Five Books Everyone Should Read

There are classics and then there are books that are called classics and, in reality, aren't very good. The great thing about literature is that it's up to you, the reader, to decide which is which.

Here are five books that should be required reading for everyone:

1) The Grapes of Wrath: This John Steinbeck classic, first published in 1939, depicts the migration of folks from the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma to California. I was deathly afraid of this book for three decades, meaning I couldn't figure what the big deal was and refused to pick it up. Then, on a whim, I read the book in a couple of days.

It's life-altering.

Never again will I take a drink of water from a faucet for granted. Never again will I whine about not having enough food to eat or a nice enough vehicle to drive. The characters in this book force us to look within ourselves and wonder if we'd have the guts and determination to do what they did.

2) The Painted House: A John Grisham story unlike any of his others. The book is set very close to Grisham's boyhood home in northeast Arkansas and deals with a family of migrant workers and the relationship it forms with its hiring family. Grisham, despite a couple of short novels on football and the holidays, nearly always stays true to his lawyer self in his writing. Though I'm a huge fan of everything the man has written, The Painted House is a nice break from the norm. Much like The Grapes of Wrath, don't just watch the movie. It doesn't come close to the book.

3) Friday Night Lights: Pay no attention to the silly movie that centered on country singer Tim McGraw. I'm not talking, either, about the NBC drama by the same name, though it's a pretty good show. I'm talking about the book that started it all, H.G. Bissinger's novel about high school football in the west Texas town of Odessa. Bissinger took a year away from his job to live in Odessa and follow the Permian High Panthers for a season. Where they went, he went. What they said, he heard. Then he sat down and wrote one of the greatest books of all time.

4) Good Enough to Dream: This Roger Kahn classic tells of his struggles in running the minor-league Utica Blue Sox in Utica, N.Y., with his daughter at his side. It wasn't enough that Kahn spent most of his waking hours putting out fires within his ballclub, he was also trying to build a relationship with his daughter. Meanwhile, his daughter is growing up and the Blue Sox players are noticing.

5) I Am Third: The book inspired the movie Brian's Song, a sports film that can bring a tear to most any man's eye. It focuses on Gayle Sayers (one of the co-authors) and his relationship with teammate Brian Piccolo. The black and white teammates are force-fed friendship which eventually turns into one of the best sports stories ever told. Sayers speaking to his teammates about Piccolo's battle with cancer is one of the most touching moments in film history. The good news is that it reads just as well.