Boulal Houssam Houssam من عند San Sebastián La Cañada, Mor., المكسيك من عند San Sebastián La Cañada, Mor., المكسيك

I'm biased. I think Tennessee Williams is our Shakespeare. I don't really care what he writes about as long as he keeps creating that amazing dialogue. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is stunning. My nominee for The Great American Drama.

This is one of my all time favorites. It just blew me away when I read those scenes of battle and gore. Not that I like gore, I hate it, but it gave me a good look at war and how senseless it is. Remarque was trying to impress on the world at that time, the senseless brutality, loss of young lives all enthused by their elders to get to the battlefield and fight for the Fatherland, as this was written from the point of view of Paul, an 18 yearold German schoolboy. It made me hate war and ever since I read it all those years ago, by the way, of my own free will not an assignment, I think it should be required ready for every 10th-12th grader in the country. The only other book I could compare it to is "Johnny Got his Gun" by Dalton Trumbull sp?

I cringe whenever I read it, but it's a good way of making me probe both my own life and the true nature of those around me.

Melanie Benjaamin has a magnificent way of bringing true people who we know precious little about (but have distantly heard of) with vivid detail and instant emotion. In this novel she tells the story of Miss Mercy Lavinia Warren Bumbp - a woman in miniatiure - who had everything but a small life and heart. Known as one of P. T. Barnum's oddities, Benjamin illustrates her extraordinary life wherein Vinnie overcame incredible odds and was able to present herself as a gentlewoman - not a freak - who carried herself in a more dignified and graceful manner than most around her. Interwoven amongst news clippings of the Gildend Age, this book is a wonderful voice of an incredible individual in times of great change.