If you could recommend just one book ...

[darklight]

Well, now that summer's here I'm going to have some free time to read.

If there was just one book that you could recommend, what would it be? (You can name a couple if you are absolutely torn between them and can't decide on one)

Thanks guys. Looking forward to your replies, and hopefully some new and interesting books to read:)

[Dionido]

If you haven't read it yet: Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

It's actually a novella so it's very short, easy to finish even in a lazy summer afternoon.

[Desolation]

'Notes from Underground' by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

[kevinthediltz]

East of Eden- Steinbeck.
Or go with Dionido's. Both great books by a great writer.

[lichtrausch]

Haruki Murakami - Norwegian Wood

[meh!]

Lanark

[stlukesguild]

How can anyone truly make a recommendation without knowing something about you... what your reading tastes are... what you have read in the past? Having said that... Italo Calvino Invisible Cities a marvelous read that rewards second and third perusals... an absolutely poetic bit of prose "meditations" that blur literary genre.

[Scheherazade]

Thanks guys. Looking forward to your replies, and hopefully some new and interesting books to read:)Welcome to the Forum, darklight!

You are definitely at the right place. There is nothing we like more than giving advice/recommending books here!

:D

I say read Three Men in a Boat!

[iwantmymtv35]

I'd recommend The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It's absolutely superb and explores a thought pertinent to what is happening in America's political today.

[JuniperWoolf]

I second The Grapes of Wrath. The prose is very pretty, and it has a very earthy feeling about it. It will compliment the Summer nicely. Also, it actually makes you feel good about humanity because while they are going through this devistating period, the characters take care of each other. The last paragraph was wonderful.

[bazarov]

Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky.

[mayneverhave]

Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky.

I second this. Aside from things like Shakespeare's entire oeuvre, you would be hard pressed to find a single work that contained as much "stuff" as The Brothers Karamazov.

[Sapphire]

Though I agree with StLukesGuild, I also think it is fun to go for new books which are not necessarily what you would usually go for :)

My recommendation would be
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote
Containing three short stories it is a nice read in the summer, for example while you're relaxing on the beach. And in my opinion one can read the first story over and over and over and over and ... ;)

[The Comedian]

I always like adventure stories in the summer: go for Stevenson's Treasure Island. I am.

[Helga]

Milan Kundera, anything you can find. his novels and short stories are great but it's also very interesting to read his essays.

[Uberzensch]

Anna Karenina!

[Page Turner]

The Fall by Albert Camus

[Viviana W]

Number 1 in your list: More than human by Theodore Sturgeon. Number 2: The dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin (1975) (delightful writer and novel).

[Adagio]

Les Miserables

[Eryk]

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon