In Love of Books and Friendship

When my son was a child we participated in the summer reading programs either sponsored by our public library or the bookstore in town.  My son will be 20 this summer and I'm grateful he still enjoys reading.  These are books I've chosen specifically for him and what I believe he'll find interesting, thought-provoking or inspiring.  In other words, I wanted to chose good books that I think he'll finish once he's started them.  When I asked him if I could make him a summer reading list he rolled his eyes and said "Okay, just no books about cats", referring to a recent read of mine.  I promised no cat books!  I also made it even easier and asked him just to read 2 of these 5, but please just promise you'll read East of Eden and A Prayer for Owen Meany if not this summer, at least before I die (not that there is any possibility of this in the near future that I am aware). There are some books that are important to read and these are just two of them.  After thinking for a moment I tell him I guess you can consider them my "Reading Bucket List" for you. (Insert more eye-rolling here).