Imagine you worked in a bookstore. What's the one book you'd recommend?

You wake up and your dream has come true: You work in a bookstore. You get to recommend your favorite books all day long.

So what book do you pick? If you could recommend just one book to an eager customer, what would it be?

MPR News' Kerri Miller, Stephanie Curtis and Tracy Mumford shared their personal picks, and listeners added their own must-reads.

Play bookseller for a day

"Commonwealth" by Ann Patchett

"It's a sprawling family story with step-kids and blended families and at first I thought: I want the experience of being able to understand two members of the family. Don't give me eight members of the family. But by the end of it, I felt like she'd woven their lives together so seamlessly. It felt authentic, it wasn't tied up in neat little bows. I believed the way these family members interacted, the way their lives touched and pulled apart. It's the work of someone who is just a master at what she's doing." -Kerri Miller

"Little Money Street: In Search of Gypsies and Their Music in the South of France" by Fernanda Eberstadt

"[Eberstadt] moved to the south of France ... and she happened to settle near a Gypsy family, and at first she was very put off by them and they were very put off by her. Gradually, she becomes part of the family and they become friends. It's a really funny and insightful exploration of how different people choose to live their lives. A breath of fresh air — and not long either." -Stephanie Curtis

"The Vegetarian" by Han Kang

"The book was just published in the U.S. this February; it was originally published in South Korea almost a decade ago. It is an eerie, bizarre mind trip of a book. It's about a young woman who starts to have unsettling dreams that drive her to stop eating meat. These dreams morph into hallucinations and she starts to believe life would be better as a plant. The book is told from the point of view of her husband, her brother-in-law and her sister, as they're observing her descent into madness. You never get into her head, which makes her escalating behavior all the more puzzling and fascinating. It won the Man Booker International Prize this year and should not be missed." -Tracy Mumford

"The House Made of Dawn" by N. Scott Momaday

"I think it tells a story that is perhaps the single-most overlooked, neglected cultural aspect of our country. It's the story of a Native man ... and him coming back from serving in war, and trying to fit back into two completely separate realities of existence." - Loren, Duluth

"Soldier Boys"

"It's a great read. I give it to all the teenage boys in my life. It's set in World War II: One boy is growing up in the U.S., one boy is growing up in Germany, and it's about how they get pulled into the war, what their perspectives are and how they come out in the end." -Rikki, Roseville

"Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer

"It is just a great perspective. She is Native American and she talks about our relationship with nature and how we become disconnected from it ... This book is just a great reconnection for those of us who have become detached from our surroundings." -Jacqueline, South Dakota

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