here is the list of top 10 books by dead writers, books one cannot do without, books one must read to get into heaven (or whatever you call it) no particular order:

1. Lolita

2. Pale Fire

3. Remembrance of Things Past

4. Zeno's Conscience

5. Senility (or Emilio''s Carnival)

6. If on a Winter''s Night a Traveler

7. Collected Stories of Raymond Carver

8. Mrs Dalloway

9. The Group

10. Austerlitz

Ton ten books by NOT dead people:

1. The Time of Our Singing

2. The Emperor's Children (I know, I know–but it really is that good)

3. Austerlitz (Sebald is, in my mind, sort of dead and sort of not)

4. Geek Love (a classic)

5. Beloved

6. Illywacker

7. In Praise of the Stepmother

8. White Noise

9. Mystery Train (non-fiction) and Lipstick Traces

10. Collected Stories of TC Boyle

11. All The Pretty Horses and Blood Meridian

12. The Farewell Symphony

That's all I can think of now. But it is 6 AM and I'm just going to bed.

Reading now: Feast of Love–a wonderful thing, that book and download mp3 online. Not what you"d ever expect.