There's a few books I always recommend when someone asks me --
Blackbird, by Jennifer Lauck - this is a moving, heartfelt, inspirational true story about the author's young life, who raised by an "Evil Stepmother" after both of her parents die. The book reads like a novel and is written from her point of view as a young girl (at times it really does sound like a 6 or 8 or 10 yr old is telling the story!). Her story is incredible - a true survivor who lived through some horrific events. There's also a follow-up book that picks up where Blackbird leaves off -- Still Waters -- but Blackbird is the best of the two. Have a box of Kleenex nearby -- you're definitely going to need it!
Between Friends, by Debbie Macomber -- anyone who grew up with a BFF (or during the 60s/70s), will want to read this book and share it with that person. The story follows two girls born in the 50s all the way up to the present day (2001/02). The story is not written out as a normal novel is written. The story is told "scrapbook" style, "which relies solely on letters, newspaper clippings, diary entries and even school essays to tell the story of a friendship spanning more than half a century." Important events during history are always relayed through the story -- when televisions were introduced into homes, JFK's assassination, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, the Vietnam War, the Woman's Movement and the ERA, the introduction of computers and email, even 9/11 is briefly touched upon towards the end. Definitely a book you won't be able to put down!
The Help, By Kathryn Stockett. Anyone I know who's read this book has truly loved it and passed it on to someone else that they know!! (they're making a movie due to be released next year -- read the book before the movie comes out!)