If you could recommend one single book to read, what would it be?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

I've set myself an annual readingoal, having lost the wherewithal to read like I used to, pre kids.

I'm flying through the books on my list, and also want a new target to aim for next year.

So.

I need more on my list. I'm literally open to any genre. Any length etc.

if you could only recommend one single book, what would it be? And why?

Don't let's Go To The Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller.
Yes, this is very good, i had an alcoholic parent so very relevant to me.

@NotMyDayJob

Another vote for Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. utterly heartbreaking, should really be compulsory reading for anyone who has ever given a passing thought to the US.

For fiction, their Eyes were watched God Zora Neale Hurston, incredible writing

Thank you. My daughter is studying American history and this book is free on audiobooks, so I've just downloaded it.

This Little Life - I had it on my kindle for ages and kept putting it off. Once I started reading, I literally couldn't put it down. By the end, I was heartbroken and felt bereft that it was finished. It really affected me. I very rarely re-read books but this one will be one I come back to every few years

The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver. Set in the near future showing the financial implications of inflation. A brilliant book.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It’s the book I have reread most often (apart form Pride and Prejudice, which I assume everyone has read). Closely followed by Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Good Omens is the most consistently funny book I’ve ever read but also has a brilliant plot. Neverwhere is clever and creative and beautifully written, a fantasy classic that isn’t silly at all. Good for people who would “never read fantasy”.

I am Pilgrim. Terry Hayes? Superbly written and unputdownable. Fortunately it is a big book too

Interesting thread, with some very good and really terrible books mentioned!

I'm struggling to choose one, so here are 3:
A Clockwork Orange
A Town Like Alice
Lolita

Regeneration by Pat Barker
(Swiftly followed by the other two in the trilogy). I felt like I came out the other side a different person. Emotional and heart wrenching, but also brutally honest. She doesn't shy away from the hard hard truths of people, bodies, love, hatred, war. She looks it straight in the face. Not for shock factor like some authors but in a way that says "this is the truth of it, are you brave enough to witness it". Regeneration is the first in the series but I actually think the second "The Eye in the Door" might be my favourite. But you can't read that one without reading Regeneration really so I'd recommend the that.

The Night Circus

This year really enjoyed Shuggie Bain.

I've also really enjoyed this year Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell and The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. Both listened to on audible and was totally gripped with both.

Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood - a superb read and reread

And because it is such an underrated classic - Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

And simply because it is worth it for the most perfect chapter ever ( Chapter 7: Queen of Night) - I give you Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy

All 3 have been reread many times and each time makes me as happy as the first.

Atonement by Ian McEwan. I couldn’t put it down. I read the book before the film came out and the film did not disappoint. Both are beautiful.

Also love The Night Circus by Erin Morgensten but her second book The Starless Sea was hard to get through and I did not enjoy it.

The Winternight Trilogy are also amongst my favourites. Written by Katherine Arden and set in medieval Russia. The first is one of my all time favourites.

Factfulness by Hans Rosling. It will change the way you view things!

Don't let's Go To The Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller.
Yes, this is very good, i had an alcoholic parent so very relevant to me.

And Cats Eye Margaret Attwood is good - about bullying girls

@dementedma

The Night Circus

This year really enjoyed Shuggie Bain.

Shuggie Bain is amazing, so beautiful but so awful all at the same time

Rena's Promise

( A Tale of Two Sisters In Auschwitz )

Another one who loved Don’t let’s go to the dogs tonight.

Many books I have enjoyed have been mentioned but my recommendation would be East of Eden by Steinbeck, it is the only book I have read that I deliberately spread out because I wanted to prolong the enjoyment. It is the story of two brothers and a woman they encounter, based on the Kane and Abel dynamic.

I have added all the ones I've not read yet onto a list - I recently unearthed my library card from an old purse so I'm going to make headway through the ones listed on using their books. Very excited to try some if these!

The Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff. I return to it again and again for comfort. It's v understated in terms of plot but wonderfully written and I feel like it connects me to my grandparents and their lives.

I loved East of Eden @Burgerqueenbee. I must read it again.

The Name of the Wind. Patrick Rothfuss.

A fantasy masterpiece.

I love a good revenge novel so for me it would be the Count of Monte Cristo

The painstaking steps he takes to punish those how lied to bring about his downfall, is delicious. I have it on audible and the narrative really brings it to life.

@Frenchfancy I have this on my waiting to read pile. "We need to talk about Kevin" was haunting and I hope this will grip me in the same way. I went to an author talk that Lionel Shriver gave at a literary festival and she was brilliant, really thought carefully about her answers to audience questions and was very respectful towards her readers. Having been to a talk by Will Self years before, who did not seem to do the same and has put me off volunteering questions to authors for life, I appreciated that.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz hurrah for public libraries which stagger on despite government cuts.