An archive of the unexpurgated opinions and enthusiastic personal recommendations of some of our booksellers. Click on the name to see each person's top ten favorite books of all time...
 Alison"I am addicted to James' wonderful, endless sentences and perfect phrases, and his often shady characters, of which Madame Merle is one of his best. The opening paragraphs of this novel are perfection to me, and a bit of heaven would be to have someone read them aloud." |
 Brad"Pynchon writes sentences like novels and puts one right after the other to make a book so huge one wonders how it fits on a single shelf much less inside a single volume on 750 measly pages." |
 Erika"There are books that the phrase 'finger on the pulse' was invented for, and this is one of them. I read this book straight out of the box in 1995 before the start-up explosion, etc. Now I read it every couple of years amazed at how Coupland nailed it." |
 Cynthia"Only Eugene O'Neill can rip your heart out in such a beautiful way. He shows us true love in all of its exquisite, painful glory. The worst of human frailty coupled with the best of human nobility. One is not possible without the other in O'Neill's world." |
 Doug"This is my favorite book by my favorite author. What makes Vonnegut so brilliant is that he subjects his characters to horrific events, but makes them so foolishly and comically oblivious that they don’t even realize how bad they have it." |
 Edward"And this was about this great modern poet who there never was another like perhaps because he was so, not mainly learned, but deep and strange. Not really 'strange' strange, but esoteric, deep, almost charmed. And it's true -- he is so unique that he has no followers, can't be imitated, and can't be counterfeited." |
 Stacy"This movie is one of the few that has me gibbering the lines from it, and I personally feel that a religion should be based upon it. The book? A universe should be based on it. At least one could rest easy knowing that there would be constant romper-room-meets-fairy-tale action and plenty of sly witticisms and blatant satires." |
 Ingrid"No day is ever so bad or ever so good that reading Winnie the Pooh won’t make it better. It is a kind and accepting world with true and loyal friends." |
 Jed"This novel is a classic and for good reason. A philosophical tale of murder and redemption that will consume the reader's attention beyond any description possible. The fact that the reader knows who the killer is from the first few pages does nothing to lessen the suspense, and I would venture to say that it even heightens the tension." |
 Jessie"This is my favorite book of all time for reasons I cannot explain. I guess it makes me feel part of the world in a way nothing else has." |
 Kim"Nunn's native talent as a writer is comparable to that of Cormac McCarthy's, but instead of the West that McCarthy describes so elegantly, Nunn writes about the leftovers of that West: surfers and artists, poverty-stricken native Americans, and the struggle to regain what has been lost." |
 Louisa"This is an immensely enjoyable play with magic and fantasy running amok. There is great humor and beautiful speeches. I once spent an evening reading this aloud using different voices for each character. It was one of the best and most fun evenings I’ve ever had." |
