I got my first library card when I was four. I still have it. It was my admission ticket to anywhere, traveled from the hub of Moore County Library. There was a limit to the number of books you could borrow. I tried to stretch out my ration of four books, allowing myself so many pages per day so that I wouldn't eat the words too quickly and be left starved for more. The first time I went into a real bookstore, I sniffled with delight. Here are some books that changed my life or my thinking, inspired me, made me laugh, or in the case of Rick Bragg's work, all of the above.