I can't name just one, so I'll name my top five (all in the original languages, I've included the exact translation of the title -- this does not mean that the translation was actually published under this title). These are in no particular order, I wrote them up as they came to me:
1. Der Mensch vor der Frage nach dem Sinn -- Viktor Frankl
(Man facing the Question of Meaning)
--> Wonderful book, as it is a compilation of his work, including university lectures and actual examples of how his interpretation of the meaning of life changed lives
2. Vivir para contarla -- Gabriel García Márquez
(Live to tell about it)
--> This is the autobiography of Márquez, one of the great Latin American authors of this century. His purpose in life is to write, and he pursues it with vigor through poverty, political turmoil, personal catastrophes and adventures with women
3. The Lords of Discipline -- Pat Conroy
--> Although it is a work of fiction, I find it highly compelling, as it shows very clearly how fears and emotions of people can be manipulated towards any result
4. Im Westen nichts Neues -- Erich Maria Remarque
(Nothing New on the Western Front)
--> A classic, I'm not going to go into that
5. For whom the bell tolls -- Hemingway
--> see above
Strangely enough, some of these are fiction works, but I put them on the list because they made me cry because the strength of the words and the meaning to be found in them. I haven't seen all to many classics on this thread... I wonder why? Don't people read them any more? There's a reason they're called classics!
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