Svetla recommends...

I recommend this series that begins with Fallen. The author is Lauren Kate.

The book is about the forbidden love between a human girl and a fallen angel. Lucinda is a teenager sent to a school where all of the students have some kind of dark future. And there she meets Daniel... Some of you may decide that the story is a lot similar to Twilight, but they don't have anything in common. For me, Fallen had a deeper meaning and the romance was not presented in such an obvious way, making it sound like a soap opera.

The book catches the reader's interest and is interesting to read. A hint of gothic scent could be felt...

Elena recommends...

Vianne is a divorced woman with a little child. She moves to a small french village during the time when the Catholic church is very powerful. She is not accepted and has a lot of difficulties starting a business with her chocolate shop.

Will the skeptical people change, when they taste the amazing chocolate Vianne makes? Will their hearts get warmer, as the chocolate they are drinking? Will Vianne find a new love or will she stay a single, friendly woman? Read Chocolat and taste the flavor of this story, both sweet and sour.

Siyana recommends Where Rainbows End

If you like romantic stories which give important life lessons but at the same time are fun to read, then Where Rainbows End is just for you. The style of the book is interesting because it tells what happens via e-mails, texts and letters. Where Rainbows End is from the author of P.S., I Love You and tells the story of Alex and Rosie, who are best friends since childhood but eventually fall in love with each other. Will they be together after all the obstacles they meet?

If you like this book, you would probably also like P.S., I Love You.

Lewbina recommends Black Beauty

Black Beauty is a book for the animal lovers. It's a story about a horse, but with human problems. It is interesting how people don't know and probably will never understand if the animals think like them and undergo almost the same situations. The book is a fictional story, but it still makes you think if one horse can have similar feelings like the humans.

Goran recommends The World According to Garp

Although not entirely depressing, the novel offers a grim reality through the eyes of Garp who has to constantly deal with things like death - a main theme in the book. It is incredibly easy and fun to read with very attractive characters. The pace of the novel is just right and it is full of emotions around each page.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a book about a really handsome guy called Dorian Gray who meets a good painter. He makes him a great portrait and Dorian realizes how handsome he is, and wishes that the portrait would grow and change instead of him, and his beauty and youth will remain forever. However, the wish happens and the face on the portrait becomes older and older, and uglier. Dorian becomes arrogant, selfish and bad; he starts to do bad things until one day...

Simona recommends One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey is a book I loved, because it reminds me how short life is, and that I should not be afraid to do what I want to do and to experience as much as possible, enjoying just the beauty of being alive. It is the story about people's life in the asylum. They are treated like they are a great danger for society and should be watched carefully all the time in order not to mess up. All the rules that are imposed on them smother them and their life consists pretty much only of breathing, eating and sleeping. People are not meant to live in such suppression.

Ivo D. recommends Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

This is the best Harry Potter of the entire series. Harry faces tons of challenges including fighting with Death Eaters and leading a secret brotherhood. He even gets involved with a girl. There are many sudden turns and unexpected deaths. If you like fantasy, action and adventure - this book is for you!

Julia recommends A Clockwork Orange

It is all about a gang of guys who hang out together and joke with people. Once they had fun joking one of their many victims, three of the boys decide to betray the fourth one so that when the police come, he could be sent to jail. So that is what happens. There, they put him under control and try to change his nature radically, like when he thinks about sex, he would feel sick and throw up. Would they succeed?

I loved this book. It is hilarious and at the same time horrible, because one can be surprised at what the human mind can think of. Still, it is really nice and addictive. Even though it was written in 1960, it does not sound dated at all. It is rather realistic and modern.

Vicky recommends The Right Attitude to Rain

The Right Attitude to Rain is one really interesting book that leads the reader into Edinburgh and makes him/her feel like he/she is in Scotland. The feeling that the book brings is the most interesting thing about the book, but not the only thing. The story itself is about a woman who is almost 45, and she is confused about her feelings towards a man who is 14 years younger than her. She wants to be with him but her strong morals stop her. Her thoughts about this and other philosophical themes are what keeps the reader intrigued during the whole book.

If you liked the book Chocolat, you would probably like this book too because the styles are similar in their descriptions.

Nina recommends Pippi Longstocking

I'm sure everybody knows the story of Pippi Longstocking. When I was re-reading it recently I suddenly felt like the person I was at 5. I was a happy kid who had a lot of dreams and played a lot of games. I recommend this book because it helps the reader remember who she was and where he came from. It is like a time machine to the land of smiles.

Alex recommends The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodges Burnett, is an excellent, must-read book. It's a great read, especially in the springtime, since half the book talks about the blooming of spring and the "magic" mature that can even manage to heal the ill-tempered Collin. The Secret Garden is a book you can read in a night. The words, the pages, the story flows with a wonderful beat. Mary, a spoiled child living in India, loses her parents to yellow fever which makes her have to move to her uncle's mansion in England. After discovering the healing powers of gardening, she not only heals her bad temper, but she also manages to turn her widower of an Uncle's child into a normal, happy, healthy boy.

Anna recommends P.S. I Love You

It only takes a blink of an eye to lose the one you love. Holly Kennedy, the main character of P.S. I Love You, is totally devastated when her husband is diagnosed with cancer. Holly and Gerry were high school sweethearts and no one could imagine them without each other. Until the death of Gerry leaves Holly all alone. P.S. I love You is an entertaining book teaching one how to stop mourning and start a new life.

Andrea recommends...

After reading Slam by the same author, I was thrilled by his style of writing, so I took About a Boy. It is a book about the curious friendship between a man in his 30s and a 12-year-old boy. Filled with humor, but also serious issues, the book kept my attention till its very end. If you are a fan of Nirvana too, you will definitely like this novel.

Related: Slam, High Fidelity

Karina recommends...

A wonderful book about a small town in France and a woman who is not accustomed to its lifestyle and beliefs - a book about good and evil, about finding yourself, and mostly about chocolate. A charming story that would make you question what is good and what is not and would make you love chocolate even more.

Violeta recommends...

This is not a book that you read for half an hour and then leave. It's a book that one may read for weeks and still enjoy grasping every word. What is the life of the prostitute that never thought of being one? How does she find love through her profession? What are those 11 minutes - nothing or maybe everything? A story of a woman that chose the easy way, but it turned out to be the hardest.

Related: all Paolo Coelho's books, but especially recommended... Veronica Decides to Die.

Jenny recommends...

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is open-minded, wants to read something very different, and is more interested in ideas rather than plot. Its main charcter is a drug addict (on heroin, in particular) whose life or rather thoughts are very weirdly described. The catching thing in the book is that you can hardly distinguish between a real event and a hallucination... or maybe it is a mix of them? his ideas, however, are extremely original, and it is the reader's decision to accept or totally deny them. But he can't just stay neutral.

Siyana recommends...

The Undomestic Goddess is about a woman who has a great job - the dream that she has been working for since childhood. And still... there is a thing missing - family and love. A huge mistake makes her run away and find something new. She has to choose between love and work... but what will she choose?

This book is suitable for readers who like romantic stories with happy endings.

Julia recommends...

This is a book written by a very young Italian physicist describing the life of a girl and a boy who become a man and a woman. They start their friendship in kindergarten and they keep it until the book ends. It is a novel about happiness, truth and true friendship. I'd also recommend you read The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Mariya, Mina and Lora recommend...

If you like weird stories with mad characters and poems without any logic, then you would love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol. Everybody knows what these books are about, and even has read them already. I'd recommend that you read them again - from the point of view of a relatively grown-up person, not of a child... and you'll be surprised how many imporatnt things are said there. I hope you'll see them and like the book even more.

-Mariya

Lewis Carrol shows us the world of a girl the way she sees it using her unlimited imagination. Everything seems nonsense to the reader but that's the point- he shouldn't try to understand it. He should enjoy the book and Alice's adventures and remember the wonderlands and creatures from his childhood.

-Mina

As childish as it may sound, the book I liked the most from all the outside reading books this year was Alice in Wonderland. I've always thought that this was just a kid's book, but it was a lot more. I loved the style of the author and definitely the original ideas. The movie that was recently released was totally awful and it was very different from the book. There is an animated movie from the 1950s, which is very accurate, and if you're wondering whether or not to read the book, you should see it.

-Lora