majority; he does not bail out on the obvious answer when he knows a deeper meaning exists. Now, I am reading the book again, and I find myself underlining most parts of the book. The story line is filled with true-to-life situations; social Darwinism, society v. man, revenge, desire, and lust. The Fountainhead is truly more than a classic, and it is worth reading time and time again. The more it is read, the more the reader knows about the idea of Objectivism and how accurately it pertains to the life of mankind.”

For her gift prize, Lilias chose to kindly donate her $20 Amazon Gift to the Libri Foundation, a nation-wide non-profit which donates new hard-cover children’s books to small, rural public libraries. I was more than thrilled to send two children books on her behalf through their Amazon Wish List to the organization and want to thank Lilias for introducing us to such a beautiful cause.

I want to thank you for all of your excellent recommendations. The myriad of book genres and styles represented by the contestants’ choices is wonderful. It leaves me pleasantly surprised to learn about many books I would have otherwise not known. Here is the full list of every book recommended by the contestants with an Amazon link for your (and my) reference. Who knows, you may see me reviewing one of your selections on Prolific Living’s In Print, so check back here soon and thank you for playing!

1. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver

2. Peaks and Valleys by Spencer Johnson

3. The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

4. Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland

5. I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

6. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Montgomery

7. The Success Principles by Jack Canfield and Janet Switzer

8. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossieni

9. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

10. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

11. Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham

12. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott