1. The Godfather (Mario Puzo): Great characterization, vivid descriptions, fascinating look at a powerful subculture, well researched, much of it based on true people and events. The book is way better than the movies, and the movies deserved their Best Picture Oscars.


2. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller): Most original novel I've ever read. Brilliant, funny, thought-provoking anti-war tract.


3. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (the Bard). No bookshelf is complete without it. My copy has everything: sonnets, tragedies, histories, comedies. I particularly recommend Hamlet, perhaps the greatest play ever written.


4. Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut): Wonderful writing style, captivating story, original and funny way with words.


5. Johnny Got His Gun (Dalton Trumbo): Anti-war stream of consciousness from a World War I soldier who finds himself in an Army hospital after having both legs, both arms and his face blown off. He's alive, but he can't see, hear or smell or talk. Writing style is interesting, little attention paid to punctuation rules. Powerful.


6. The Right Stuff (Tom Wolfe): The Space Race as Cowboy Saga. Meticulously researched, reads like a novel, but all true. I loved it, but then, I've always been interested in space, astronauts, flight, etc.


7. The Way of Harmony, (Jim Dreaver): The book I'm currently reading. It's heavy on meditation and gives you the keys to the kingdom of inner peace and happiness . Probably won't be in my list two years from now, but today I think it's great. Makes you feel good just reading it.


8. Cosmos (Carl Sagan): The entire history of the universe, with special emphasis on the third planet from the sun and its silly inhabitants. Told in layman's terms, lavishly illustrated, thought-provoking and informative. Outdated in many ways now, but still a classic.


9. Shoeless Joe (W.P. Kinsella): The book on which the movie Field of Dreams was...