The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R Tolkien-I've read these books many times and every time I re-read them they amaze me even more. Even though he was greatly influenced by English/Celtic/Norse lore, in my opinion the Hobbit/L.O.T.R books are the greatest works of creative fiction ever written. See my review of The Real Middle Earth by Brian Bates on Book Page 6 for more of my ideas about Tolkien/LOTR.

In This Corner by Peter Heller-One of my favorite boxing books ever. Put out in the 1970's, In This Corner is a collection of interviews done by Peter Heller with retired former world champion prizefighters who were champions anywhere from the 1910's to the 1960's. I count a lot of the old time prize fighters among my heroes.

Private Parts by Howard Stern-Might be the funniest book I've ever read. Had me laughing my ass off from beginning to end!

Cracker Culture:Celtic Ways in the Old South by Grady McWhiney-This book more or less takes the position that the civil war between the north and south was more a conflict of cultures than anything else. The yankees being predominently of English stock were industrious, money grubbing, uptight dullards and the people of the south having more people of Celtic ancestry were a tempermental, emotional lot who would rather spend their days screwing their women and running through the woods with their hound dogs than working their fingers to the bone from sun up till sun down. Well I'm a southerner of Celtic ancestry and I hate to reinforce stereotypes and all but man that sure does remind me of myself.

The Bikeriders by Danny Lyon-More a photography book than anything but also has interviews with the people who grace these pages. Chronicles the early years of the Outlaws MC, the pics in this book are amazing. The bridge being ridden across in the photo "Crossing the Ohio River" which is considered by many to be the greatest motorcycle photograph ever is about a five minute ride from my apartment. Every time I ride across that bridge I think about that pic.

Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson-I really should like Hunter Thompson more than I do, I mean he did ride a BSA and he is from my hometown of Louisville, Ky but to be honest he's always seemed kind of faggy to me with that gay filtered cigarette thing hanging from his mouth, plus there's that whole bizarre chapter he dedicated to finding a link between outlaw bikers and homosexuality. Hey what can I say, the guy sets my gaydar off. But I will give him credit, he did write a true classic in Hell's Angels. I've heard grumblings that he sacrificed reality for entertainment value by making some of the HA's into exagerated caricatures of themselves in this book, but whether thats true or not this is a great read.

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