Best lists always stun. That's because there's always something to agree with and always something that seems missing. If we each had to come up with our top best books from the last fifteen years, I doubt any two people would have the same list. We're like snowflakes--different designs. Even so, any list helps us sort in our minds what we love and what we might catch up on.

Entertainment Weekly's latest double-issue has its Top 100 Books from the last fifteen years, shown below. Which books have you read? My guess is that people who read moderately are likely to have read at least six of these. I'm only a moderate reader, and I've read fifteen from this list. In fact, I've used a few of them in College Freshman English classes I've taught. They include Into Thin Air, The Handmaid's Tale, The Things They Carried, The Lovely Bones, The Kite Runner, as well as selected short stories from Alice Munro, Lorrie Moore, and Raymond Carver. They are all fabulous.

I've also thoroughly enjoyed Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking and High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, whose latest book A Long Way Down captivated me, too.  Hornby and Lorrie Moore combine drama and humor well, a balance I aimed for in my books, The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea and Months and Seasons.

There are a few books I've bought but still haven't read, and this list makes me want to get to them sooner than later: Love in the Time of Cholera, Rabbit at Rest, On Writing, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Naked.

There are a couple that I wonder why are on here. I've tried reading Don DeLillo's Underworld twice. It was so damn slow, little happening, that I couldn't push forward, even though my good friend Stewart loved it and has taught it. Desperate to get through it, I tried the audio version. My mind wandered, and so I stopped. I don't feel guilty. There are too many other books that are more enjoyable.

The Da Vinci Code as one of the one hundred best? That's a good case where the story bests the writing. The little I read seemed so clunky, I stopped.

There are books on the list that I don't have but should read. That includes Mystic River. The film was so strong and visually poetic, I bet the book is, too. I should get Alice Munro's Selected Stories. Every story I've read of hers has been satisfying. T.C. Boyle, who teaches at USC, is a writer I admire, and I used his Tortilla Curtain in one of my classes, which turned out to be a hit. I should try Drop City. I'm a huge fan of John Irving, too, and I don't know why I haven't read A Prayer for Owen Meany yet. I must.

Last, there are books and authors who are missing from the list that would be on mine. They include: White Oleander by Janet Fitch, Ransom Seaborn by Bill Deasy, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and Smila's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg. Drama would be great to have on the list, too, such as Michael Frayn's Copenhagen, Edward Albee's The Goat, and David Hare's Skylight.

What books on this list do you adore, and what other books would you have on your list?

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus' Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)