What one book, fiction or non - fiction, would you make everyone read if you could?

OnlyFangs · 2025-10-25T18:39:57+00:00

I think mine would be Edith Eger's The Choice. It felt like it profoundly altered the way I viewed my life after leaving a DV relationship. Powerful stuff both personally and on a broader level too. I also absolutely loved North and South which I read recently and can't believe I hadn't got round to reading it sooner. And same for Middlemarch.

BlueEyedBogWitch · 28/10/2025 02:53

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Stroud. It helps us remember that older people are still people.

The Kids by Hannah Lowe - a book of poetry that does the above, but with teens.

I May Be Wrong by Bjorn Natthiko Lindeblad.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.

The Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff.

JH0404 · 28/10/2025 02:29

My dark Vanessa

LilyCanna · 28/10/2025 02:27

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

Aavalon57 · 28/10/2025 00:56

This is an obvious one, The Handmaid’s Tale. I read it when it first came out and then again some 30 years later.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
Anything by Terry Pratchett

therewasafishinthepercolator · 28/10/2025 00:50

ChaliceinWonderland · 27/10/2025 23:14

Probably john boyne ' The Hearts Invisible Furies'
Anything by Kurt Vonnegurt

Loved Hearts Invisible Furies. Loved it.

Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

Original poster

OnlyFangs · 28/10/2025 00:31

SnowflakeSmasher86 · 28/10/2025 00:26

Probably not the sort of thing you’re after, but two popular books that have changed the way I live my life, The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters and The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo. Recommend both to my kids for a fun way to understand impulses and how they can fuck us over, and Kondo is a quirky but very useful look at how we value possessions and how to live with joy.

Oh no it's exactly the sort of thing I am after.
I've read the Chimp Paradox and I agree, it's brilliant..Proper "therapy in a book" stuff. I found it profoundly helpful

OP posts:

lifeisastrangejourney · 28/10/2025 00:30

The grapes of wrath by Steinbeck

SnowflakeSmasher86 · 28/10/2025 00:26

Probably not the sort of thing you’re after, but two popular books that have changed the way I live my life, The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters and The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo. Recommend both to my kids for a fun way to understand impulses and how they can fuck us over, and Kondo is a quirky but very useful look at how we value possessions and how to live with joy.

LambriniBobInIsleworthISeesYa · 28/10/2025 00:23

Somersetbaker · 25/10/2025 20:45

Austerlitz by W G Sebald. Is it fact or fiction,

Yes! Wrote my MA dissertation on Sebald. He is very underrated.

Original poster

OnlyFangs · 27/10/2025 23:30

HewasH2O · 27/10/2025 23:19

Stolen Focus by Johann Hari on why big tech has created a world of doom scrolling zombies

I've got that in my kindle ready to read! Keep being distracted by doomscrolling ...

OP posts:

HewasH2O · 27/10/2025 23:19

Stolen Focus by Johann Hari on why big tech has created a world of doom scrolling zombies

TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne · 27/10/2025 23:16

The Diary of a Nobody.
(George and Weedon Grossmith)

ChaliceinWonderland · 27/10/2025 23:14

Probably john boyne ' The Hearts Invisible Furies'
Anything by Kurt Vonnegurt

Bellabomb · 27/10/2025 23:06

Yamamm · 27/10/2025 19:34

It’s like trying to choose your favourite child.
But. A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry is just wonderful.
And all of Khaled Hosseini. For all the emotions.
And The Hail Mary Project. For an absolutely perfect piece of fiction. Astounding.

OK. Mistry wins.

Oh yes, I very much enjoyed reading A Fine Balance, too. I'm currently reading Such a Long Journey, by the same author.

CoubousAndTourmaIet · 27/10/2025 22:54

Witch Light by Susan Fletcher.

The book has also been published under two other titles - Corrag and The Highland Witch.

Pallisers · 27/10/2025 19:36

I think everyone would benefit from reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.

Yamamm · 27/10/2025 19:34

It’s like trying to choose your favourite child.
But. A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry is just wonderful.
And all of Khaled Hosseini. For all the emotions.
And The Hail Mary Project. For an absolutely perfect piece of fiction. Astounding.

OK. Mistry wins.

SpottyAardvark · 27/10/2025 19:14

Animal Farm by George Orwell.

However predictable & obvious a choice this is, the lessons it teaches us about politics & politicians; about the manipulation, exploitation & betrayal of ordinary people are timeless.

Derrymum123 · 27/10/2025 19:10

1984 by George Orwell.

FatalCattraction · 27/10/2025 02:04

@Seacatt that’s my recommendation too!

I would add The Expectation Effect by David Robson

localbutterfly · 27/10/2025 01:39

For nonfiction, I'd recommend that everyone read Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez. Fiction is trickier, because subjective taste becomes more relevant, but one I've loved for decades and think has a lot of widespread appeal is Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga.

Seacatt · 27/10/2025 01:12

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

RollyPollyBatFace · 26/10/2025 23:59

A certain chemistry by Mil Millington

Apologies for lowering the literary tone here

outerspacepotato · 26/10/2025 23:54

You think you're green?

Read Cobalt Red by Siddharth Kara. It's an expose and examination of cobalt mining in the DRC.

Oblahdeeoblahdoe · 26/10/2025 23:51

BobbieTables · 25/10/2025 19:41

The spirit level

The first one I thought of too. I read it about 10 years ago and haven't stopped banging on about it since.