What is the best book you've ever read?

[Gumbo4x4]

That sounds depressing.

But it reminds me of another book I couldn't put down. "Zoo Story. Life in the Garden of Captives".

It's gripping - but yes much of it is awfully sad - more from a people perspective than an animal one though. Nice part is the chapters are almost completely independent. So, if you're in the mood to read about snakes, you flip right to that chapter and skip the rest.

 

[etoiles]

I loved The Time Traveler's Wife but I don't think it's available on a Kindle. It is still worth reading though!

 

[Pakey]

A Thousand Splendid Suns is my favorite in recent years.

Mists of Avalon is my all time favorite.

 

[MomofKatie]

Some classics I re-read over and over:

Little Women
Pride and Prejudice
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Secret Garden
The Grapes of Wrath
Gone With the Wind
The Outsiders
The Hobbit
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Newer books I like a lot:
the Harry Potter books
The Lovely Bones
The Shining

 

[rutgers1]

1) A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: If you regard a book by how it changes the way you go about life, then this one would get top honors for me
2) Born to Run: great book even if you don't run

 

[hidmickey:myantidrug]

My top five:

Of Mice and Men
The Outsiders
Lord of the Flies
The Hunger Games
Lolita

 

[Northstar]

Is she confident that the girl's English is up to fast, fluent, enjoyable novel reading?

If not, maybe just one or two novels... an easy, short, classic (Steinbeck, The Pearl, or Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea) and a contemporary young adult novel, preferably something that there's a movie version of, and that the other kids she'll come in contact with might have read/viewed recently.

 

[Mickeynutty]

Grapes of Wrath. <3 Steinbeck

Oh, my! I have to add, The Grapes of Wrath. It is a masterpiece!

 

[Nette]

11/22/63
Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow (same story told from different POV)
Her Fearful Symmetry (by the author of Time Traveler's Wife, and definitely on Kindle)

It's near impossible to pick just ONE favorite book.

 

[fall08CP]

Tuesdays with Morrie, it's pretty deep and sad though.

 

[badblackpug]

The Color Purple Alice Walker

 

[kaligal]

Books I'd recommend for a 16yo whose first language is not English...

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Rebecca
Cold Sassy Tree
The Little Prince
A Seperate Peace (are they still assigning that in grade school or high school?)
...And, of course, The Catcher in the Rye

These are not my favorite books, but they're very easy to read books I think a teen girl would enjoy.

 

[AlaskaMOM]

I don't normally jump into book threads because I can never pick just one (or shut up about books)
But as someone who hosted an exchange student AND recommends books for a living I thought I would chime in.
First off I think it's nice your friend wants to have so many things available for her student BUT

she will be an individual, with individual tastes, probably not very likely to be like an American teen's taste.

Our exchange student picked a book he had read before (in his own language years ago) for his 1st book assignment for Language Arts class. It was The Witches by Roald Dahl. Yes it is a kids book, but he reads English at a much younger level, and already knowing the jist of the story it was easier for him to understand the English.
For his other books for reading he choose philosophy and art books, He learned about those topics extensively in his country and he wanted to see how they compare in the U.S. I guess.
He did try to read the Lightning Thief, but he didn't care for it.

So I could give you a long list of favorites (though many PP have hit upon some good ones already) but I think your friend should put some of the free classics on the kindle. But wait until her student arrives and has a day or 2 (or 5 or 6) to settle in and has the choice as to what type of book she would be comfortable reading in English before she actually purchases anything for the kindle.

 

[DisReno]

Never Mind

 

[kaligal]

Now that the above poster said it, I want to second it...because I thought it in the first place.

Kids that age can choose their own reading material. Also, if I were going to read books in the language I was learning, I would want to start with books I have already read in English.

We don't know how far along in her studies of English this girl has come. We don't know what she would really want to read.

It is nice to hand this girl books. It would be much nicer to ask her to help select one or two and then buy that for her. Also, ask her if she prefers a Kindle or a real book.

 

[nym4588]

"She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb is quite good. "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy is one of the most haunting things I've ever read.

 

[FayeW]

"She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb is quite good. "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy is one of the most haunting things I've ever read.

I despised "She's Come Undone". Really, really, hated it.

So many of my favourites have been mentioned, but "The Time Traveller's Wife" is my favourite of those that have already been mentioned. Also loved:

To Kill A Mockingbird
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
Tuesday's With Morrie
The Hunger Games Trilogy
The Help
Secret Daughter

But my all time favourite, bar none, is "As The Crow Flies" by Jeffrey Archer, and another of his books, "Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less" is a very close second.

Actually, I keep getting "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" mixed up with another book, which I absolutely loved by can't for the life of me remember what it is (but apparently for the last 35 years, I thought it was "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn!").

It is about a young couple and if follows them through their courtship and early married life. The part I remember clearly is that they didn't have much money and the wife was an artist, so the husband sold his car to buy her painting supplies for Christmas. She, on the other hand, sold her art supplies to buy him tires for his car.

Does anybody know what book I'm talking about? It's not Gift of the Magi, she sold her hair!

 

[Tarheel Gal]

I loved The Secret Lives of Bees.

 

[TwingleMum]

Death In The Long Grass

Though it's non fiction and probably wouldn't interest a teen girl unless she's fascinated with African animals and/or hunting.

A favorite of mine. I went to Africa for 6 weeks on my Honeymoon

 

[TwingleMum]

Some of my favorites are
Pride & Prejudice
Sense & Sensibility
Harry Potter Series
Gone with the Wind
Black Beauty