Can you recommend a book that you absolutely loved, and think everyone should read? I'm looking for fiction, or at least very entertaining books. Please don't suggest the bible- I've already read that.

Alvaro Mutis: "The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll."

(ISBN 0940322919, translated into English by Edith Grossman)

This mostly unknown book, except that it is known, loved, and respected mostly by readers of serious fiction, is one of the best I have ever read. It's the epic story of the lifetime of El Gaviero, the Watchman, a man of many careers, travels, and friends.

If you have half a brain, you must read this book. "It's always the same at a start of a journey."

Start!

Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

These are my two favourite books

If you haven't yet, everybody should read The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I have read it literally 20 times, at least. Every time I run across it, I stop what I'm doing, sit down, and read it (very bad for productivity, expecially around housecleaning time).

I love Stephen King, and my favorites of his are The Stand and Needful Things.

Also, Our Man in Havana is really good.

And The Series of Unfortunate Events books. They're twistedly hilarious.

"The Street lawyer" by John Grishom or anything by him.

The one I always recommend:
ENDER'S GAME, by Orson Scott Card.
I can't begin to tell you how good it is and what a surprise it is. I have never met anyone who didn't love it. It seems to effect everyone about the same, no matter what their reading preferences are. (it is sci-fi)

I absolutely adored The Catcher in the Rye.

All Harry potter books by J.K. Rowling
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Deception Point by Dan Brown
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

Lots.

First, The Golden Compass and series. It's really good. It's hard to explain without giving everything away, but it's a really good book. There are two more in that series, but that's the best one.

Also, Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. I just started New Moon, but my friend has read them all and says they're some of her favorite books. And she reads a lot.

Depending on how old you are, Thirteen Reasons Why. It's really good. It just came out, and it's about a boy who gets a shoebox in the mail. There's no return adress, and when he opens it, there are 7 cassette tapes. They contain the last words of a girl who, 2 weeks before, committed suicide. He follows her around town as she describes 13 people, 13 reasons why she killed herself. It's really good, but it's kind of.. erm, mature. Not really bad, but not good for like 5th graders.

Ringworld by Larry Niven, anything by Richard Bach or Edward Abbey, Swan Song by Robert McCammon, Robert Ludlam if you like spy novels (he wrote the Bourne series), Jack Tales by Richard Chase . . . depends on the type of fiction you like. If you don't already have a huge list from the helpful folks on AB; I'm a librarian and would be glad to help you look for something more specific. If so just leave a comment.

hehe.. hehe... the halo books

what about paulo cohelo books?

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - get the background to The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
Another book I love is The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams.

If you like apocryphal stuff, Swan Song by Robert McCammon is great. A young girl leads a band of rag-tag survivors in a battle against evil.

Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice. A different take on vampires; very sensual.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. The story of a family torn apart by the murder of one of its members, told by the deceased girl.

Newer fiction: Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen. A vet student runs away from the circus and experiences perilous adventures.

I'm almost finsihed with The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Told by Death, the story of a young girl with a thirst for knowledge and a penchant for trouble in Nazi Germany. I can't say how it ends but so far it's a great read.

Lastly, it's not fiction but Adrift by Steven Callahan is the true story of his 76 days lost at sea. Compelling and simply written.

"The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards.
This stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins.
His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down syndrome. For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own. Compulsively readable and deeply moving, The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a brilliantly crafted story of parallel lives, familial secrets, and the redemptive power of love.

the ammytiville horror, or however its spelt.

the movie was crap but its the only book iv ever read that i really got into and couldnt wait to read what happened next.

prolly wouldnt be so great if you had seen the movie before reading it.

Two books well worth reading are both these books below. They will tells the world readers pretty excellent stories and happening about these two artists, one bankrupt and the other penny-less his whole life, and are considered to be fiction by MFA experts. The good thing is that you can make up your own minds after reading them. I believe the MFA experts just skimmed through them.

The Life and Times of Rembrandt Van Rijn
By; Hendrik Van Loon.

Vincent Van Gogh
By; Meier-Graefe

"What Harry Saw" (Thomas Moran) and "Summer Sisters" (Judy Blume) are tied for my absolute favourite, Followed by "A Dirty Job" (Christopher Moore).

Two other good ones are "Forrest Gump" (it's a lot different than the movie) and "Gump & Co.", both by Winston Groom.

My favorite - and it´s the greatest book ever - John Fowles - The Magnus. Great (and not so known)

Michael Crichton's books. Congo, Jurassic Park, etc.
They are quick reading, make you think.

Lord of the Rings

... here is a great series that has been on the best sellers list many times ... from the first one that creates the main characters to the most recent ... these guys have been publishing another book in the series every few months for many many years ...

"CIA: Mission to Burundi" by John M Bernier. Takes a bit to get into but it was fun.
"Catch 22" by Joseph Heller.
Yes, they're both old books. I usually prefer non-fiction.
"The Dilbert Principle" by Scott Adams is fun, as is most of the sequels.
"Liar's Poker" by Michael Lewis is quite amazing.
"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins.

"The Sight" by David Clement-Davies, and if you like it you should read "Fell" by David Clement-Davies.

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, Grapes of Wrath, Goodbye Mr Chips

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

yes, A Child Called It, & So. Be. It, and i think people who enjoy reading should... but thiose 2 book s are VERY GOOD

Nonfiction - "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond
Fiction - "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. I've never read a more truthful and brave book.

To Kill a Mockingbird

1) A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry (AMAZING, but incredibly depressing I seriously kid you not.... about both)

2) Lolita - Nabokov (Scandalous, but very interesting, but pretty DAMN scandalous, the concept at least)

3) The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (Really excruciating to read at times, but completely worth while)

4) Zorba The Greek - Kazantzakis (A little slow at times, and a decently long book, but VERY interesting philosophies on lifestyles, existence of God, and the nature of humans; it's hard to explain. Also set in Greece, so there is beautiful imagery and interesting cultural references)


I hope you enjoy those books if you ever have a chance to pick them up!

Hotel Babylon by ImogenEdwards-Jones & Anonymous.

A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown.

"The Labyrinth" by Kate Mosse.......fantastic book
"Thirteen Moons" by Charles Frazier
anything by Gregory Maguire-"Wicked", "Son of a Witch", "Mirror, Mirror"
"Map of Bones" by James Rollins
I could go on and on and on. Books are my crack.=)

ANGELS&DEMONS by Dan Brown
I can't even begin to describe how truly captivating I found that book to be. The sequel THE DAVINCI CODE gained considerably more fame, but I myself while liking both much enjoyed the first far more.
I will post my <?> about this very subject below, please check it out.

The Time Traveler's Wife
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Kitchen Boy

Anything by Anne Tyler.

I really loved the "Incarnations of Immortality" series by Piers Anthony. The series is about people becoming incarnations of certain things: death, time, fate, war, nature, etc. Really interesting and creative books.
1-"On a Pale Horse"
2-"Bearing an Hourglass"
3-"With a Tangled Skein"
4-"Wielding a Red Sword"
5-"Being a Green Mother"
6-"For Love of Evil"
7-"And Eternity"

Any translation of 'Njal's Saga'.
It's Snorri Sturlusson's Icelandic Classic.
Several publishers. I know it's out in Penguin.

(Ah...you say, Isn't it marvelous what's been printed in bird-language!...)

Weaveworld by Clive Barker - it's a weird sort of mixture of fantasy and horror, 'an epic adventure of the imagination'... It's very complex, takes a bit of concentration... you want something to keep you occupied for a week or two, this is it. Brilliant.

Any 'Discworld' novel by Terry Pratchett you can find. They are hysterically funny and extremely clever.
My favourite character is Death. He's got the scythe and the cape and the skeletal thing happening, rides a huge white horse called Binky and loves cats. In the novel "Mort" he gets sick of being Death and takes on an apprentice...

Augusten Burroughs has some good ones. Running With Scissors for one.

I just read "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. IT WAS OUTSTANDING. Really good, you should read it. It's about a family who finds out their daughter has luekemia and needs stem cells. So they genetically select an embryo that will be a match for their daughter, and have this next child just to be a donor for the sick one. The girl grows up giving all kinds of things to her sister, bone marrow, etc. And now the family wants her to give her sister a kidney. The girl files for medical emancipation from her family. It's fascinating and the end is superb.

Also good by Jodi Picoult is "Nineteen Minutes" about a school shooting and what happens afterwards, and what happened before that caused it to happen. REALLY GOOD.

And one of my all time favorite books - "Searching for God Knows What" by Donald Miller.

"Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" by Tom Robbins.
Very well written, a lot of metaphors, and many direct life lessons, and indirect ones if you can interpret them.

I love Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davis. Its a fantasy book, but don't be put off by the personification of the deer. Its actually very good

Just looking over at my shelves here and picking out a few random examples of stuff I enjoyed:

Franz Kafka - Metamorphosis and Other Stories (includes famous story about man who wakes up having turned into a beetle and faces subsequent rejection by his family.)

Joanne Harris - Chocolat (the book is much better than the film. Very sensual and sexy and fun.)

Isabelle Allende - Eva Luna (great South American writer - this is the best of hers I've read)

Jostein Gaarder - Sophie's World (Brilliantly presented mystery story mixed in with a history of philosophy - genius.)

John Fowles - The Collector (book about a kidnapping, underated novel by author mainly famous for other books.)

Donna Tarrt - The Secret History (I rave about this book all the time - just read it OK?)

I like books that are a little effed up.

Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club) writes pretty damn good books. I think you'd like him. He's one of my favs.

Scar Tissue (Biography of Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers) is really good to, whether or not you like RHCP.

A Million Little Pieces/My friend Leonard - James Frey --> Both really good books, supposed to be a true story, but the author got caught making most of it up. Good books nonetheless.

Augusten Borroughs (Running with scissors, Dry) Those are pretty good too.

IF you don't like reading about drugs addictions, sex, and CRAZY sh*t, disregard this list.

i LOVED white oleander. ive read it atleast six times, without even skipping parts. its just an awesome book. that and here be dragons by sharon kay penman.

Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund. It's Moby Dick from the wife's point of view. Incredibly well written!

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Amazing book in so many ways...and it won the Pulitzer!

Anything by Ira Levin who just died recently.

This Perfect Day
Rosemary's Baby and the sequel Son of Rosemary
Sliver
The Boys From Brazil
A Kiss Before Dying
The Stepford Wives

If you like fact based fiction try "War of the Rats". it takes place in WW2 and gives the point of view of a Russian sniper and a German soldier. There was a movie based off of it called Enemy at the Gate, it was ok, but didn't follow the book very much. One of my favorite books!