Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This classic novel is set in a futuristic time when firefighters are employed not to fight fires but to set fire to the ultimate symbol of human knowledge: books. In a grim look at an alternate reality, the all-powerful government has banned all books from society, and anyone found with a book in his possession is guilty of the highest possible crime.

Bradbury's greatest novel is a testament to the value of learning and knowledge. Readers become adamant opponents of censorship and vigilant guardians of freedom from government control.

— Amy Korst

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

If you're looking for some inspiration in your life, look no further than The Power of One. Set in South Africa during World War II, The Power of One tells the story of Peekay, an English boy who spends his childhood under constant abuse from his peers. Peekay finds a release in boxing and sets his dream to become the welterweight champion of world.

What follows is a classic David vs. Goliath tale, although in this instance Goliath is an entire country. Not only will this novel rock your emotions, it's beautifully written and depicts pre-apartheid South Africa vividly.

The Power of One will give you hope, inspiration and make you realize the vast potential everyone is capable of.

— Eric Uthus

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird is the story of a lawyer in a small southern town, who is given the improbable task of defending a young black man accused of raping a white woman. The story is told through the eyes of the lawyer's children Scout and Jem and their friend Dill in a coming-of-age story.

Harper Lee's book is a classic of an era. In simplicity, it captures a time, the innocence of youth, and a social perspective of a time in 1950s America when racism was prevalent. Reading this book is not just about critiquing our past, but being honest about our present philosophies.

— Rebecca Bale

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

A muckraking tale of the dark side of the American Dream, The Jungle chronicles the lives of a Lithuanian immigrant family struggling to make it in Chicago. Sinclair's detailed description of the horrors of the meat-packing industry is spince-tingling awful. The book's underlying current of socialism paints a picture of the United States at a time when big companies swallowed peoples' hopes, dreams and sometimes their lives.

— Blythe Lawrence

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

Rand, a product of the communist Soviet Union, wrote two of the great, if controversial, books of her time—The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Written in brilliant prose, they explore Rand's love—worship, even—of the human mind.

Rand's philosophy of Objectivism is explored in The Fountainhead and comes to fruition in Atlas Shrugged. While many of Rand's ideas are too overblown or radical to be taken seriously, they are ideas everyone should nonetheless be aware of.

— Amy Korst

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Catch 22 is the story of a group of men stationed off the Italian coast during the final stages of World War II. Heller's tale centers around Yossarian, a man who realizes the senselessness of war and continually looks for ways to avoid his duties. The utter irrationality of the actions of the men surrounding Yossarian represents a powerful symbol of the senselessness of war. Like Aurthur Miller's The Crucible, Catch-22 sends a powerful message in any era, including today's.

— Blythe Lawrence

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Set in the 1920s on Long Island, The Great Gatsby tells the story of Nick Carraway, a Lost Generation Jake Barnes-style figure who wanders around wondering trying to find meaning in his life. In the meantime, Carraway's attention is diverted by his wealthy neighbor Jay Gatsby and the extravagant parties Gatsby throws on summer nights. The Great Gatby is a terrific critique of social class and excess, showing how people's decisions and obsessions can ruin lives.

— Blythe Lawrence

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises is Hemingway's classic about a man who lost his, ahem, reason to live in World War I and his Lost Generation buddies on a trip to Pamplona, Spain, to witness the annual bullfights. Marked by Hemingway's wonderful prose, this book is less about plot and more about finding a reason to live in a world where people are cruel and life is unfair.

— Blythe Lawrence

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

The plot of The Historian is very Da Vinci Code-esque in that it's suspenseful and smartly historical. The main difference is that The Historian is about a centuries-long quest to ultimately find the resting-place of Dracula. The Historian follows the main character (who never reveals her name) on a search throughout Europe to find the Count's tomb, but it also gives detailed flashbacks of the quests of her predecessors. The information the reader receives from this novel is intriguing, especially when a strange connection between Dracula and the main character's past is uncovered. The book is time consuming (704 pages), but definitely worth the commitment.

— Jasmine Ines

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Boy is born poor. Boy grows up poor. Boy discovers he is to inherit a fortune from a mysterious benefactor. Boy moves to the city to get acclimatized to fashionable society and begins to forget that a silk shirt doesn't make a person who he is. Great Expectations is a beautifully written tale of love and money, and the power both can have over a person's decisions.

—Blythe Lawrence

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

An easy read designed for young adults, Ender's Game starts as a science-fiction novel but ends up exploring what defines one's humanity. Six-year-old protagonist Ender Wiggin is enrolled in Battle School, where the International Fleet trains him in combat in case of another alien invasion. What ensues is a remarkable book about the spirit of a young boy, trained to be cruel and calculating, who never loses his ability to love.

Among other things, this book is a brilliant defense of sentient life and the value of making one's own choices.

— Amy Korst

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

The story of a middle-aged British journalist living in Vietnam, his Vietnamese lover, and a young philosopher who questions the war and imperialism, this book reminds a person that even those with the best of intentions can destroy lives by meddling in affairs where they have no place. Hear that, U.S. government?

— Blythe Lawrence

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Holden Caulfield gets fed up with "phonies," leaves his boarding school and wanders around New York City planning out his life. Salinger's classic will strike a chord with anyone who has had to deal with adolescence and the bullshit that goes with it.

— Blythe Lawrence

The Stand by Stephen King

Go ahead and get the scoffing out of your system now. Despite your inevitable incredulous reaction, I am completely willing to say that The Stand is one of the greatest books written in the last 100 years. I'd even say 200 if I wanted to risk being burned at the stake by college literature professors across the globe.

Either way, it's a marathon of a story, rooted in the age-old theme of good versus evil. Balancing gritty reality with balls-out fantasy, King manages to create a frightening vision of a post-apocalypse United States and the survivors struggling to rebuild it. The Stand's heart lies within these characters, whose resonance and depth make the novel a must-read piece of modern literature.

— Jonathan Duke

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Animal Farm, Orwell's classic allegory of the perils of communism, is every lazy high school kid's dream: It's entertaining and easy to read. Best of all, it clocks in at a measly 144 pages. The brevity of the work is irrelevant to its importance, however; Animal Farm is a scathing critique of the corruption of the Soviet Union, telling a parallel story of animals' uprising on an English farm and its subsequent evolution.

It's an essential and memorable read; who among us can forget the lovable horse Boxer's trip to the glue factory, or the famous seventh commandment, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others"? This is Orwell's masterpiece, and in my opinion, considerably "more equal" than even his most famous works.

— Jonathan Duke

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Kerouac's semi-autobiographical narrative of the aimless wanderings of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty from New York City west represents the definitive work of the Beat poets of the 1950s. Anyone who has ever grown disenchanted with his or her everyday routine and longed to be somewhere else will come to understand this novel and what it stands for.

— Blythe Lawrence

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

Invisible Monsters begins with a grisly accident that leaves its main character, Shannon, completely disfigured. While at the hospital, Shannon meets Brandy Alexander, a transgender diva who takes Shannon on a cross-country trip filled with revenge and excessive drug use.

Like Palahniuk's better-known work Fight Club, Invisible Monsters takes a swing at the society we live in, although this time it pertains to our fixation with beauty and the stress we induce upon ourselves when we care about what others think.

But the wit and dark humor infused throughout the novel will have you grinning from ear to ear. Towards the end, you'll probably be a little pissed at yourself, and at the GAP. But it'll ultimately make you question the ideals of our society, and whether or not you really need that new American Eagle jacket with the puffy feathers around the hood.

— Eric Uthus

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men is a tragedy about two friends who just want a little place of their own inthe 1930s. Hired out as farm hands, they roam from one farm to another, near the Salinas River in California in search of work. It is in their search that they come by a job and the end of their dreams.

This short story is a reflection of the primitiveness of human nature in desire, innocence and evil. It asks us to reflect on what we think we really understand, and what our true motivations are.

— Rebecca Bale

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Written at the height of the McCarthy era, Arthur Miller's play about the 17th-century Salem, Mass., witch trials provides a powerful allegory connecting two eras. Times change, but The Crucible reminds us that people's paranoia and lust for control doesn't.

— Blythe Lawrence

Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn

Winner of the Turner Tomorrow Award for fiction, designed to offer solutions to global problems, Quinn addresses how out of sync humanity has gotten with the rest of the world.

The title character is a gorilla who has learned to communicate with humans. What ensues is a series of deep, philosophical conversations between man and gorilla. Though some parts of this book are guilty of oversimplification, Quinn offers readers thought-provoking inspiration for an honest attempt to "save the world."

— Amy Korst

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Historical novel fan or not, this book is extremely satisfying. Set in post-colonial Africa, it follows the life of Okonkwo, the golden boy of the Igbo tribe. Famous since his youth, he has ultimately progressed to be one of the most prosperous men in the village. but In an instant of serious bad luck, he loses everything and is banished for years.

This novel chronicles his family's struggle biding time and trying to regain their status and possessions lost. At the same time, the British colonies begin piercing the internal system of the tribes, further complicating Okonkwo's quest.

— Jasmine Ines

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

In this engrossing tale of love and revenge, young sailor Edmond Dantès wants nothing more than to marry his fiancé Mercedes and live a quiet life. His happiness is squelched by conspirators who have him arrested on charges of treason and thrown into the Chateau d'If, with no hope of escape or reprieve. After being imprisoned for 14 years, Dantès escapes and sets out to pay his tormentors back for their "kindness."

— Blythe Lawrence

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

A rich, exuberant tale of a boy growing up on the banks of the Mississippi River and the trouble he gets himself into and out of, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is full of villains, pirates and dodging responsibility. It's a great story to read on a lazy Sunday afternoon, or perhaps when trying to decide what to do with the rest of your life.

— Blythe Lawrence

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlossinger

Show me someone who has been a vegetarian since 2001, and I'll show you someone who has read Fast Food Nation.

Eric Schlosser's meticulous brand of narrative journalism forever changed the way we look at quarter pounders by creating a contemporary to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Schlosser spares none of the distressing details on his firsthand experiences at fry and meat factories, and augments his in-depth reporting with sound anecdotes, interviews and unwavering assertions: "The Golden Arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross."

This book makes this list because of its rapid influence to make people question the background of their lifestyles and societies. It doesn't just create vegetarians; it creates critics of development.

— Claire Fox

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Thompson's Gonzo journalism is on stark display in this novel, a drug-addled account of reporting in Las Vegas. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is not a book that teaches any lesson, but it's a rich slice of life and a thoroughly amusing read.

— Blythe Lawrence