Book recommendations?

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee if you haven’t read it
My Antonia by Willa Cather

That should get you started.

Gulag Archipelago, by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William Shirer
Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (there’s a series; read any one or all)
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand (a book which probably most people in this forum will decry, but which is – for that very reason – important)

The Boys in the Boat
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo

Would you tell us your age, @Sunshinegirl11, and name one or two books that you’ve liked? Maybe also mention one that you’ve found too hard, to help set an upper limit. It’s always a good idea to stretch, but it might be best a little at a time.

Earth a visitors guide by Jon Stewart .

Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder.
From Wikipedia: It follows the events of Sophie Amundsen, a teenage girl living in Norway, and Alberto Knox, a middle-aged philosopher who introduces her to philosophical thinking and the history of philosophy.
A nice introduction to philosophy.

@Jeruba Oh yeah good idea! I’m a 22 year old female.

My favorite books (not in order).
Night by Ellie Wiesel, Still Alice by Lisa Genova, The Book of Marvels by Richard Haliburton, Life of Pi by Yann Martel is pretty good too. So very all over the place!

I haven’t found a book too hard yet, but most of my favorite books aren’t really “thick” if you know what I mean. One book I couldn’t get into though was Undaunted Courage by Stephen E Ambrose. If that helps

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
That’s the start of the 4-book trilogy…

An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot

Illusions by Richard Bach
Future Shock by Alvin Tofler (goes back a few years, but explains a lot of how we got here as a society)
I agree with Atlas Shrugged that @CWOTUS suggested. It’s a bit long but makes you think.
If you were just reading for pleasure, there would be a whole lot more. Lots of fiction out there that is fun.

Animal Farm by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Flatland by Edwin Abbott
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Andrew Carnegie
The World’s Religions by Huston Smith
Getting to Yes: How to Negotiate Agreement without Giving In by Roger Fisher
A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
and I second @CWOTUS’ recommendation of Freakonomics

Yes, my recommendations are all over the place. Some are novels, some are not, but they all make you think. If you like these, PM me and I can give you more suggestions.

Atlas Shrugged
The Boys in the Boat
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
The Guns of August
The Whisper of the Axe

You haven’t specified whether you want fiction or non-fiction recommendations.

You can read all the different versions of the bible. Also from different to none religious works in every country’s origin story.

Just about anything by Gore Vidal, if you like historical fiction. “Julian” and “Creation” are two I can recommend right off the bat.

Leon Uris is good too, “Exodus” is outstanding.

@CWOTUS – there are five books in the Hitchhiker trilogy, plus a short story, and a posthumous novel as well.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
So Long and Thanks For All the Fish
Life, The Universe, and Everything,
Mostly Harmless
Young Zaphod Plays it Safe
...And Another Thing (finished by Eoin Colfer)

My recommendation:

Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt. It’s a memoir of a man who grew up in Depression-era Ireland. The writing style is unspeakably beautiful.

@Muad_Dib That’s a great one!

Middlesex by Geoffrey Eugenides covers a lot of ground.

@Sunshinegirl11 . If memory serves me, I remember you like hiking. If you like the outdoors, I recommend “Into the Wild,” and “The Last American Man.” Both excellent books…

The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig. I read this book in college and was mesmerized by it.

@Kardamom Great choice.

I would also like to reccomend Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory”:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Memory

This might be the best short story I have ever read. This is the story that got me hooked on Truman Capote’s writing. I would recccomend anything by Capote, but this story really resonated with me. Another good one by Truman Capote is The Grass Harp.

What a lovely, evocative and fine story, @Kardamom. Thanks for that.

@CWOTUS Wasn’t it lovely, and sweet? I could hear every crunch of the leaves beneath their feet, and the scent of fruitcake baking in an old, woodfired stove.