I cannot name a favorite book – there are too many of them. During different periods of life, I have had different favorite books. A lot of favorite authors – Mikhail Bulgakov, Vladimir Nabokov, Strugatski Boris and Arkadiy, to name a few. I am a huge fan of Stephen King; it was a very interesting experience to read his books in English after I read all of them translated to Russian - mostly poorly translated.
There was a lot of banned books before perestroika started. it would be a huge list of books and authors, so I'm not doing it here.
And, you misunderstood my statement about libraries: what I said, I COULD NOT visit libraries. There wasn't such a thing as an accessible environment in the Soviet Union. Nowadays the situation is getting better, but very slowly. and when I was a kid, there were no wheelchair ramps even at medical clinics, forget the libraries. I was to the library two or three times in my childhood, and my father had to carry me in his arms up those stairs with dozens of steps. Hard to imagine? So, my access to literature was really limited. I read everything I could put my hands on. My mother was visiting the library from time to time getting me books – but, obviously, I did not have a choice, and was glad to read anything she brought me. Sometimes it was really boring