Lord Jeffrey Archer
Novelist and British Politician

Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

A good story, told by a great writer

Lawrence Block
Mystery Author

Forever by Pete Hamill

The First Law by John Lescroart

Fat Ollie's Book by Ed McBain

Complete works of John O'Hara

My favorite writer, if I have one, is John O'Hara; I've been rereading his complete works for thirty years or more.

Right now, I'm reading three books, and enjoying them enormously: Forever, by Pete Hamill, an extraordinary romance (in the pre-Harlequin sense of the word) of New York City over three centuries; The First Law, John Lescroart's newest and, to my mind, finest novel; and Fat Ollie's Book, fresh proof that Evan Hunter/Ed McBain will never run out of richly entertaining stories of the 87th Precinct.

Jan Burke
Award-Winning Novelist and Short Story Writer

Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey

Trouble is My Business by Raymond Chandler

I'm so deeply honored to be included!  Here are two favorites:

Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar - I can finish reading this book, go back to page one, and never tire of taking it in again. I love all of Tey's books, but especially this one. Brat Farrar is beautifully crafted, with sentences that still make me stop and sigh with pleasure. Characters that one never forgets. A plot that in any other hands would fall to pieces, but in hers is engaging from start to finish.

Trouble is My Business by Raymond Chandler. I recently started reading this collection of short stories again. Chandler brought a kind of artistry to this genre that allowed others to see what it could be at its best.

Lee Child
Best-Selling Author of the "Jack Reacher" Novels

Sophie's Choice by William Styron

Derailed by James Siegel

Very happy to participate.  Can't pick just one -- got to go with two.  I hope that's OK.  This is what I would say:  For a modern classic, you can't do better than William Styron's Sophie's Choice. It's a great Southern novel, and a great American novel, and a great World War II novel, and a great suspense novel, all rolled into one. And recently, I can't get over how much I enjoyed James Siegel's Derailed - as an edge-of-the-seat thriller, it can't be beat.

Dom DeLuise
Comedic Actor

Charlie the Caterpillar by Dom DeLuise

[Included is] a copy for your library

Andy Garcia
Actor

Three Trapped Tigers by Guillermo Cabrera Infante

My favorite book is Three Trapped Tigers by Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante.

Teri Garr
Actress

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Senator Dick Gephardt
U.S. Congressman from Missouri

Truman by David McCullough

Steve Hamilton
Author of the "Alex McKnight" Series

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

Hell to Pay by George Pelecanos

A Place of Execution by Val McDermid

Garnethill Triolgy by Denise Mina

Underworld by Don DeLillo

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

I grew up reading mysteries, and now I'm lucky enough to be writing them. Recent books in the field that I think are as good as anything in ANY category include Mystic River by Dennis Lehane (a gut-wrenching story of three lives intertwined over 25 years), Hell to Pay by George Pelecanos (a brutally realistic portrait of life on the streets of DC), A Place of Execution by Val McDermid (a classic small village police procedural, turned inside out), and the Garnethill Trilogy by Denise Mina (dark, demented, heart-breaking, and wickedly funny, too). I could go on with more modern mysteries, believe me...

Beyond mystery, the books I've loved recently include Underworld by Don DeLilio (which pretty much captures the entire second half of the 20th century), Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (the most relentlessly violent book I've ever read, and not for the faint of heart, but just amazing), and Empire Falls by Richard Russo (always one of my favorites, from an author who truly loves his characters, and now he's got a Pulitzer!).

Stacy Keach
Actor

Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris

Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks

Embers by Sandor Marai

Thank you so much for including me!  I love to read all kinds of stuff, anything from Shakespeare to trashy novels. I recently had the privilege of recording all of Hemingway's Short Stories, and it was such a satisfying experience to revisit one of the world's great writers. I am also particularly fond of biographies, and am currently enjoying Edmund Moris' Theodore Rex, about Teddy Roosevelt. A couple of wonderful books I am happy to recommend are Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks, and Embers, by Sandor Marai.

Sen. John Kerry
U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

Flags of our Fathers by James Bradley with Ron Powers

Shackleton (author not provided)

Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose

Sen. John McCain
U.S. Senator from Arizona

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

T. Jefferson Parker
Best-Selling Author of Thrillers and Mysteries

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

The Cadence of Grass by Thomas McGuane

True Confessions by John Gregory Dunne

Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison

Leif Enger's Peace Like a River knocked my sock's off. Thomas McGuane's The Cadence of Grass tore my hat off. In that state I went back to two old favorites, John Gregory Dunne's True Confessions and Jim Harrison's Legends of the Fall.  I love good writing.

Peter Robinson
Best-Selling Author of the "Inspector Banks" Series

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

One of my all-time favourites is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Partly, this is because I know the book's setting--Haworth and the surrounding moors--very well, but also it is because of the book's unusual structure and emotional intensity. Wuthering Heights is a beautifully constructed novel, a story within a story within a story, and the characters have such elemental presence they stay with you long after you've finished reading. Of course, it's also intriguing because of the mystery of its author (on whom British crime writer Robert Barnard has written superbly), whose only novel it is.

Charles R. Schwab
American Business Executive

Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay

I consider Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds a must-read not only for all investors - but for all thinking people. As Charles Mackay's classic so clearly demonstrates, follow the herd and you may just be headed straight for the slaughterhouse. With examples ranging from the Tuilpmania that occurred in the 1600's to the over-blown technology sector that we just experienced in the stock market, this recently updated classic is just as relevant today as it was the day it was published in 1841.

Ben Stein
Actor and Television Personality

John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet

Charles Paris mysteries by Simon Brett

Samuel Johnson by Walter Jackson Bate

The Wealth of Nations, abridged 2 vol. set by Adam Smith, with Andrew S. Skinner, editor

What I Think by Herbert Stein

Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Lee's Lieutenants by Douglas Southall Freeman

My favorite books:

Benet's John Brown's Body

Any "Charles Paris" mystery from the great English mystery writer, Simon Brett.

Bate's biography of Samuel Johnson

An abridged version of The Wealth of Nations, introduction by Skinner.

A book of essays about life by my late brilliant father, Herbert Stein, entitled, What I Think.

The best novel ever written, Lolita. By Nabokov, of course.

The second best novel ever written, The Great Gatsby, by Fitzgerald.

A super long but amazingly interesting book about the Civil War, Lee's Lieutenants by Douglas Southall Freeman

Helen Thomas
Journalist/Columnist

War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Reporters Who Covered Vietnam edited by Ted Bartimas

Books by Charles Dickens
 and Jane Austen