I've read all of these books(some of them for school and college, others for fun), and I loved them all, I think they're a must read for anyone Forrest Gump - Winston Groom To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee The Catcher in the Rye- JD Salinger Animal Farm Orwell. Ivanhoe - Walter Scott The Count Of Monte Christo - Alexandre Dumas Michel Strogoff- Jules Verne From the Earth to the Moon-Jules Verne One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez Love in the time of Cholera- Gabriel Garcia Marquez The man in the High Castle-Phillip K. Dick The grapes of wrath- John Steinbeck
A professor of mine back in college noted that there is very, very little critical work being done on Steinbeck. His popular repuation is still pretty good, but she suspected once that scholarly work dries up, he's less and less likely to be taught.
Late to this party, I am. I stopped reading at page 10. Don't recall Les Miserables by V Hugo. I divide into Popular Literature and Classical Literature. In the pop category, I'm a fan of Anne Tyler: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant being her best. Also John Le Carre: Smiley's People, among several. Steven Erickson: Amnesiascope and The Moon Came in at Midnight. I don't exactly know where to put Russell Hoban: Riddley Walker. Very eccentric, trippy book. In Classical: Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men, among several Eco: I prefer The Name of the Rose to Foucault's Pendulum. I read C & P in highschool. liked it. i guess i was wrong.