The Five Books I Most Often Recommend at the Book Shop Are:

1.

--For its epic scope, its great story and its literary quality (probably the safest bet to satisfy the book club goer, the Oprah lover and the snob), Middlesex is a beaut. 

2.

 
--Click East of Eden for the reasons why

3.

--Click Dance, Dance, Dance for the reasons why;
--The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - because it is widely considered Murakami's first masterpiece and is good for anyone looking for something meatier, denser, more all-encompassing; also that bit of (Japanese) history seems to ease more readers into the belief that what they are reading is "real" literature;
--Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - for sheer wonder and sparkling imagination

 4.

--Click All the Pretty Horses for the reasons why; and

5.

 

--For being my favourite collection of short stories published since Salinger's Nine Stories and winning the Pulitzer on what was Jhumpa Lahiri's first book, The Interpreter of Maladies is a stunning debut.