Masterpieces (the best of the best)

• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen If you haven't read this witty, wonderful, masterpiece, rush out and get it. Then settle in for an all night read because you won't be able to put it down. After you've read it, watch the 5-hour BBC mini-series starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. It's almost as good as the book.

• David Copperfield, Charles Dickens A largely autobiographical work, this book is, in my opinion, Dickens' best. Full of real characters and real emotion.

• Sarum, Edward Rutherford Sweeping, huge book about the birth of England. Excellent.

• Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett A saga of Medieval England with characters you'll remember long after you read the book.

• Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt An emotional roller coaster through the young life of a poor Irish boy. Couldn't put it down.

• The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger The Perfect Storm is a perfect book. Thanks to Nori, for giving it to me as a gift.

• The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco Set in a monastary in the early Middle Ages, it is a broad, imaginative mystery. A Sherlockian monk who admires Sir Francis Bacon leads the investigation which turns up corruption and more. I needed to concentrate on this one.

• Lady's Maid, Margaret Forster One of my favorites. The maid is a young woman named Elizabeth. She works for a lady named Elizabeth Barrett, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the poet. A unique glimpse (fictional, of course) of the poet's life through the eyes of her maid, by one of the leading biographers of our time. I cannot say enough about this book.

• Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier Rebecca, the first wife, is perfect. But she died an early, untimely, and tragic death. Her very rich husband marries a nobody and brings her home to Manderly, his English mansion. But can wife #2 ever replace Rebecca? Keep your eyes on evil housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. She is not a woman I'd want in my house. A pageturner of the first degree.

• The Agony and the Ecstasy, Irving Stone A fantastic, fictional account of the life of Michaelangelo. Read it with an art book close by because you'll want to see his works as you read about their creation. I kept checking to see if the book followed Michaelangelo's life for real (it does), or if it was all make-believe. Stone researched this book well, even translating the artist's letters into English for the first time in history. Well done. Very well done.

Snoozers and Losers (the worst of the worst)

• Pamela, Samuel Richardson Yawn, snooze, two volumes is two too many.

• She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb Why even write it?

• 'Tis, Frank McCourt A commercial rush-job to follow the award-winning Angela's Ashes. I expected so much more...how disappointing.

• Lasher, Anne Rice Just plain dumb.

• Ruined by Reading, Lynne Sharon Schwartz Boring.

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