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I have the perfect suggestion for this:
"Shogun" by James Clavell.
It's not great literature, but it's really really well done. It's an entertaining, sweeping, long, dramatic, violent, funny, fascinating novel about an English sailor stranded in Japan. You learn all about samurai culture while getting wrapped up in the drama. It takes a while to get through, but you can't put it down. Even though it may not be the smartest or most profound novel of our age, it's probably the best 2-month-long read I've ever had.
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Looks like someone beat me to it.