The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver - A murderer tortures his victims to death and challenges crime scene investigator Lincoln Rhyme to solve crimes via minute clues left at the scene. Tense and riveting, with lots of forensic detail. One of my favorites. Read it L O N G before the movie.
	The Stand: Complete and Uncut by Stephen King - OK, so it's 1135 pages and it will take you months to read it. Read it anyway. It's classic King and worth the month out of your life. You might surprise yourself and get immersed.
	Watership Down by Richard Adams - Yeah, Yeah. It's about a bunch of rabbits that are about to lose their home and go in search of a new one. Some serious "suspension of disbelief", but I guarantee you will be instantly enamored with these characters.
	How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie - Had to have a geek book in here somewhere. I first read this when I was selling books door-to-door in Oregon one summer. I reread it again every couple years because the lessons are timeless.
	The Green Mile by Stephen King - Another by the master. This ranks right up there with anything he has done. The style is like some of his other classics - Shawshank Redemption, The Body (Stand By Me) - but with an edge to it.
	A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking - How do you describe the universe in only a few hundred pages? Leave it to Hawking. What an inspiring book!
	The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner - Read this in 8th grade and go back and read it again every few years. Hard to get through the first time, but worth it.
	The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - Do I really have to say anything about this one? I didn't think so.