Beethoven, Sonata Pathetique and Moonlight Sonata especially (I know, it's a little cliche), Benjamin Lees, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy and of course, Brahms.
I gave up television two years ago... it's really the best thing I could've done.
Valley of the Kings by John Romer. Anything Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Lord of the Rings. A Girl of the Limberlost. Honor Among Thieves by Jeffrey Archer. Timeline, Andromeda Strain, Prey all by Michael Crichton. Leslie Silbert is an amazing writer. Anything by John Keegan, Ferguson and Mansbach or Samuel Huntington (Huntington is my homeboy) And not the least of these is The Bombshell Manual of Style by Laura Stover
My mom is my favorite hero, hands down. Dolley Payne Todd Madison, wife of James Madison, fourth President of the United States, runs a close second. Annie Oakley, an electic blend of rebel, pacifist, revolutionary and traditionalist is definitely on the list.