<p>My favourite book ever is Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.</p>
<p>If you like dystopian fiction and/or irony, it's a really good read.</p>
<p>I'll echo the recommendation for The Road. Cormac McCarthy has written amazing novels before this, but this is his masterpiece. What a powerful piece of writing.</p>
<p>House of Leaves is a great contemporary horror novel and one of the only novels to ever truly leave me shaking with fear. Wow.</p>
<p>American Gods, Neverwhere, Stardust, Good Omens, Anansi Boys and Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. The way he incorporates mythology and fairy tales into his stories is just superb. I also love his use of dark humor.</p>
<p>Cell, by Stephen King. Honestly not one of his best novels but intriguing nonetheless. I liked it because the antagonists resembled zombies with slightly higher levels of consciousness. Plus I like some gore now and then and this book doesn't disappoint in that area.</p>
<p>Dude, The Secret History by Donna Tartt is da bomb. You all should check it out. It's college + the classics + murder mystery (kind of). Way fun.</p>
<p>My Sister's Keeper. We had that for summer reading last year, even though it has a little less literary merit I suppose.</p>
<p>Have you heard of Arthur Ransome? he's pretty big in Britain, and he writes fun adventure stories based on real life incidents/places. They're kind of old fashioned but sooo good :) </p>
<p>also, those Alex Rider novels, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre.</p>
<p>Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is a great teen read-provocative! (Just skip the long tirade on Objectivism in the middle.) Dagney Taggert has been a role model (for good and bad) to an entire generation of women.</p>
<p>I love Terry Pratchett's books-British social satire, most of it set in the fantasy Discworld: Start with Going Postal for real fun. When you're ready for exploring Discworld, then it's off to Guards, Guards and the series that follows Ankh Morpork's finest. Good Omens is fun too. Probably best to avoid his first two (the Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic until you become addicted to the series-he hits his stride after those two.) There are 25+ books in all and I've read every one of them at least twice.</p>
<p>PG Wodehouse? Too many Americans have never met Bertie Wooster and his inimitable 'man's man,' Jeeves. Too funny.</p>
<p>Mysteries: Tony Hillerman's mysteries set on the Navaho reservation are great fun. Elizabeth George writes seriously psychological thrillers.</p>
<p>Anything Sarah Dessen (Just Listen, This Lullaby, etc.)-I'm a sucker for sappy teen love stories. :/</p>
<p>Moby Dick! Definitely the best book I have ever read.
Frankenstein
The Great Gatsby
1984
Brave New World
Ethan Frome for a quick read
Count of Monte Cristo (couldn't put it down)
Wuthering Heights</p>
<p>Worst books EVER...
The Jungle (ugg, socialism)
For Whom the Bell Tolls</p>
<p>yeslek is right-- Time Traveler's Wife is awesome. I've read it eight times and I still cry at the end.</p>
<p>And to M's Mom: I got Small Gods AUTOGRAPHED by Terry Pratchett!! :D :D I was so insane for about a week. He drew a massive A'Tuin inside the cover and then scrawled his name.</p>
<p>And to ava.k -- everything by Atwood is good. I liked Handmaid's Tale + Blind Assassin better than Crake though.</p>
<p>One last note -- everyone keeps saying Great Gatsby but I thought This Side Of Paradise was so much better. The character of Gatsby freaked me out, whereas Amory is hilarious. Plus he goes to HYPS, which should be an automatic draw for any CC-er ;)</p>
<p>Thomas Moore's Utopia, Frankenstein, Shannara series</p>
<p>1984, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Freakonomics, Harry Potter (allegedly I was one of those who stayed up until they finished the book), and I loved Girl With a Pearl Earring (and basically anything else by Tracy Chevalier).</p>
<p>Did anyone read She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb?</p>
<p>I didn't read it in high school because it wasn't even written until many years later, but it seems like the kind of book I would have loved back then. It's the coming-of-age story of a girl who grew up in exactly my own era (born in early 1950's). So maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much, and I was wondering if current students--especially girls--might like it, too.</p>
<p>This is a great list guys, hopefully I will get to these before school starts.</p>
<p>My personal favorites are Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs, and Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.</p>
<p>All spectacular books, varying in their social acceptance. Frankenstein found in English classes constantly, however, I think it is one of the most significant novels for literary analysis I have ever read. The pathos in that book is just immense. Less Than Zero is hailed as another generation's incarnation of The Catcher in the Rye. It's just a fun book to read as it very accurately illustrates apathy without making it extremely dry. And Naked Lunch is considered one of the most grossly offensive novels of all time. It is incredibly difficult to read (I suggest rereading each chapter three times before moving on) and absolutely disgusting at times, but I think everyone should read it at least once. It is an experience.</p>
<p>Glad someone said Shannara series. Definitely a good read</p>
<p>A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry is a book everyone should read.
It's about 1975 India under the emergency crisis of Indira Gandhi, but it has themes that prove to be true in third world countries around the world today.
If you want to better understand why our world is the way it is, read this book.</p>
<p>I read Black Boy in three days two summers ago. I just couldn't put it down.</p>
<p>Special topics in Calamity Physics..It was the most intense, grueling, and AWESOME book i've read in a long time. it's a mystery involving this very intelligent teen</p>
<p>"Did anyone read She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb?"</p>
<p>I picked it because I liked the cover, but i ended up absolutely loving it.
It made me cry all the way through...</p>
<p>I agree w/ a previous poster who said they loved Harry Potter more when they were younger. I read the first one when the movie came out and I didn't like it at all. It took me forever to read it, didn't capture my attention. Then I read the 2nd one and 3rd and 4th boom boom boom. Then I waited for the 5th one. By this time I was beyond hooked. I was reading fanfictions, writing them, I was obsessed. I put the book down once because my mom made me. Still had it read by 3am the night after it came out (I didn't get until that morning). Then I was slowly losing interest by the time the 6th came out, but I read it in one sitting. Then I was pretty much not even in love with the series by the 7th. I read it in one sitting and cried like a baby, but, it lost the magical element once I got into HS and all the stress of being a teen lol. It will still always have a special place for me and even though I am not obsessed, I will always love Harry Potter, and it got me hooked on Fantasy. </p>
<p>As for Twilight- I was recently introduced. I love them, but they aren't a masterpiece. Some of it is fairly predictable but I still love them for what they are. && They are great for just my carefree summer reading. I read each book in one day, practically one sitting. Altho I had to take a break in New Moon because I got too emotional. </p>
<p>I also love Lauren Weisberger (Devil Wears Prada, Everyone Worth knowing).
I know there are more I just can't think</p>