I love books and I used to collect them, especially series. I think of books as friends...I never know when I'll want to revisit them and renew the friendship. I used to like to have them close, and so nearly single-handedly led to Amazon.com's dominance in the Internet marketplace, but since I've discovered libraries I am thinking about giving away or selling all but my most precious books.
I'll read just about anything that gets in reading range, including cereal boxes and soup cans 
. But there are several genres that I come back to over and over again: poetry, fantasy, historical fiction, spirituality and psychology.
Favorite Authors
- Wendell Berry
- Peter S. Beagle
- Orson Scott Card
- Michael Connelly
- Bernard Cornwell
- Robert Crais
- Charles de Lint
- Diana Gabaldon
- Neil Gaiman
- Carl Hiaasen
- Tony Hillerman
- Guy Gavriel Kay
- Dennis Lehane
- Thomas Merton
- Stephen Mitchell
- Thomas Moore
- Patrick O'Brian
- John Sandford
Most Influential Books
- The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry by Wendell Berry
- Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach
- Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint
- The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman, et al.
- The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
- The Art of Living: The Classic Manual on Virtue, Happiness and Effectiveness by Epictetus, interpreted by Sharon Lebell
- The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Ingathering: The Complete People Stories by Zenna Henderson
- Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse
- Island by Aldous Huxley
- Tao Te Ching by Lao-tzu, interpreted by Stephen Mitchell
- Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life by Gregg Levoy
- Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals by Thomas Moore
- The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life by Thomas Moore
- Crazy Wisdom by Wes "Scoop" Nisker
- The Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian
- The Universe is a Green Dragon by Brian Swimme
- Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
A current and continuing favorite is a fantasy author (he calls his style "mythic fiction") named Charles de Lint. I don't have enough superlatives to describe how I much I enjoy his work. If you tend to think of fantasy as just escapism, de Lint may quickly dispel that idea for you.
A more recently acquired favorite is another fantasy author named Guy Gavriel Kay. He writes what is essentially historical fiction, disguised as fantasy, subtly altered and occurring in other places, usually under multiple moons. His writing is so achingly beautiful that I often cry or laugh out loud, and I fell in love with one of his characters in the Sarantine Mosaic series.