 | Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West (Modern Library) by Cormac McCarthy
Buy new: $15.61 / Used from: $15.17 One of my favorite books of all time. Extremely gory and violent journey through the Old West. This is the author of No Country for Old Men, in case you saw that movie. That book is also good, but not as good as Blood Meridian.
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 | Rabbit, Run by John Updike
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $3.30 First great book by a famous writer who just died. The character is a high school sports star, trying to figure out what to do next. If you like it, there are more, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, Rabbit at Rest. I've read over a dozen Updike novels. He also has a collection of essays about golf.
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 | Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (Random House Reader's Circle) by Tracy Kidder
Buy new: $12.24 / Used from: $11.79 If you ever thought you weren't doing enough in your life to help others, this book will confirm it. Written by a great non-fiction writer who wrote Soul of a New Machine--about computers, and House--about the process of building a house. The architects in your group might like that one, too.
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 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S.) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Buy new: $10.76 / Used from: $3.27 Not the easiest book to read, but awesome. History, fiction and fantasy all at once. This is one of my top five novels. Oprah had it as one of her book club selections, so it's not that hard to read. I saw it at Sam's Warehouse last year.
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 | A Farewell to Arms (Scribner Classics) by Ernest Hemingway
Buy new: $20.45 / Used from: $2.98 A classic. If you haven't read Hemingway, read the short story, "Hills Like White Elephants" then either this book or The Sun Also Rises. Skip For Whom the Bell Tolls.
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 | Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
Buy new: $11.55 / Used from: $4.99 The first "modern" novel and still the best of all time. Be sure you get the Edith Grossman translation (available in paperback). The humor is more evident and it's easier to read. If I could only read and re-read one book the rest of my life, it would be this one.
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 | Love in the Time of Cholera (Vintage International) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $0.86 Another great book from Marquez. Get the Edith Grossman translation, which should be available in paperback.
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 | Wonder Boys: A Novel by Michael Chabon
Buy new: $10.08 / Used from: $7.94 Chabon is one of the best writers working today. After you read the book, you can watch the movie, which is also good. So good, Bob Dylan won a grammy for a song he wrote for it.
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 | Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan
Buy new: $10.80 / Used from: $1.48 Speaking of Dylan, a genius tells his story. Awesome autobiography. Twenty-somethings will realize why their music doesn't measure up. He had already written two masterpieces by the time he was your age. Dylan is still relevant and making great music, FYI.
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 | The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Buy new: $9.79 / Used from: $2.98 You were all assigned this in school. Now actually read it. Read it before reading the Cliff's Notes. NY is a metaphor for life, and a kid makes his way through it. So good, Salinger never tried to top it. Now, decades later, he's suing a guy for copying it.
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 | In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Buy new: $14.96 / Used from: $10.38 The first book to master the blend of fiction and journalism. I'd recommend a Hunter S. Thompson book as well, but that might be too big a first bite. In Cold Blood is a page turner and an important, groundbreaking book.
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