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Suggest just one book to read.

My first instinct is to say " The Naked Civil Servant" by Quentin Crisp. I won't presume to believe that everyone would enjoy it but it has been quite haunting to me. The sort of book that just gets better and better in retrospect.
 
If I had to point to one book, I wouldn't. There's just too many good ones that deserve to be read. If I say 'read this one', then I'll suddenly remember another one that needs to be read.

I suppose if you want to see what a book is capable of, I'd say House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.

If its ideas, signs of signs, what a quality writer can do with a genre, then it's The Name of Rose, by Umberto Eco.

Perfection: Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, or better than that: Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier.

Uhmmm . . . that's four. It somewhat defeats the purpose of the thread. :eek:
 
Coming Home - Rosamunde Pilcher
Wonderful book. Although I hate the term "coming of age" that is what this book is a tale of. It's one of those books where you get in there and live with the characters. I lived with these for about two months in the winter of 2001 drinking hot tea and eating M&M with almonds.
 
THE ICE PEOPLE - Rene Barjavel

An amazing scifi book I try to talk to scifi fans about but no one seems to know it. I found it at a book store and bought it and thought it was awesome

Amazon.com: The Ice People (9780515029130): Rene Barjavel: Books

When a French expedition in Antarctica reveals the ruins of a 900,000 year old civilization, scientists from all over the world flock to the site to help explore and understand. The entire planet watches via global satellite television, mesmerized, as the explorers uncover a chamber in which a man and a woman have been in suspended animation since, as the French title suggests, 'the night of time'. The woman, Eléa, is awakened, and through a translating machine she tells the story of her world, herself and her husband Paikan, and how war destroyed her civilization. She also hints at an incredibly advanced knowledge that her still-dormant companion possesses (who is not her love Paikan, but the scientist Coban, whom she hates), knowledge that could give energy and food to all humans at no cost. But the superpowers of the world are not ready to let Eléa's secrets spread, and show that, 900,000 years and an apocalypse later, mankind has not grown up and is ready to make the same mistakes again.
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The Last Fighting Tommy by By Harry Patch and Richard van Emden


‘This articulate, modest and outspoken man not only remains one of the last living links with a traumatic event that has become part of the national consciousness, but is an unassailable witness of what the war was like for those who fought in it’
Daily Telegraph
 
Captain Corellis Mandolin. by Louis de Bernieres.It is 1941 and Captain Coreli a young Italian officer is posted to the Greek island of Cephallonia as part of an occupying forces, as first ostracised by the locals, but as a consiencious but far from fanatical soldier, whose aim is to have a peaceful war. A consummate mulsician and a cicilised humorous person.
A story of the underground movement in Greece.
 
The Adventures of Greybeard: The Legend of Molihe Mountain by R. Louis

A silent storm sends its message. Is it a message for you? Scrutinizers, possessors, and Professor Crit are interested in the demise of Kosmonville. A truant teen has a chance encounter with a mountain legend. Can you think above the norm? Rearrange the letters of the name “Scarcue” and understand on a higher level. If you don’t like to think, read a different book!

Scarcue is the merciless leader of the Underground. The time has come for confrontation, and the Underground has a problem they don’t want! Greybeard is coming down from Molihe Mountain. Will Jon and Harvey have a change of heart and mind? Find out what makes Professor Crit almost vomit and why dehumanizers have no names.
 
Litany said:
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas. I know it's a classic and that everyone here will have heard of it, but it still gets overlooked by people. Either they're put off reading classics by being forced to read them in school, or they go for more mainstream titles by Dickens or the Bronte sisters. Well, this book is an absolute treasure from start to finish. I know it looks long and daunting, but this book has everything. A tale of love, revenge, wrongful imprisonment, hidden treasure, sword fights, murder, the works.

And don't be put off if you saw the film and thought it was a bit pants. They never manage to do this book justice. The version I've linked to has the true story that it was (very loosely) based on in the introduction, and all I can say is crikey. Admittedly some of the characters are a little one dimensional, and it's also a little wordy (he was paid by the word afterall), but they're good words damnit.

I love adventure books and this book is one of the best adventures ever. Dumas knew how to buckle a swash. Truly a master of the genre and one of the few books named a classic and actually worthy of the accolade.
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Litany! I agree with you one hundred pecent. Alexandre Dumas is a great adventure writer. Along with Sir Walter Scott and Daniel Defoe, you can't beat them for high adventure.
I fear that the younger generation miss out on reading these great literary giants.
 
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