Since your reply I was thinking about a book, that I could recommend. Do you know Hermann Hesse? He is a quite well known german-swiss author. My favorite book is called Siddhartha and it really changed my perspective about life and inner growth. I love his writing style and the way he builds up the story. It's really charming and warm. He wrote a lot of other good stuff, too. Maybe you are interested in some german culture (of course it's also available in english) or maybe you even know him already.