Recommend the 20 best books you've read in the last five years

: Totally off the mark for anything even remotely touching on the Holocaust. Repulsive.

booknest : Nazi lite, unrealistic, makes light of the suffering.

gypsysmom : Did not like this book but I realize I am in a minority

lordcharles: In its time and place it was very important in having a white lawyer defend a black man. People had to understand that skin color is not painful. Watching a child caught between worlds was fundamental as well.

Diane-bpcb : never liked this; note sure why

fulner : This book is awful to begin with, and public school kids are forced to read it.

Somateria: My favourite novel of all time, first read at school many years ago, before I'd been to Cornwall. Re-read several times, most recently for a book club.

mishy215: I've read this book twice seen the movie several times. I just love the suspenseful tone of the book.

PrueGallagher: The writing beautifully evokes the period and the entire novel is tense and atmospheric

: Light-weight.

: Light-weight Anglophile-bait.

Diane-bpcb : awful story

: I thought this book was really poorly written.

PrueGallagher : I don't care that the beauty of the writing puts you on Humbolt's side or that Lolita holds so much power; it's still a book about pedophilia and I will not feel sorry for Humbolt

: Bad science fiction, terrible dialogue, and really bad theology.

pechmerle: A combination of East Asian history, historical romance, suspense, and writing style that is irresistible. A little knowledge of Japanese history before reading makes it a much richer reading experience.

lordcharles: Opened my eyes to a number of things - and possibilities. Frightening. On pet.

donutage: An inventive and, by the end, surprisingly moving story of an orphan raised in and by a graveyard. Categorized as a YA title, which is understandable, but I consider it also a meditation on parenthood.

Shrike58: Another current example of the best state of the art of modern SF that builds on the traditions of the field (imagine what a collaboration between Le Guin & Cherryh would look like) while trying to extend the state of the art. Some people think this is a bad thing, and I'm not sure that Leckie's tricks of language always work, but this is ultimately a very individual story of how one comes by personal dignity.

Cecrow : This is not "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", which I think most people meant to vote for.

donutage: It's a "classic" for a reason. Ambitious, profound, playful, at times bizarre. Like many, I read this back in high school and was somewhat flummoxed by the "boring" "digressions" about whale anatomy and sailing ships. When I re-read it a couple years ago, I was more willing to take the sprawling narrative on its own terms and found it infinitely enjoyable.

: Plodding prose telegraphing everything from page 1 onward. The message/moral is a popular one hence the undeserved hype. The less said about the Nobel the better.