1. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is definitely number one, mainly because of the lead character, John Yossarian, whose motto seemed to be "cultivating boredom." He'd been on something like sixty bombing missions and wanted to slow down time. As a teacher on vacation, I was guilty of cultivating boredom many times.

2. LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL by Thomas Wolfe.
Eugene Gant was a character living in Ashville, North Carolina. He wanted to be a writer and the Gant family reminded me a lot of my own. And his father was a drunken stone mason!

3. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee. So damn good I taught it seventeen times and never got sick of it. I can still watch the movie without throwing up, and I never watch a movie twice.

4. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson. Probably the best American short story collection ever written. Influenced Hemingway, among others. If you live in a small town you will definitely relate.

5. NAME OF THE ROSE by Umberto Eco. A murder mystery set in a medieval monastery. I guess I always wanted to be a monk.

6. KILLER ANGELS. Best darn Civil War book I've ever read, and it's fiction!

7. AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser. A rich factory owner murders his pregnant girlfriend. Some say Dreiser is trite, but this one had me riveted all the way through.

8. PLAINSONG by Kent Haruf. Haruf also does small towns well, and his people are so real you'd swear they live next door. 

9. BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Fyodor Dostoyevski. I read this for fun, but I swear I underlined and took notes on every page. Lots of good stuff on religion, especially the chapter on The Grand Inquisitor.

10. BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE.
I was always fascinated by Native American history, but I was an idiot on the subject before I read this book. 

Dave Schwinghammer published novel, SOLDIER'S GAP, is available on Amazon.com.