This is one of those books that, after you read it, you understand why so many people think books are great things. Because you don't just turn the pages and follow the story here; rather your own life slips away and you become a 12-year-old girl, aching for her new life to begin with her older brother and his new wife. It's an absolutely glorious and heartbreaking book. It will leave you stunned, almost hungover, for days after you finish it. This really is a real miracle that you can hold in your hands. This is exactly the book to read when you need to step completely out of your life.

An absolutely brilliant social satire, every bit as thrilling and juicy and edge-of-your-seat as it was a century ago. Which, when you think about it, is just shocking and seems impossible. Anyway, this is the story of a ruthless social climber, Lily, who turns love away when it comes in the form of a nice guy with a lot of dusty books to his name and not much else. She decides to pursue bigger, better things. And, of course, is punished for the next few hundred pages. This is a really glamorous, then crushing and bitter story. It's exactly the book to read when you wish you could just crush somebody into the dirt with your foot. I read this book every few years, allowing just enough time to pass that I don't already remember the next sentence.

I honestly don't understand why this isn't everybody's favorite movie. It's certainly one of mine. This is a film by Elia Kazan, who gave us A Streetcar Named Desire, another of my all-time favorite movies. And Baby Doll also introduces the world to a brilliant actor: Carroll Baker. The wrong thing is, she never achieved the level of recognition that she so clearly deserved. After I watched this for the first time I made like six friends watch it?all of them were flabbergasted. It's a dark, disturbing film, but it's also wonderful and touching. It's sad in the best possible way a movie can be sad, and it's creepy and it's just, I'm so lousy at describing movies, I really am. Just get it.

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton star in Mike Nichols's FIRST feature film. I have loved this movie all my life, and I've even written that it stands as the closest thing I have to a home movie. Which is so true in so many ways. Taylor and Burton have a volatile, completely insane relationship (modern therapists will enjoy diagnosing them!) and while some might think Elizabeth Taylor is "over the top," I can tell you that there really are mothers exactly like this creature. Also, look at how long the first scene is, one unbroken take. And Sandy Dennis is so pitiful and wonderful in her supporting role. Again, I can't give you an intelligent description of this film. All I can do is pound my spoon against the wall and say, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT.

The Donna Karan wrap dresses, the crochet hair snoods, the four-inch fingernails?it all began here, with her first album. If all you know is the Barbra Streisand monster on South Park, you need to listen to this. So you'll understand how she became so legendary that she was ripe for parody 40 years into her career. This CD always blows me away. That voice is truly a force of nature, like gravity. It's just incredible. The reason she still has so many fans is because this voice makes everything else forgivable. With the exception of Don Johnson.