The Good Life: Tuck Into a Good Book

When I was living in Japan in 1993, I eventually tired of visiting the local bars with my Japanese colleagues and decided instead to start reading all those books that I was supposed to have read in college but didn't. As it turns out, the works that I had missed or passed over were some of the best books that I have ever read.

With fall approaching, and a warm fireplace and chair at the ready, I want to pass along my reading suggestions, with notes I have collected over the years about the authors. I chose the selections based on a primary criterion: These are books that are assigned in most college literature courses, but unlike some of those heady selections, these are fabulous reads.

If literature is not your thing, don't despair. Pulp has its place, and with that in mind, I've scraped together a few mainstream titles that are good reads.

But first, the "Didn't Read in College" list: ...