# Recommend me just one book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 13, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624 "2010-09-13T17:05:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/1 "2010-09-13T17:05:40Z")
I’m going to make an order from Amazon. Along with that I will buy just 1 or 2 fiction books. I have very little time to read. Which is one that I really should read? My favorite books of those I have read are Catch-22 and Enders Game. As a preemptive strike, I have read Hitchhiker’s Guide, The Princess Bride and LoTR. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/2 "2010-09-13T17:28:51Z")
[The Circus of Dr. Lao](http://www.amazon.com/Circus-Dr-Bison-Frontiers-Imagination/dp/0803269072/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284398618&sr=1-1), by Charles G. Finney. The story of a Chinese entrepreneur who arrives in a small town in Arizona with a circus featuring a medusa, a talking sea serpent, a roc, and other such magical beings. Takes a keen and sarcastic look at the attitude of the locals, but also contains a great deal of humor and witty dialogue. Highly recommend. It is also very short–about 100 pages–and thus should work well for someone who has very little time to read. Alternate choice: [The Man Who Was Thursday](http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Was-Thursday/dp/193604109X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284398855&sr=1-1), by G. K. Chesterton. A spy novel mixed with a comedy mixed with a philosophical novel mixed with a mystery mixed with a book that’s impossible to describe. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/3 "2010-09-13T18:19:18Z")
[A Short History of Nearly Everything](http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything-Illustrated/dp/0307885151/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284401860&sr=1-1), by Bill Bryson. Very entertaining and informative. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/4 "2010-09-13T18:25:35Z")
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Simply the best book of the new century. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/5 "2010-09-13T18:54:50Z")
_City of Thieves_, David Benioff. Short gripping WW2 story of a Jewish Russian kid who needs to find some eggs - behind German lines. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/6 "2010-09-13T19:27:58Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > I’m going to make an order from Amazon. Along with that I will buy just 1 or 2 fiction books. I have very little time to read. Which is one that I really should read? > > My favorite books of those I have read are Catch-22 and Enders Game. I’ll just tell you what jumped into my mind when I saw these titles—you can decide if any of them appeal to you enough to be the “one book.” _Catch-22_ is associated in my mind with John Irving’s _The World According to Garp_ because those were two books I read when I was a freshman in college looking to read some really enjoyable, non-genre, popular-but-literary novels. They don’t have a lot in common, besides being good reads, having broad and eccentric casts of characters, and having dark senses of humor. (And actually, _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ turned out to be my favorite Irving novel, but _Garp_ was my first.) The other great dark comedy about WWII is Kurt Vonnegut’s _Slaughterhouse-Five_ (though my favorite Vonnegut is _Cat’s Cradle_). Since you liked _Ender’s Game_, you might consider the award-winning (though different) sequel _Speaker for the Dead_, or the later companion novel _Ender’s Shadow_. > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > [The Circus of Dr. Lao](http://www.amazon.com/Circus-Dr-Bison-Frontiers-Imagination/dp/0803269072/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284398618&sr=1-1), by Charles G. Finney. The story of a Chinese entrepreneur who arrives in a small town in Arizona with a circus featuring a medusa, a talking sea serpent, a roc, and other such magical beings. Takes a keen and sarcastic look at the attitude of the locals, but also contains a great deal of humor and witty dialogue. Highly recommend. It is also very short–about 100 pages–and thus should work well for someone who has very little time to read. Added to my Amazon wish list. > [@](#): > > Alternate choice: [The Man Who Was Thursday](http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Was-Thursday/dp/193604109X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284398855&sr=1-1), by G. K. Chesterton. A spy novel mixed with a comedy mixed with a philosophical novel mixed with a mystery mixed with a book that’s impossible to describe. Chesterton subtitled it “A Nightmare,” which is as good a classification as any. One of my favorite works of fiction (and out of copyright, so it can be downloaded free). [QUOTE=Chefguy] A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. Very entertaining and informative. [/QUOTE] Agreed—but not fiction, which I think is what the OP was specifically looking for. (Some of Bryson’s other books, like _A Walk in the Woods_ and _The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid_, are great reads as well, and, being memoirs, read somewhat like fiction.) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/7 "2010-09-13T19:31:11Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > I’m going to make an order from Amazon. Along with that I will buy just 1 or 2 fiction books. I have very little time to read. Which is one that I really should read? > > My favorite books of those I have read are Catch-22 and Enders Game. > > As a preemptive strike, I have read Hitchhiker’s Guide, The Princess Bride and LoTR. Obvious choice: **Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson**. Has elements of Enders Game (plot to destroy the world as we know it - very different threat vs. Ender’s Game but fascinating) and a story told with a wry, sarcastic wit and a fascinating view of the world… ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/8 "2010-09-13T20:10:54Z")
_The Complete Short Stories Of John Collier_, hundreds of the most comic and bizarre short stories you will ever read. You will undoubtedly already be familiar with some of them since many of them have been repeatedly anthologized and/or made into movies or tv shows. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/9 "2010-09-13T20:27:32Z")
> [@yanceylebeef](#): > > Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. > > Simply the best book of the new century. Seconded with an enormous +1. It’s absolutely, breathtakingly, stunningly clever - as well as entertaining and beautifully written, and appealing to lovers of many genres, especially sci fi. ( **yanceylebeef** , if you haven’t read it, his first novel _Ghostwritten_ is similarly brilliant, and shares some of the same concepts and characters too.) ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/10 "2010-09-13T22:35:12Z")
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. A crazy, fun read. Very well written and full of ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/11 "2010-09-14T00:23:53Z")
A while back I made a spur of the moment bookstore pickup that turned out to be a good read, so I am recommending: [**Austin Grossman, Soon I Will Be Invincible**](http://www.amazon.com/Soon-Invincible-Vintage-Austin-Grossman/dp/0307279863/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284422861&sr=1-1). It’s a superhero novel not set in any existing superhero universe. The story is told in first person mode, and switches between the supervillian and a new member of the team fighting him. The evil chapters are better, but it’s all good. The plot revolves around the mysterious disappearance of Coldfire, an enigmatic Superman type, and the prison break and subsequent resumption of nefarious activities by the evil Doctor Impossible. Very interesting and entertaining, especially for a first novel. “Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone’s problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor.” ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/12 "2010-09-14T08:04:43Z")
Thanks for the suggestions so far. They look really good. Will have to pick out a few instead of just one. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/13 "2010-09-14T11:19:07Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > A while back I made a spur of the moment bookstore pickup that turned out to be a good read, so I am recommending: > [**Austin Grossman, Soon I Will Be Invincible**](http://www.amazon.com/Soon-Invincible-Vintage-Austin-Grossman/dp/0307279863/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284422861&sr=1-1). > It’s a superhero novel not set in any existing superhero universe. The story is told in first person mode, and switches between the supervillian and a new member of the team fighting him. The evil chapters are better, but it’s all good. The plot revolves around the mysterious disappearance of Coldfire, an enigmatic Superman type, and the prison break and subsequent resumption of nefarious activities by the evil Doctor Impossible. Very interesting and entertaining, especially for a first novel. > > “Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone’s problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor.” I enjoyed this book, too, as did my son. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/14 "2010-09-14T15:10:54Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > > [@yanceylebeef](#): > > > > Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. > > > > Simply the best book of the new century. > > Seconded with an enormous +1. > > It’s absolutely, breathtakingly, stunningly clever - as well as entertaining and beautifully written, and appealing to lovers of many genres, especially sci fi. > > ( **yanceylebeef** , if you haven’t read it, his first novel _Ghostwritten_ is similarly brilliant, and shares some of the same concepts and characters too.) It’s in the que, right after The Thousand Summers of Jacob Dezoet! ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/15 "2010-09-14T19:33:39Z")
Gaddis, _The Recognitions_ – one of the few very important American works of fiction written after WWII, and a pleasure. It’s long, so, read it in a handful of days or you’ll never finish it. I think he was only 32 or something when he wrote it – cat was an organized mofo. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/16 "2010-09-14T19:53:10Z")
You liked Ender’s Game and Catch-22. I suggest… [John Scalzi, Old Man’s War](http://www.amazon.com/Old-Mans-War-John-Scalzi/dp/0765348276/ref=pd_sim_b_1) In the future, you can be young again. All you have to do is give your life up on Earth forever, and ship out to fight to keep the colonies free. They’ll rebuild you. Stronger. Faster. Smarter, even. But what’s it like out there? You have read Hitchhiker’s Guide and The Princess Bride. I suggest… [Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.](http://www.amazon.com/Good-Omens-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0441003257) Those two names together should blow the mind of any reader. One writes the best humorous fantasy of the current era, and the other writes some of the best fantastical stories that verge on literature of the current era. It’s a stand alone book about Armageddon, the Antichrist, and an angel who did not so much fall as saunter vaguely downwards. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Keen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/17 "2010-09-14T20:02:33Z")
Hyperion by Dan Simmons ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/18 "2010-09-14T20:03:33Z")
If the OP wants to go top drawer, he could try ‘The Savage Detectives’ by Roberto Bolano. Published late 90s but the English translation only came out a few years ago. It is a staggeringly good book, and looks like it may become a very influential one - it’s made a huge impact on Latin American lit. Not a great book for reading on a restricted timetable, though. The prose is friendly, no problems here at all, but it’s got quite a dense structure. I didn’t really get going on it until I took it on holiday, when I couldn’t put it down. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/19 "2010-09-14T20:09:01Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > Gaddis, _The Recognitions_ – one of the few very important American works of fiction written after WWII, and a pleasure. It’s long, so, read it in a handful of days or you’ll never finish it. I think he was only 32 or something when he wrote it – cat was an organized mofo. Have you read Jonathan Frantzen’s essay on Gaddis - entitled Mr Difficult? He had huge respect for _The Recognitions_, as I recall, but compared reading it to being a mountaineer, entrenched on a difficult ascent, making slow, hard but steady progress. I’ve not read it myself - I’ve read _A frolic of his own_, which was dazzling but not all that great of a book overall IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624/20 "2010-09-14T22:58:12Z")
> [@yanceylebeef](#): > > Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Since you stole my pick :p, I’ll suggest _English Passengers_ (**originally recommended on this board by Twickster)** by Matthew Kneale. It’s not a nested story, like _Cloud Atlas_, but it has a similar feel and quality. Those two are the best books I’ve read in years. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-just-one-book/553624.md?page=2)