I Have to Read This??!

     We've all experienced it: a friend not just recommending a book but commanding you to read it. The words "You've got to read this book!" are followed by skepticism laced with a heavy dose of obligation. Sure, they're your friend, and the two of you have quite a bit in common. But book taste? That's a touchy subject. You pride yourself on having an eclectic taste in books. When a book is thrust on you this way, you feel pressured not only to like it but to love it. Isn't it convenient when you actually do?
     The best book ever recommended to me was Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. The events in the novel are partially based on the author's experiences but are, for the most part largely fictional. An escaped Australian bank robber travels to Mumbai, India where he lives for a decade.

With Shantaram, I avoided starting the book for several weeks. Once I had begun reading, however, I was hooked. Time constraints forced me to return my borrowed copy, and so I finished reading with a copy from the public library. All in all, it took me about one week to read a 1,000-page tome.
     Have any of you  had similar experiences with book recommendations? What was the best book ever recommended to you?


- Rose