The book I think is the gold standard for legal thrillersPresumed Innocent. I’ve known Scott Turow for a long time. Great guy and amazing writer. This book has it all. A thriller, a mystery, a procedural with great depth of character. And a stunning twist at the end. What’s not to love?

John Irving’s A Widow for One Year. The scene where the son says goodbye to his dead father while driving away from the hotel. It might have been because I had, at the time, a son of the same age. But I remember choking up and actually sobbing.

Bill Bryson’s Down Under in a Sunburned Country. I love Bill Bryson’s writing and this book comes with many laugh-out-loud lines.

A book that people might be surprised to learn that I loved Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I read this book in college, where I was a political science major. I’ve always considered myself a chap with his feet placed firmly on the ground. But this book really spoke to me and has stayed with me. And the title is so cool.

An illicit book that I had to read in secret as a kidValley of the Dolls. This was cutting-edge stuff way back and you couldn’t hide behind an e-reader. For an adolescent youth coming into his hormones, Jacqueline Susann was a godsend. I remember hiding this book all over the place, terrified my parents would find it. Then later, I remembered that I “borrowed” it from my mother.

A book that really cemented me as a writerIn Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I read this while working as a Pinkerton security guard during college. I was guarding an electrical plant where everything you touched could kill you. For four dollars an hour I decided to just sit in the guard shack and read. Please don’t tell the Pinkerton folks I did this. The book scared the crap out of me, but it turned my thoughts to writing mysteries. The randomness of the victims really hit home with me.

My 11 y.o. nephew Luke gave me these book series and gave his endorsement. Educators love these series. (5 m 15 s)

It is a pretty serious book. The author interviewed around 2,000 people in different spheres like genetics, writing, filmmaking about the coming of robots and disruption of AI. (3 m 37s)

I would listen to this book, you will not fall asleep if you're driving. (2 m 44 s)

Ruth Ware was called the "Agatha Christie" of her generation. (1 m 10 s)

The book I’m currently reading is: Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

One book that absolutely shocked me was The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie because: I always assumed the butler had done it

One book I think deserves more attention is The Other America by Michael Harrington because: it was written in the 1960s but it’s even more relevant today

One book I love to give as a gift is: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum because: sometimes it is that simple. It should be mandatory reading for anyone posting on social media.

A mysterious bookstore and its reluctant night clerk are the focus of one of the most original storytelling rides I've taken. I learned much I didn't know, and didn't even know existed. Told with humor, warmth, and pace. You will think about this one for a while.

Cleeves' tales, set on islands off the northern coast of Scotland, star local police detective Jimmy Perez. If you crave atmosphere in your mystery novels, especially craggy, gloomy, windswept, and solitary, you have come to the right series.

And because reading should also be fun, we have the guilty pleasure of beer-swilling homicide detective John Corey smack in the middle of DeMille's wild thriller ride, which skids off the coast of Long Island. The one-liners are worth the price of admission.

This is a tale of two lives, really, those of a German boy and a blind French girl whose paths converge during World War II. The prose is so lush you could love Doerr's Pulitzer Prize–winning 2014 novel for its language alone. But the story is also remarkable — heartfelt and heartbreaking.

Perhaps my favorite of Irving's novels, and that is a high bar indeed. Irving takes on abortion and a long list of other substantive issues from the perspective of a New England doctor who slips in and out of consciousness. This is a classic that deserves to be read and reread.

Delighting history buffs and fans of thrillers, King brings his unmatched storytelling skills to the tale of a teacher who goes back in time to try to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy — perhaps the greatest "unsolved" mystery in American history. The research, the pacing, the character development, and the plethora of twists and turns make this 800-plus-page book read like a short story.