War and Peace
By Leo Tolstoy

Let me be boring and admit that my all-time favorite book is War and Peace. I lived in 19th-century Russia; I agonized with Natasha over whom to love. I watched the war from a hilltop with Pierre: I can still see him, walking through battles in his clean white suit and top hat. I can't think of anyone who understands human nature—our foibles and motivations—better than Tolstoy. How often did one of his characters feel something or think something that I believed only I had felt or thought?