If you could recommend one book that everybody should read....

[ClashCityRocker]

What would it be?

For whatever reason, because it has a great message or just because it's a bloody good read?

The Pearl by John Steinbeck

In lieu of repeating some wonderful choices as above, I would have to recommend A Night to Remember by Walter Lord.

The magus - John fowles
This much i know is true - wally lamb
Oryx and crane - Margaret Atwood
5 people you meet in heaven

Yy, The Magus!

Go Ask Alice - diary of a teenager growing up in the USA during the 60's 70's and her relationship with drugs

5GoMadinDorset you do know it wasn't a real diary, don't you?

www.snopes.com/language/literary/askalice.asp

Thank you all. I will be down to the library straight after breakfast!

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum bounty hunter series, so funny. Or John Connolly's Detective Charlie Parker series. Or Gail Carriger's Parasol Protective (Steampunk) series. Charlaine Harris's books, True Blood, Midnight Texas, Grave Site series, Lily Bard, Aurora Teagarden. These are just a few series of books I have on my bookcase. I have loads on my kindle.

Wonder by RJ Palaccio.
Everyone over the age of 10 should read this book. It’s about a boy with a facial disfigurement and how various children and adults relate to him. Uplifting and heartbreaking. It really makes you question what kind of person you are. And what kind of person you want to be.

Place marking for ideas

I agree- loved it!

I'm going to go with non-fiction, Why Does He Do That by Lundy Bancroft. So incredibly useful for recognising exactly what is dysfunctional in a relationship, and for avoiding abusive types in the future by recognising the signs early enough to get out.

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain.
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Blood of Others, Simone de Beauvoir

Funnily, I read all of those, along with Go Ask Alice all in the winter of 86/87.
Teenage angst and wanting to put the world to rights whilst being off my head I suppose...

Other Women by Lisa Alther; the story of the professional relationship between psychotherapist and client told from both sides with compassion and humility. Gave me the courage to try counselling and heal.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Harry Potter obvs!
But also - The Book Thief

I came on to say the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists as well. My dad lent me a copy to read when I was about 16 and it totally cemented my view of society and why I was fundamentally a socialist at heart.

His Dark Materials is beautifully written. I really thought i was going to dislike it but I rave about it to everyone. I've just bought Dust and can't wait to read it.

House of spirits. - Isabel Allende

Margaret atwoods earlier stuff - the robber bride and cats eye. Never seen the evils of little girls so brilliantly captured.

Middlemarch agree with pp, loved Goldfinch too.

Villette

Ken Follett 'century' trilogy. A great read and helped me really piece together the last 100 years of history

Pride and Prejudice of course

@JaneJeffer I was also going to mention An Evil Cradling

Great Gatsby. It's about everything: love, lust, snobbery, acceptance, deceit, trust, friendship, wealth, poverty, disappointment, desire, the great American Dream. It's a fantastic love story and a crime novel. And all in the most beautiful prose.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. Fabulous book and I've reread it many times.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson. I laughed and cried in equal measure.