Americanah

Anand Giridharadas, Winners Take All

Anonymous wrote:A friend's husband is collecting books for her 50th birthday as she is an avid reader.
I've been asked to send along my favorite.
I don't have an immediate title and I'm trying to remember books that I really liked.
I thought by asking on here I might remember some that I've read over the years but forgotten about.


What is your FAVORITE book? (Especially a title that you might give to someone else to read).

Thank you!!

This is a tough one. Is he looking for serious books or fun ones? If she likes romance me giving a copy of "Being Mortal" might end the friendship..lol

Ken Follet "Pillars of the Earth"

These books always immediately come to mind but they’re also popular or classics, so I’d worry she has already read them or owns them.
“Wolf Hall”
“The Poisonwood Bible”
“Possession”
“The Secret History”
“The Snows of Kilimanjaro”
“The Namesake”

There are more recent books that I’m not sure are my favorite book ever, but I enjoyed them and think they should be commended as strong works:
“Great Circle”
“Annihilation”
“The Heart’s Invisible Furies”
“North Woods”
“Trust”

Current favorite; Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn comes up on these lists quite a bit. But everyone already owns it

I'd choose Rebecca or The Beautiful and the Damned by F Scott as they are fine books, but the recipient may not like.

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne. I recommend it to everyone.

Some Favorites:
Angle of Repose (Wallace Stenger)
The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
Seabiscuit (Laura Hillenbrand - there is a special illustrated edition but not sure if that would be easy to read)

Lonesome Dove. Nobody talks about it but it's got everything. I recommended it to a book club once and got so many weird looks but then EVERYONE loved it.

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
The book that came to mind for me is "On Beauty" (Zadie Smith). I loved it.

Then I scrolled down and saw the NYTimes top 100 of the century and saw it's on there.

I don't understand. Is that disqualifying for some reason? I would think that's a good thing.

Odd that they'd do "top 100 of the century" when the century is less than 25 years old.

Anonymous wrote:A friend's husband is collecting books for her 50th birthday as she is an avid reader.
I've been asked to send along my favorite.
I don't have an immediate title and I'm trying to remember books that I really liked.
I thought by asking on here I might remember some that I've read over the years but forgotten about.


What is your FAVORITE book? (Especially a title that you might give to someone else to read).

Thank you!!

My ABSOLUTE favorite is Stephen King's The Stand.

Other recent favorites include Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" and Emily St. John's "Station Eleven." I also recommend "Fahrenheit 451" by Bradbury.

As you can see, I'm into the post-apocalyptic genre.

If you're going for more literary, Raymond Carver's collection of short stories, "Where I'm Calling From" is exceptional.

A Suitable Boy

So just give them On Beauty

OP here.
The book that came to mind for me is "On Beauty" (Zadie Smith). I loved it.

Then I scrolled down and saw the NYTimes top 100 of the century and saw it's on there.

A friend's husband is collecting books for her 50th birthday as she is an avid reader.
I've been asked to send along my favorite.
I don't have an immediate title and I'm trying to remember books that I really liked.
I thought by asking on here I might remember some that I've read over the years but forgotten about.


What is your FAVORITE book? (Especially a title that you might give to someone else to read).

Thank you!!