Tolkien, Lord of the Rings
Pam Houston, Cowboys Are My Weakness (short stories)
Thich Nhat Hanh, Miracle of Mindfulness (Buddhist)
Mark Twain, Roughing It
Anne Lamott, Operating Instructions
Marge Piercy, Circles on the Water (poetry)
but then the 2nd tier would have at least 40 or 50 books in it, including at least a few from each of Suzanne Brockmann, Tony Hillerman, Dick Francis and Lois Bujold McMaster :)
BTW, if you have not read Anne Lamott's "Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year," look for it! It's a non-fiction, 1st person account of her discovery that she is going to become a single mom, dealing with the anxiety, made larger as she was a recovering alcoholic. Takes you through the pregnancy and her son's first year. Sounds depressing but it is not at all, because Lamott's sense of life and humor is irrepressible and wacky and loving -- you laugh and cry on almost every page. Not real long, and very readable.