Everyone gets asked to name their favorite books. It is often believed that the books a person likes is a window into his core. Doubtful. For me, a book is a vessel - it is more like a cigar box that holds momentos of epiphanies, medals from challenges met and stubs of paper that marked moments of soaring high or when grief brought me low. Each book I've kept has characters who understand me or whose pain and joy I can feel. They hold stories that taught me the difference between truth and fact. In the most fundamental sense, I'm indebted to every book that opened my eyes, lit my path or simply made me laugh, cry, cheer or rue. They truly comprise the signposts that mark the route that led me here. So... Even though memory is rarely trustworthy, I believe it was during the time of convalescence after the final surgery on my leg that I began to read books, mostly novels. Not only did the stories transport me to times and places I couldn't go, rea...