2. The Iliad - Homer
Alexander the Great slept with his copy under his pillow. You can keep one on your bookshelf until it haunts you into reading it.

3. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Yes, I am well aware you might have read this in high school. You are older now, and it will mean much more to you.

4. Snowcrash - Neal Stephenson
The characters are memorable, the plot is wonderful, and the ideas will keep you thinking for days. Don't let anyone ever tell you that science fiction cannot be literature.

5. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - David Eggers
Eggers is consistently called the finest writer our generation has yet produced. It doesn't hurt that he is among the funniest writers I have ever read.

6. Paradise Lost-John Milton
A piece of writing as fine as anything the English language has ever produced.

7. Henry V-William Shakespeare
It is a story that many of us already know, but it remains one in which we can all take comfort.

8. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Tom Stoppard
Take everything you have ever been told about the way plot and theme interact, and throw it away.

9. The Brothers Karamazov -- Fydor Dostoyevsky
You are finally old enough to understand it. Pick it up, begin to work your way through, and if you get frustrated, keep on reading.

10. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Save this for when you are tired, lonely, and afraid. By it in paperback, so you can take it where you need it.

11. All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren
A novel about people, called a story about politics, that reveals plenty of truth about each.

12. Heart of Darkness-Joseph Conrad
If you read this like it is supposed to be read, it will keep you awake at night longer than any horror movie or slasher film.

13. The Lord of the Rings -- JRR Tolkien
Read it again, outside this time, under a tree, with a pen in hand.

14. The Republic - Plato
You cannot begin to plan for the future without understanding all that which brought you to this place.

15. 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
When you begin to read this book, find an index card. Every time you see a character that is mentioned more than once, write down his or her name, along with a detail or two to help you remember. Read it slowly, refer back to passages, and keep a journal until you are done.