Might not be approrpiate for a birthday, but from an age/relatability perspective, "One Way Back" by Christine Blasey Ford is very, very good.

Poisonwood Bible is an amazing book.

Just finished, "Swimming in Paris", which is beautiful even in translation.

I also love "Touching the Void", but less interesting to a non-climber I suppose.

A little bit more experimental than Poisonwood Bible, but "The God of Small Things" is a fiction masterpiece IMHO. Also, "When we Cease to Understand the World" is great.

Anonymous wrote:The Book Thief is my go to recommendation. It's technically a young adult book, but it is so beautiful.

It was summer reading for my teen but I'm afraid to read it because I think it will be sad. Is it sad? My teen has said death is a character and I won't like it.

The Midnight Library - wonderfully moving

My DH is one of those people who morphed from a non-reader to a very intent reader through the years. The past few years he’s loved Wolf Hall and Gilead above all the others.

I like lighter books, and would be pondering Straight Man or Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo or one of my favorite Georgette Heyer Regency romances. Probably Devil’s Cub is my #1.

The Choice by Edie Eger. Very inspiring!

Homegoing, a fine balance, a suitable boy, stillness is the key.

The Book Thief is my go to recommendation. It's technically a young adult book, but it is so beautiful.

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines.

Lady Tan's Circle of Women
Demon Copperhead
Weyward
The Nightengale
The Rose Code

I think A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was the most popular of those Armed Services Edition paperbacks during WWII. A lot of detail of daily life in the 1910s.

This is hard to answer because there are so many good books. If the question is what is the BEST book that I have ever read. I'd say Dune. I loved it and couldn't put it down at the time.

I'm surprised by the responses re: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I hated it when I read it, though I was much younger. It also reads very much like a book from the 40s so hard for modern readers.

Impossible to pick a true favorite but in this situation is give A Tree Grows in Brooklyn because I love it and have found a surprising number of people have never read it.

If she is an avid reader, I'd pick one of my favorites that is a little more obscure. But I'd also hope you know a little about her reading habits. If she likes classics, I'd probably do an nyrb publication. They are pretty books and also a bit lesser-known but a well-curated list.

I've loved:
A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G.B. Edwards
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
Stoner by John Williams
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

But it should also be something you've read and loved, so if you haven't read any of these, then maybe not.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle