 | Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $0.01 This is both a funny and dark memoir of a childhood in Africa. Alexandra Fuller describes so many smells and tastes of her homeland, and not always the pleasant ones; I was intoxicated.
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 | One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Buy used from: $0.01 A classic. It took me five years to finally come around to reading it, but when I did, I was amazed. Magical storytelling.
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 | Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell
Buy new: $7.91 / Used from: $0.90 A wonderful book of philosophy. Reading it was a segue for me into an exploration of my own spirituality. Embodies paradox, which is the essential state of our lives.
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 | Blindness (Harvest Book) by Jose Saramago
Buy new: $10.00 / Used from: $0.01 A trip into the minds of characters who are "in the dark." This books explores, on the thematic level, both the horror and heroism that humans are capable of. A difficult read, but well worth it.
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 | The Liars' Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr
Buy used from: $0.01 I love the memoir format. Mary Karr's story is hard; not pretty or sanitized, but it's a drag-you-by-the-seat-of-your-pants read.
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 | Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland
Buy new: $10.08 / Used from: $0.01 This novel was originally published as a series of short stories. The stories lead you back in time, as a painting passes hands from owner to owner. I read this book in one night.
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 | The Prince of Tides: A Novel by Pat Conroy
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $0.01 Just read it. Great storytelling. Gets you in the heart, the most important place.
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 | The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
Buy new: $11.56 / Used from: $4.96 I generally do more literary than scientific reading, but Sagan was a brilliant thinker and a clear, focused writer. He made me want to go out and read astronomy and biology texts.
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 | Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
Buy new: $9.86 / Used from: $6.37 The cover says this is a "novel in verse." I still see it as a narrative poem. Carson explores themes of classical mythology with an eye to the continuity of experience. Love's the same in all ages.
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 | Plainwater: Essays and Poetry by Anne Carson
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $4.48 I can't help it. Carson shines a light into human experience I don't want to turn off. Her prose poems in this collection are astute, a pilgrimage into the tides of human emotions.
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 | Rose (New Poets of America) by Li-Young Lee
Buy new: $12.09 / Used from: $2.95 He's a poet's poet. His use of language and images are stunning. And he's accessible, for people that don't normally read poetry. Read his other books also, particularly The City in Which I Love You.
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 | Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $3.24 I recommend few books on writing, because much of it is about practice. But this book doesn't pretend to be a manual. Lamott uses humor to convey the essential of the writer's life-taking it by step.
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