The book I want everyone to read

[Allison]

What's yours? What is the book or series that not nearly enough people know about and you want EVERYONE to read.

Right now, mine is probably the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, starting with His Majesty's Dragon. It's alternate history Napoleonic war with dragons. Naomi is true to the history of the place, as well as really seriously thinking about how dragons would affect it. Also, it's just really, really neat.

[Heather]

Right now, I'd say the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It starts with The Shadow of the Wind and there are currently 3 books, plus a companion story. The 4th and final is due out sometime this year, so I can't vouch for how it'll all end.
I just immediately got sucked in and caught up in the world of the characters. It's set in early-mid 20th century Barcelona and has a lot of surreal elements. I'm dying for the next book because the last left me not knowing what was real (to the characters) and what was the product of imagination and/or insanity. There are definitely some fantasy elements at play, and things that anyone who's ever written fiction or written for a living can relate to.

They're not for the faint of heart - if you can't handle the macabre, the messy, the creepy, or the sordid (Zafon does not sugar-coat things like prison and war), you may want to skip it. If those things won't ruin a good story for you, I highly recommend it! At times, I felt a little like I was wandering around in an old horror movie, in a haunted house with creaky stairs and a dark basement. It's everything I LIKE about classic horror, without having to look at blood on a screen.