Books are a big deal to me. Not only do I read for enjoyment, but I find that the bulk of my own self-education and lifelong learning comes from books.

What do books mean to you, and have you read anything great in 2006 that changed your life or made a difference in some aspect of it?

For me, 2006 was a big year that I got back into historical fiction. I especially like good yarns about 20th-century Europe and am a real sucker for anything to do with things that happen to real people during World War II (not the battle stuff, just real, gritty in-your-face life as a citizen during that grizzly era).

So, it was an incredible thrill for me to have discovered William Boyd. While all of his novels aren’t about Europe (one of my favorites is actually A Good Man in Africa, about a mid-level diplomat in an out-of-the-way African country in the early post-colonial period), my favorite Boyd is — Any Human Heart.

If you love great fiction, good story lines, and sweeping 20th century stuff, this is a great place to start. I’ve put Any Human Heart into my Top 5er list.

Over and out,

Michael Werner

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