Though I love spending the holidays with my family in Atlanta, I especially adored eating my Aunt Sarah’s Sweet Potato Pie, and reading a favorite book—again. On Friday, I was on the subway, and counted eleven people reading either their Amazon: Kindle; Apple: iPad or Hardcover or Paperback book.

I thought of my sister Angie opening up her Christmas present from my brother Michael, who gave her a Kindle, and her excitement about all the books that would be at her fingertips. So, I asked six friends: “What are your top three or four books?”

First, I will share my list: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens; East of Eden by John Steinbeck; and The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett.

Kelli’s List:

IQ84 by Haruki Murakami,

The Twelve by Justin Cronin, and The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan

Karel’s List:

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho,

On Thin Ice by Susan Andersen, and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Ernest’s List:

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall,

47th Street Black by Bayo Ojikutu, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and

The Leadership Lessons of Jesus by Bob Briner and Ray Pritchard

Miriam’s List

The Collective: A Novel by Don Lee,

Crazy Brave: A Memoir by Joy Harjo, and Drifting House by Krys Lee

Sharon’s List

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill,

The Red Chamber by Pauline Chen, and Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

Jesse’s List

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani, and Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

A book makes the world go around, and love of books is an everyday adventure.

Catch it if you can at www.rizzolibookstore.com, www.vanalenbooks.org, www.shakeandco.com, http://greenlightbookstore.com, www.nypl.org.