best books ever: what books would you recommend?

[mks]

Atlas Shrugged!!! It was very hard for me to get it out of my head. Great lessons for life.

[zhoumulian]

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, East of Eden by Steinbeck, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and for those who liked Kite Runner, Hosseini's 2nd book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, is even better, IMHO...

[phil30k]

The Moral Animal

by Robin Wright.

[Bonbon]

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

[M_Aurelius]

There are so many, what come to mind this minute - The Magic Mountain by Mann, Les Particules Élémentaires by Houellebecq, Fury by Rushdie, Death in the Afternoon by Hemingway, The Gita, everything by Gabriel Márquez, John Fowles, & Haruki Murakami

[Ledz]

time worthy reads:

Pagan Babies - by Elmore Leonard
The Hummingbirds Daughter -by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Five People You Meet in Heaven - by Mitch Albom
Vampire chronicles - by Anne Rice

[familyof5]

Pillars of the Earth, and The Eye of the Needle - both by Ken Follet. cracking good read. both of them.
She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb. More a girly book, but def not chick lit.
Tractors of the Ukraine - excellent, but can't remember the author....?

[notsonew]

Hi !
My take:

Tuesday with Morrie - Mitch Albom
The Alchemist - Paul Coelho
Little Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupery (classified under young adult but content is great - even for adults)

Cheers!

[Scandinavia]

1) The landscape of the past - Peter Englund
2) Lord of the rings - JRR Tolkien
3) The long ships - Frans G Bengtsson
4) A short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson
5) Angels and Demons - Dan Browne
6) Sophies World - J Gaarder
7) To the defence of world capitalism - J. Norberg
8) The triology of Arn - J. Gillou
9) Fever pitch - Nick Hornby
10) Långsamhetens lov - Owe Wikström

All these are books that present moments of pure magic to me.

[zjules]

River Town, Peter Hessler.. great read if youve lived in or been to China (although much applies to Singa too). About an american living in Sichuan for 2 years and being the only foreigner in the city. Really upset that i finished it

[billturk1]

recommend works of fiction by
John Jakes
or
Wilbur Smith all of his books are awsome but An Eagle Flies is a most moving book, the ending leaves you spellbound

[Forks]

The Unconscious Civilization By J R Saul and 1984 by George Orwell not the best books i ever read but the ones that made me open my eyes the most.

[reds]

my 10 favourites
1. Cry the beloved country by Alan Paton
2. Fiela's Child (translated from Fiela se kind) -original in Afrikaans by Dalene Mathee
3.Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela (autobiography)
4. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
5. To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. Gone with the wind by Magaret Mitchell
6. Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
7. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
8. A house for Mr Biswas V S Naipaul
9. Desert flower by Wari Dirie (autobiography)
10. Memoirs of a geisha by Arthur Golden

[Last Hegemon]

Hyperion by Dan Simmons (4 books in total)
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (9 novels, but no need to read all)

these are some of the best sci-fi books I've read

[sundaymorningstaple]

I would have to go with almost anything written by James A. Michener.

I was fortunate in having had the opportunity to actually meet the man himself as he lived in the little town (pop. <10K) where I lived while he was researching his novel Chesapeake.