Read in 2004, object of sheer beauty and imagination, introduction to Literature. Runner-ups in the same category: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami.
Read in 2007, knowing myself through the mind of another. Runner-ups in the same category: Oblivion, Girl with Curious Hair, Consider the Lobster, all by DFW.
Read in 2008, Simone, my model, my mentor, the beginning of conscious immitation of life patterns and attitudes. Runner-ups in the same category: La femme rompue, Mémoires d'une jeune fille rangée also by SdB, The Adolescent Diaries of Karen Horney
Read in 2004, 2010 and 2014, recognition of life as narrative. Runner-ups in the same category: Immortality, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, the complete work of Eileen Chang, Mémoires d'Hadrien by Marguerite Yourcenar.
Read in 2010, beginning of exploration of the concept of self. Runner-ups in the same category: The Birth and Death of Meaning and Escape from Evil by Ernest Becker, The Evolving Self by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Read in 2010, the construction of a life philosophy: once I accept myself, then I can change. Runner-ups in the same category: Love and Will by Rollo May, The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck.
Reading since 2013, investigation of the universe as a complex system. Runner-ups in the same category: The Systems Approach by C. West Churchman, A Global History by L. S. Stavrianos, Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact by Vaclav Smil.
Read in 2013, finding my voice as a writer. Runner-ups in the same category: Runaway by Alice Munro.
Read prior to 2000, childhood classic. Runner-ups in the same category: Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde, Hans Christian Andersen and The Oz Books.