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The other day Tim called for a book recommendation and I told him he should read Watership Down because I tell everyone they should read Watership Down - except no one ever takes me up on it because they find out it is a book about rabbits.

You really should read it.

Anyway, in my effort to convince Tim how truly amazing this book is, I told him it is on my top ten list. But since I didn't actually have a top ten list, saying that I had one forced me to come up with a top ten list and I will in turn, force my readers to read my top ten list. So, in no particular order. . .

My Ten (and by ten, I mean eleven) Favorite Books:

Islands in the Stream - Ernest Hemingway
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - David Eggers
Watership Down - Richard Adams
The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
The Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O'Dell
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Vurt - Jeff Noon
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Books I read this year that you should pick up:
Blindness - Jose Saramago
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
The Neverending Story - Michael Ende
Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

Books I read this year you should definitely skip:
Choke - Chuck Paluhniak
Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck
State of Fear - Michael Chrichton
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
Eragon - Christopher Paolini

If you're ever on Jeopardy: A "hairsbreadth away" is 1/48 of an inch.

- lada, a.k.a. Ghetto Santa