Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising. The finest book he has ever written.
“Bones, help that man!” – “Damnit Jim, I’m a doctor not a doc…I’ll get right on it.”
The Harry Potter books.
(I know that the rule is “one only,” but how could I possibly decide??)
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
``You’re just an empty cage girl if you kill the bird.’’ – Tori Amos.
Bending the rules:
Non-fiction: All Hat and No Cattle: Tales of a Corporate Outlaw By the time I was 1/3 of the way through, I bought 4 copies to give to colleagues.
Also enjoyed The Victorian Internet
Fiction: Devine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood
Also enjoyed Little Altars Everywhere and the first Harry Potter (only one I’ve read so far)
I’m going to break every rule here, and you can’t stop me! 
I’m not done with it quite yet, but my favorite first time read in the last year is Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.
My favorite re-read (and BTW my all time favorite) is 1984 by George Orwell.
My favorite within the last 2 years is A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge.
Let’s see here… what were the rules, and have I broken them all?
One only…. Check!
Last 12 months…. Check!
Re-reads don’t count…. Check!
Looks like I’m done here.
Things are random only insofar as we don’t understand them.
I’m gonna have to also go with Bryson’s Lost Continent. A friend bought me I’m a Stranger Here Myself and I liked it, so I found Continent at the library and LOVED it. Haven’t laughed so hard in ages. Actual aching sides!
SingleDad- Cider House Rules is one of my all time faves; if you liked it I also recommend Irving’s Prayer for Owen Meany.
Oh, and NO! Books on tape don’t count! Sorry, but nothing beats curling up with a good old fashioned book. 
“That’s impossible! Cartman doesn’t know a rainforest from a Pop-Tart!”
“Yes I do! Pop-Tarts are frosted!”
Black Hawk Down, about 100+ Rangers and Delta Force types besieged by the whole damn population of Mogadishu, Somalia. Not a flag-waver but a dispassionate view from both sides of a 15 hour firefight.
Manda JO: I agree with your view of Neuromancer. By all means read Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive which elaborate events of that book.
Walk In The Woods" - Bill Bryson. Just finished it. It was hilarious, touching, informative, I was just enthralled and made the Mr. read it too. ALL his books are just great!!!
“A Confederacy of Dunces”
by john kennedy toole
thank god for internet friends to tell you about odd books you never would have found before…but end up absolutely loving.
There’s plenty, of course, but I’ll give this one: “Inner Revolution”, by Robert Thurman. Yeah, he’s Uma’s Dad, but this is a great book by a truly gleeful guy!
The ride is short and the thrills are cheap- Men and rollercoasters. - - -Courtesy of Wally, that Signifying Guy.
Thieves and Kings by Mark Oakley.
It’s a Fantasy Graphic Novel series (okay, it’s a comic book) but I’m tellin’ ya, it is outstanding storytelling!
-
Shadow of the Pigeon -
Weirdo of the Night
delilah: That is a book that is very hard to find. Is LSU still the only publisher? Hopefully some large publishing house is now handling the book so it will be easier to locate. I lost my copy several years ago. I read “Too Good To Be True” by Jan Brunvand a couple months ago and I am sure this is a book all you SDers would enjoy - a large book full of ULs. I was literally LOL; I highly recommend this book.
East of Eden, by John Steinbeck.
Teaching: The ultimate birth control method.
I’m afraid that I, too, cannot limit myself to just one book, unless it would be “The Greatest Miracle in the World” be Og Mandino. I am so impressed with it that I have told everyone I know to get it, and for a few friends who are short on time and money, I went out and bought them their own copy.
On the other hand, in the last year I have read(or re-read) several series that I love:
The Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams
The Wolfwalker series by Tara K. Harper
The Shannara series by Terry Brooks
The Magic Kingdom of Landover by Terry Brooks
The Dragonrider series by Anne McCaffrey
<Thanks for all of the great suggestions for books, everyone! Hehehe, library, here I come!>
You are more than a human being, you are a human becoming.
Og Mandino
That’s my name, not a description. I am neither purple nor a bear. Okay, so I’m purple.<a true Wally original!>
Hmmm. ONLY ONE?? Within 12 months?
Christine by Stephen King because of the excellent writing, the high grade of horror and the skillfully worked in humor that made a fine ballance between the two.
I would have to say the best book I’ve read in the past twelve months would be
“To Say Nothing of the Dog” by Connie Willis
or the Harry Potter books
"It’s always heartwarming to see a prejudice overcome by a deeper prejudice.
i just finished “The Code Book” by Simon Singh and I loved it. It is a basic history of cryptography, very well written and easy to read, with plenty of interesting stories.
radar ralf, Confederacy of Dunces is available nearly everywhere now. Here’s a review of it from Barnes & Noble. They have a nice hard copy edition for 10 bucks. I heartily recommend this book to everyone.
All on Fire by Henry Mayer. It’s an absolutely spelbinding bio of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.
Mayer’s written only two books; the other’s a bio of Patrick Henry (A Son of Thunder) which is also topnotch - read it, and you’ll never look at America’s founding events the same way again.
Rincewind, I must admit that I missed the point of “To Say Nothing of the Dog” by Connie Willis. I read it, and it was interesting enough to keep on turning pages to the end, but not by much, IMO.