Garreg Mach

At LEAST the first five books of the Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy (haven't read the sixth one yet), Chasm City, The Things They Carried, Summerland, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstrn are Dead," and "Hamlet," to name a few.

Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, awesome book.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles and Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson are both pretty short, and can easily be read thoroughly within a week's time for each. And of course they're both excellent.

 

I will say, though, that as admirable as this task... is one week really enough to fully absorb the material that is Les Miserables and The Lord of the Rings? You must have a lot of free time on your hands.

American Gods and Anansi Boys should be on your list. Neil Gaiman's a fantastic author, and if you haven't read his works you definitely should.

 

Wicked and its sequels are excellent, especially if you've read the original Oz books (and if not, you can add them to the list too).

 

Children's books are often shorter and more accessible than adult literature, but there's an awful lot of quality to be found there. The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Holes are excellent standalone novels. The same goes for A Series of Unfortunate Events; that's thirteen books right there, and as a bonus is chock full of references to other books, many of which you might also read over the course of the year.

Don't know if you'd rule out graphic novels, but if not I'd recommend Watchmen, which unlike many graphic novels compiled from print comics serves as one standalone volume. The Sandman and Scott Pilgrim are good if you're interested in a series. Same with Girl Genius (often harder to find in stores, but fret not: the entire series is published as an ongoing, freely-accessible webcomic)

 

There's probably more I could recommend, but I can't think of any at the moment. But this is plenty to at least get you thinking.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles and Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson are both pretty short, and can easily be read thoroughly within a week's time for each. And of course they're both excellent.

 

Agreed with A Separate Peace. I read that for my English class sophomore year of high school--definitely one of the better books I've had to read for school. I should really read it again sometime.

 

 

I will say, though, that as admirable as this task... is one week really enough to fully absorb the material that is Les Miserables and The Lord of the Rings? You must have a lot of free time on your hands.

 

Not sure about iBrow, but for me often I'll read shorter/faster-paced books in less than a week so that I'm ahead of schedule--gives me more time to read a more dense book like Les Mis/etc.

 

But anyway, @ iBrow ~ Awesome! It's really fun and amazing reading a book-a-week. If you ever need more suggestions feel free to PM/Skype me any time, but here's a few of my favorites:

 

• The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. One of the most amazing books I have literally ever read.
• A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness. Pretty much the same as above--an amazing, amazing book.
• The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher. A really fun fantasy series about a Wizard Private Investigator set in modern Chicago.
• The Mitch Rapp series, by Vince Flynn. I'd recommend starting with American Assassin.
• Anything by Michael Connelly (LAPD Detective Harry Bosch; Defense Attorney Mickey Haller).
• Skin, by Ted Dekker. Really awesome thriller that just keeps you reading.
• Anything by Agatha Christie. She's the author that got me into reading, honestly. My favorite is probably And Then There Were None, but I love her Poirot books as well.