<p>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
<strong>Freakonomics & Superfreakonomics</strong> - Levitt and Dubner</p>
<p>Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen is alright, but I wouldn’t really classify it as great literature. I read it recently and thought it was a decent book for light reading.</p>
<p>One of the best books I’ve ever read has been Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. It’s an absolutely brilliant novel concerning the challenges associated with living as a hermaphrodite. The main character Cal is easy to empathize with and is beautifully sculpted by Eugenides.</p>
<p>Crime and Punishment or the Brothers Karamazov by F. Dostoyevsky.</p>
<p><3 those books</p>
<p>EDIT: also War and Peace by Tolstoy. Basically most Russian stuff is awesome - with the exception of The Idiot (I found that so melodramatic) and maybe the Death of Ivan Illytch. Who wants to read about a guy dieing for 100 pages???</p>
<p>Great thread! I’ve now compiled a summer reading list, which I wasn’t even planning to have. Thanks guys :)</p>
<p>This is not a good thread for a book junkie 
</p>
<p>@ Scotchtape - then go away</p>
<p>World Made By Hand by James Kunstler. A fictional tale set in upstate New York that depicts what we might be in for in the future if we don’t change our reliance on oil and big box stores.</p>
<p>The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
Mistakes Were Made (but not by me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson</p>
<p>Sometimes a Great Notion - Ken Kesey
The Brothers K - David James Duncan
The River Why - David James Duncan</p>
<p>Italo Calvino: Invisible Cities
Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
John Williams: Stoner
Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian
John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights
Oakley Hall: Warlock
Flannery O’Connor: Wise Blood
Salman Rushdie: Midnight’s Children</p>
<p>I second the Melville and all the Dickens.</p>
<p>something to laugh:</p>
<p>About a boy- Nick Hornby
High Fidelity-Nick Hornby
Lolita-Vladimir Nabokov (to be fair, it’s more a tragicomedy)</p>
<p>if you can stomach it:</p>
<p>The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides</p>
<p>my favorite children’s book that has great depth for those who are willing to dispense all the Kafka/Kundera pretentiousness (j-k I love these two) would have to be ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ by Madeleine L’engle. You can read it within a day, and take away so much from it.</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend a fiction book that expounds a little bit on philosophy and/or are reflective about life in general? Thanks!</p>
<p>Robinson Crusoe-Daniel Defoe…apparently it inspired some well known philosophers as such as Karl Marx and Rousseau</p>
<p>This thread is turning out way better than I thought it would. Hugs for all the book people!</p>
<p>Doctor Zhivago–Boris Pasternak (if you haven’t read it yet)
Anna Karenina–Tolstoy
Johnny Got His Gun (phenomenal)–Dalton Trumbo</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend a fiction book that expounds a little bit on philosophy and/or are reflective about life in general?</p>
<p>Jamapelle: Try The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry</p>
<p>If anyone likes historical fiction and/or mysteries try The One From the Other by Phillip Kerr. He writes a whole series with the same main character. I don’t think it matters much if you read them out of order. This one was my favorite, but I enjoyed all of them.</p>
<p>regarding the nonfiction suggestions I and others have made: yes, I agree that they are less likely to be Great Literature (I had not noticed that that was the criterion) than are the many wonderful fiction titles already posted. Nonetheless, they may be worth your time.</p>
<p>One nonfiction book that is also written very well: Waiting for the Morning Train, a memoir by Bruce Catton (noted Civil War historian)</p>
<p>jamapelle! The three books to “laugh about” are some of my favourites, especially Lolita and High Fidelity! Anymore children’s books to recommend? I love them. And I’m actually currently reading Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, which really is quite intense. Next up on my list are:</p>
<p>1.The Road, Cormac McCarthy
2.The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
3.On The Road, Jack Kerouac
4.Paradise Lost, John Milton(slightly intimidated by this…have to read it for fall anyway so might as well start)</p>
<p>It looks like I might have to shuffle the list and include some of your recommendations. Thankssssss a bunch, guys. Good thread. ;)</p>
<p>Hot, Flat and Crowded - Thomas Friedman</p>
<p>Just finished “Bonjour Tristesse” by Francoise Sagan…it was alright…a very quick read…quite haunting
I’ve just started “Wheel of Time” by Robert Jordan and I’m half way into it…starts out slow but it’s starting to pick its pace…</p>
<p>“The Hole in the Flag” Andrei Codrescu
“Tainted Truth” Cynthia Crossen
“Idos de la Mente” Luis Humberto Crosthwaite
“Aura” Carlos Fuentes
“Jitterbug Perfume” Tom Robbins
“East of Eden” and/or “Grapes of Wrath” John Steinbeck
“A Confederacy of Dunces” John Kennedy Toole</p>
<p>People still read for pleasure and curiosity! (I feel a little bit better about the world) :)</p>