For this ultimate book lover's guide, more than one hundred distinguished writers share their personal thoughts in response to the question: what books have left the greatest impression on you and why? The result is not a contrived list of Western civilization's "Great Books," but a heartfelt commentary on works that these lifelong readers most admire."For anybody with a passion for books, this is certainly the most entertaining literary companion...quite irresistible." --Washington Post Book World"Luxuriate in the memories of intellectual awakening...a memory book of fond epiphanies." --Kirkus Reviews"If you're a book lover, this is pretty irresistible stuff." --Chicago Sun-Times"The authors offer surprisingly intimate glimpses of themselves." --The Miami Herald"Gorgeously written paeans." --The Improper BostonianContributors include Diane Ackerman Russell Banks Dave Barry Ann Beattie Robert Bly Rita Mae Brown Art Buchwald Christopher Buckley Bruce Jay Friedman Nadine Gordimer Doris Grumbach Pete Hamill John Irving Tracy Kidder W.P. Kinsella David Leavitt Elmore Leonard Doris Lessing Norman Mailer James McBride Elizabeth McCracken Thomas McGuane Arthur Miller Sue Miller Peggy Noonan Joyce Carol Oates Michael Ondaatje P.J. O'Rourke Amos Oz Cynthia Ozick Grace Paley Robert B. Parker Marge Piercy Reynolds Price James Purdy Mario Puzo Anna Quindlen Carol Shields Neil Simon Oliver Stone William Styron Gay Talese John Updike Kurt Vonnegut Wendy Wasserstein Tobias Wolff Herman Wouk and others