<p>Great Gatsby-- favorite book of all time, especially loved it after reading it and analyzing it
1984-- just finished, great book
Catch 22</p>
<p>slugger255, you have basically the same tastes as me, except I only sorta liked 1984. Really dry compared to Orwell's animal farm...</p>
<p>LaLaLa12345 pretty much hit my list of books on the head. I'd even go so far as checking if we were separated at birth.</p>
<p>Kurt Vonnegut is amazing, and I chose Clockwork Orange to be my independently researched literary work for AP lit this year :D.</p>
<p>I second LaLa's list and would like to add a few that have not yet been mentioned</p>
<p>Catcher In The Rye
On the Road
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.</p>
<p>Dang, I just remembered that To Kill a Mockingbird is also an awesome book.</p>
<p>anon<em>person</em>1
really!? yay!
I want to read her whole Tudor series, I love European history, especially the Tudors =) I'm excited!
except yeah, I haven't been able to read like at alllll this year. usually I can manage it because I'm a pretty quick reader (when I like the book), but I'm just so stressed.
I have a huge list of books I need to read, haha. </p>
<p>But I just remembered
Night, Elie Wiesel---amazing
I also liked The Bell Jar and Girl, Interrupted, both deal with issues of teenage girls in mental institutions, haha.</p>
<p>One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. i remember that too.</p>
<p>here's some of my favorites...</p>
<p>getting in by james finney boylan (about college admissions, teen fiction)
death of a salesman by arthur miller (best 20th c. play, lots about dreams)
lake effect by rich cohen (memoir of HS summers on lake michigan)
i hope they serve beer in hell by tucker max (raunch fest of laffs)
song of solomon by toni morrison (probably required reading, but good)
rabbit series of books by john updike (soc. commentary of 1950s-90s)</p>
<p>Anything by Marquez.</p>
<p>One of my personal favorites is Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier. It's her first novel, and though the plot is a bit cliche and has to do with a lot of high school stereptypes and it's a coming of age novel, the language is simply gorgeous. If for nothing else, read it for that.</p>
<p>If you're into political novels and/or Broadway (odd combination, but trust me), read Wicked, the book that inspired the musical. The musical is a bit too happy-ending-y and it takes away a lot of the political undertone of the book, and the book itself is quite good.</p>
<p>Death of a Salesman was so good. I think Arthur Miller was extraordinarily talented. </p>
<p>Tucker Max is hilarious, but inspires too many idiots to be asses. I love reading his stuff, but he is actually an intelligent, well-educated, CONSCIOUS douchebag. Most of the guys who read and like his stuff view him as a godlike figure to be emulated. I'm like NO. The world only needs ONE Tucker Max. Good stuff, though.</p>
<p>There seem to be a lot of dystopia fans on here. I recommend We by Yevgeny Zamyatin to them. It was originally written in Russian, so the prose of the English translation isn't as beautiful as 1984's, but the society described surpasses Oceania in terms of realism and believability.</p>
<p>I can't believe nobody mentioned:</p>
<p>The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy (all five) by Douglas Adams
The Dirk Gently series by Douglas Adams
Fermat's Enigma by Simon Singh (great book on mathematical history)</p>
<p>Douglas Adams is gold. If you like that dry English satire, you should read the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. Similar in style and quality.</p>
<p>MelancholyDane, I also read We, BNW revisited, island, perennial philosophy. Excellent books, but 1984 and BNW surpasses them :p</p>
<p>Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
The World Is Flat - Thomas Friedman
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott</p>
<p>White Noise
The Good Earth
A Beautiful Mind
East of Eden
Fences</p>
<p>wheel of time series ......... fa reals</p>
<p>Amazon.com:</a> "Educating Rudy: The Ron Paul reading list"</p>
<p>I think it's just as well to go by authors. Celine, Palahniuk, Vonnegut, Card (Orson Scott), Friedman (Thomas L.), Rand, Orwell, Adam Smith, John Locke, the list goes on. Anything that can get you talking to other people is solid, but I really did not enjoy Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, or Death of a Salesman. You may want to consider looking up older Nobel Prize winners for literature or Pulitzer winners.</p>
<p>Someone asked how to find the time to read, I make the time. I'd rather read what I want to read and skim whatever junk I have to read for English than have the joy sucked out of reading. And I don't watch television.</p>
<p>The Scarlet Letter predates the Nobel Prize by about 50 years, bud.</p>
<p>The OP made no stipulation about when the books had to be from, Dane. When I said older Nobel Prize winners, I meant not recent winners, ie - Knut Hamsen, Thomas Mann. The list of Nobel Laureates has a more international focus than just American and British writers (which are more often taught for school).</p>
<p>Top 5...
Desert Solitaire - Edward Abbey
The Lexus and the Olive Tree - Thomas L. Friedman
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Minus 148 Degrees - Art Davidson
Journey to the End of the Night - Louis Ferdinand Celine</p>