Dracula - Bram Stoker
Better than any movie version I've ever seen. It use of diary entries to narrate events is a brilliant way to build suspense. The book is rife with symbolism and, I think, is highly relevant in these times.
The Red Book of Westmarch - J.R.R. Tolkien
Vastly more than the cliche choice of the generally illiterate, Tolkien's romance is a powerful tale of myth illustrating the importance of doing what is right when all hope is lost. While modern scholars scoff at the complete lack of irony, I find their complaints deficient because their assertion implies that sincerity is of no value. These books are something less than myth and something more than a morality play. I have yet to meet someone who isn't a better person for reading them.
Bonjour Tristesse - Francoise Sagan
The woman had an extraordinary talent for creating the lushest metaphors. If read only for this, the book would be satisfying. Sagan illuminates adolescent life better than Catcher In the Rye ever did. Bonjour Tristesse is not as forced, nor as naive.
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
I love this because it's filled with characters based upon people I've actually known. The Fitzgeralds spent a lot of time here in Warwick with the Fowlers attending the most outrageous parties. Some of the people who were alive at the time were (or are) my oldest relatives and the events in The Great Gatsby are all essentially true with only slight changes to places and people. In this, it's a great book made greater for me by my unique insights into the events and characters.
All Quiet on the Western Front - by Erich Maria Remarque
The greatest pacifist book ever written. The writing is brilliant. German translates to English very well and this book is spare, concise, yet the characters stand out like flesh and blood. It's a book apparently never read by the current occupant of the White House.
History of the Peloponnesian War - by Thucydides
I love reading the ancient historians and Thucydides is my favorite. There's a wide misconception that any author worthy of becoming a marble bust must be dry and boring yet that isn't true at all. Thucydides' humorous asides and writing style are engaging, giving the reader a real sense of events playing out with tension. It almost has a plot. Wonderful!
The Republic - Plato with Socrates
The first book that taught me to think! I love it dearly. Without it I doubt I would be able to see what so many others cannot. I count philosophy as the single most valuable course of study in school as it illuminates every other subject and teaches us how to think critically.
Prolegomena To Any Future Metaphysics - Immanuel Kant
Took everything I knew from Plato and stood it on its head. Taught me reality is subjective.
Gardener's Art Through the Ages - Richard Tansey et al.
Art history and philosophy go hand-in-hand. Each radically changes our perceptions of the world around us and brings us understanding of why and how things the way they are. My goal in education was to learn to see and think as objectively as possible and nothing illuminates art like this bible of art.