Reading the Spines on My Bookshelf Quiz

Answer: Don DeLillo

Don DeLillo is considered to be among the greatest living American authors. The scope of "Underworld" is immense: drawing parallels between the famous baseball playoff home run in 1951 known as 'the shot heard 'round the world' and the detonation of the first atomic device in the desert of New Mexico (a REAL shot!), DeLillo uses his encyclopedic brain to trace life in America that is based on our fundamental fear of death and what we do in our daily lives to cope with it.

Answer: James Ellroy

While "L.A. Confidential" gets all the publicity, this is surely a superior novel. Ellroy spins multiple story lines in and around the assassination of JFK that include the mafia, rogue CIA agents, black ops, KKK lunatics, FBI men with variable ethics and other characters who haunt the underbelly of America. Whether or not you buy into the layers of conspiracy in the narrative, the machine gun pace and firecracker dialogue will surely keep you turning the pages.

Answer: Charles Dickens

I did not discover the breadth of Dickens' genius until I was well out of school and reading for pleasure. He is the master of plot, deftly weaving long tales full of well-drawn characters in perilous situations. "Bleak House", like many others, covers many years and events, but few are as moving. I weep at the ending every time!

Answer: Russell Banks

My first exposure to Banks was "Rule of the Bone". Although I may find his later works such as "Affliction" and "The Sweet Hereafter" to be superior novels, this coming-of-age story holds a special place in my heart. There is something of Holden Caulfield in the narrator, known as Chappie (and later Bone), whose voice is both naive and perceptive as he relates the story of his somewhat troubled youth.

Answer: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Perhaps my favorite writer, Vonnegut always delivers a poignant and funny read. Through every phase of my life, my tastes have changed and my appreciation for new things expands, but my adoration for Vonnegut is untouched. I have particular fondness for "Bluebeard" and its protagonist, Rabo Karabekian.

This novel examines the nature of art by looking at love, ambition and self-realization as the key ingredients to creating the elusive masterpiece.

Answer: B.K.S. Iyengar

A seminal text on modern postural yoga, "Light on Yoga" has become the go-to text for practitioners of modern postural yoga. Mr. Iyengar offers words on the evolution of his style of yoga, including some discussion of philosophy and anatomy. The true gold, however, is in the descriptions of the poses and the accompanying instructions and photographs. A must-have for any yoga practice.

Answer: Jim Bouton

Bouton was the first athlete to write a tell-all from inside the locker room. And he was roundly hated for doing so! His insights into the world of baseball range from the facets of the game itself - including the playing and practicing of baseball, contracts, trades, disputes, drug use - to the culture of the players and coaches who have given their lives to our national pastime.

Answer: Jon Krakauer

Known primarily for his articles and books about nature and the adventurous souls who challenge themselves with extreme endeavors, here Krakauer turns his journalistic lens toward the Mormon Church, examining the roots of the religion and the modern-day status of its various sects.

Answer: Samuel Beckett

If you have ever wondered about your reasons for being here on earth, this play is for you! Existentialism has never been as funny as in Beckett's drama. Estragon and Vladimir 'kill time' as they await the arrival of Godot. Who he is, what he represents and whether we owe him anything is all up for debate.

But at least E and V have each other...perhaps that is the only known quantity we have: our relationship with our fellow man.

Answer: Raymond Chandler

Chandler perfected the hard-boiled detective, the ambivalent knight-in-shining-armor, and he named him Philip Marlowe. The mysteries themselves are not always iron-clad examples of plotting, but there is no one better at writing the dialogue for his hero, the various women and the multitude of thugs that populate his tales. "The Long Goodbye" is somehow the most elegiac, reflective and spiritual of all the Marlowe books. Grab a highball and lose yourself in the Los Angeles of old.