Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts...

...The best book I've read in years, perhaps ever!

This book was recommended by a friend whose usual reading would be of the intellectual, spiritual, or academic variety. My type of read is more like brain candy, novels for entertainment, thrillers, and, occasionally, trade books. I reluctantly started reading this book when she loaned it to me, and then I couldn't put it down again.

I won't attempt to summarize it, it's been done much better than I could do here. It'll grab you, guaranteed. There are few people I've heard of who have lived their lives as intensely as this author has and can write about it in such a way that leaves you breathless at the beauty of it. There is only a couple of authors I can think of that come close, in my estimation, to the story-telling ability of Gregory David Roberts, and those are James Clavell and Herman Wouk.