I hate to admit how many times I've re-read Patrick O'Brian's Captain Aubrey series. I definitely encourage those who are re-reading their Hornblower books to try something more substantial. The action is great but incidental to the word play between the captain and his best friend the surgeon.

Other books? Well, here's a short list:

HMS Ulysses - the first war story I ever read which didn't have a happy ending

War Birds (Diary of the Unknown Aviator) - the second war story I ever read which didn't have a happy ending

The Castle by Kafka because I still haven't figured it out

Cockalorum by Hamish Maclaren because I'm still trying to figure him out

American: The Life Story of a Great Indian

Anything by Ursula LeGuin

The Crock of Gold because one cannot predict where this tale will go

Hard Times because reality is much stranger than fiction

The Man Who Was Thursday because you never know who you can trust!

The Magus because the mystery still remains

Time & Again because if we just could focus hard enough we could shift to another time and place

Cheerily,
Charley Noble