Supreme and captivating author who is incredibly insightful and starkly honest, but not brooding. Lots of life and humor and pausing on the pages to savor a thought. Lots of great thoughts:

***The Great Santini;
***The Lords of Discipline (about his time as a cadet at the Citadel);
***The Prince of Tides (the movie, though fair, utterly dies in comparison to the masterful book);
***Beach Music (incredible. speaks to the soul who dares to be so honest. Lots of gems of life);
***My Losing Season (autobiographical about his time on a losing basketball team at the Citadel/ Completely LOVED it from cover to cover even though I do not follow basketball much. It is about much more than basketball);
***The Water is Wide