These are just some of the writers and works that have influenced me deeply. They are all like old friends—familiar, well-meaning and reassuring. They know when to enter my mind; they know when I am in some dilemma, or my moments of sadness and contemplation. They are also with me in my deepest, most joyous moments. In this age of quick and easy communication, when information comes to us in byte-sized pieces, the charm of the written word can never be allowed to be lost.
