Harriet Klausner

Book magazine recently named Harriet Klausner the “No. 1 reader in America.” A speed reader who regularly finishes two books per day, she’s Amazon.com’s most prolific customer reviewer.

Last Precinct by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley Publishing Group, $8). All the key Scarpetta novels are crime-thriller masterpieces, but her latest work gives a new twist to the word “justice.” The heroine is under investigation for a crime perpetrated against her. This forces her to make life-altering decisions that take an already majestic series in a new direction, yet it continues the stratospheric level of greatness.

Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton (Berkley Publishing Group, $23). The author is a fantastic world builder who makes the reader believe that vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures actually exist. She pokes fun at the myths as readers observe a vampire executioner falling deeply in love with a creature of the night.

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Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey (Random House, $7). This is the first novel from the “Dragonriders of Pern” series, and it holds a special place in my heart because after reading this work, I realized fantasy is not only for males. I soared on the back of a dragon fighting an evil life form called a “thread”—and still have that copy (though, like me, a little worse for wear) that opened the portal to a new adventurous world.

The Stand by Stephen King (NAL, $9). King is the king of horror, but this novel is his loftiest best. It is the quintessential, classic good vs. evil metaphysical battle, played out on an earthly plain.

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (Ballantine Books, $30 box set). This is one of the best fantasy series ever written, judging by all the imitators. Though a bit verbose, these tales are great escapist literature that keeps drawing me back to a world that I would like to visit (at least that of the hobbits, those bravest of creatures).

Bones: An Irene Kelly Mystery