"Next, I would cite Lincoln. And I have two connections to the movie, so that’s part of the reason I’m including it on the list. My college roommate Tommy Lee Jones did an amazing job in the movie."

"I first read this in college, expecting a dusty 500-year-old classic. The joke was on me, literally. This book, one of the first true novels, remains fresh and hilarious to this day, an earthy and poignant delight."

"Classic Kerouac Beat Generation, and also about America in the ‘50s which I was really fascinated by as a teenager growing up in England. I did my college thesis on this book. It has a special place in my heart."

"I was older - a college student - when I read the Gunter Grass novel The Tin Drum. The 19-century novel was the model of the form, for me; here was 19th-century storytelling about 20th-century social behavior, sexuality, and politics."