If you could only recommend one book...

[TotallyFloored]

what would it be ?

I always find that I read a lot of the same type of stuff (mystery, thriller type things), but the books I recommend most strongly to people are often the ones that are totally different to my usual fare.

I think mine may be Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follet), although it was a close one with Shogun (James Clavell).

Pride and Prejudice or 100 Years of Solitude. It would depend on the person I was recommending it to, magical realism isn’t for everyone.

The Cairo Trilogy.

I second The Shadow of the Wind, just brilliant.

Little Women

I've read quite a few of the 'classics' people are recommending and find them boring. I often wonder if people really enjoy these books or recommend them because they make them sound good.
I don't have a recommendation for a book that everyone should read because everyone likes different styles of books. I'm in a book club and it's surprising how carried we can be on our opinions.

Anything by the French writer Colette.
The Lost Man, Jane Harper, a recent bookgroup choice, was brilliant.

The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons

I love some of the classics. Sons and Lovers is probably my favourite, followed by Vanity Fair. I didn't choose it as my favourite book. I doubt anyone would be impressed, though, with someone naming a classic as their favourite. I find Russian literature extremely boring, but that's just me.

This post is spot on I had read many the so called classics and I thought they were rubbish.

the catcher in the rye, catch 22 didn’t get the hype

I read a lot, but haven't read any of the so called classics. Thankfully I was spared Shakespeare at school, unlike my DC. I like my books well written in contemporary language and the same applies to translations. Sloppy, lazy writing or out dated language is a slog to read. (Now, I have to confess, English isn't my first language)

However, there is a little book that would appeal to most readers, that, dare I say it, is a classic in the authors home country.

Chess by Stefan Zweig. It's quite simplistic in its story line but also very powerful in terms of selection of characters.
Basically it's about a series of chess games on an ocean liner and how the main characters got there.