Book recommendations

A while ago, someone I'm very fond of and very dear to me pressed me for a list of five books that I felt she should read. I present that list below along with others (and one she herself lent me)...

My top five recommendations:
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Dune - Frank Herbert
A History of God - Karen Armstrong (this one's a tough read but worthy)
Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age - Modris Eckstein
Dialogue Concerning The Two Chief World Systems - Galileo Galilei

Highly recommended reads:
The Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein
Six Memos for the Next Millennium - Italo Calvino
Richard III and King Lear - William Shakespeare
On Death and Dying - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD
The Wind Is My Mother: The Life and Teachings of a Native American Shaman - Bear Heart (w/ Molly Larkin)
The Constitution of the United States - yes, read it!

I realize book lists are incredibly subjective and there are other titles I could easily include but this list represents my essentials, my desert-island books...