Best books … chosen by David Maraniss

Essays by George Orwell (Everyman’s Library, $35). His fiction I can do without, even Animal Farm and 1984. But I consider Orwell the greatest essayist ever, his thinking as clear and powerful as his prose. The strongest argument ever made against the death penalty comes in two paragraphs in “A Hanging.”

Underworld by Don DeLillo (Scribner, $18). My favorite opening chapter in modern fiction, a riot of baseball, Jackie Gleason, J. Edgar Hoover, Frank Sinatra, Andy Pafko, the most famous home run in history, and some of the best writing ever. The rest of the book cannot match it, but I don’t care, I keep reading this chapter over and over for inspiration.

Common Ground by J. Anthony Lukas (Vintage, $19). The gold standard for nonfiction narrative writing, a combination of deep reporting, profound thinking, and fluid writing that captures a specific time and place—Boston during the busing controversy—in a universal fashion. Robert Caro’s LBJ books, Taylor Branch’s on MLK, and Rick Atkinson’s on WWII meet the same standard.

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Five Seasons: A Baseball Companion by Roger Angell (Bison, $20). Angell has to be on any list I make for the simple reason that no writer has given me more happiness for more of my life. He was the first writer for whom I would count the pages ahead to see how much joy remained.

Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills (Simon & Schuster, $14). The smartest man in America examines the greatest 256 words in American history. Wills reads at dinner; he reads walking down the streets of Evanston, Ill.; he reads when the rest of us sleep or watch ESPN. I always learn from his writing.

Don Quixote by Cervantes. The first and the best, timeless in humor and pathos. And my brother Jim is translating it one more time. We are each other’s Sancho.