"Titanic: the world’s second highest grossing film in history. It is really the only love story in the top five that feels epic. I know Casablanca is set against the backdrop of World War II, and yet this one is epic, a giant ship, and we all know what’s going to happen. We don’t really know who was on board, but they came up with a story about a couple that falls in love while they’re on board. To me, that has earned it its place in the top five"

"For complete submersion in a novelistic world I’d choose Edward P. Jones’ epic masterpiece, “The Known World.” A universe unto itself, there are terrible moments and beautiful revelations about a black slave owner and the many lives around him."

"THIS REREAD WAS EVEN MORE EPIC THAN THE FIRST READ IN 2014. Love this book and the audiobook was AMAZING. My first audiobook ever. Off to go read/listen to A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT for the first time!"

"Personal favorite: anything by Edna Ferber, but I’d pick Giant first. Just a great, epic tale of love and loss and success and failure, all against the oil boom in Texas in the first half of the 20th century"

"Homer’s epic isn’t just a foundational text in Western literature, it also makes me feel connected to my Mediterranean (Maltese) roots. The Maltese island of Gozo, where my people probably originated, claims to be the locale of Calypso’s cave."