King Rat by James Clavell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Atlas Shrugged (or We The Living) by Ayn Rand
Ender’s Game by OSC
The Black Company by Glen Cook
WRT some of the other posters:
If The Blind Assassin is your top Atwood pick, you really should read more Atwood 
Edible Woman, Oryx and Crake, and Handmaid’s Tale are much better IMO.
I suggest trading the first two for more Richard Bach novels for the full effect.
Oh, have 'em and love 'em. But loved Blind Assassin most-est.
Note to Intelligently Designed–
You mentioned One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. You might be interested in knowing that his son Rodrigez Garcia is a director, writer and cinematographer. He worked on some of the episodes for **Six Feet Under, Carnavale, **and the Sopranos. He will be co-directing a new series “soon” with Gabriel Byrne and Diane Weist. It’s about a psychologist who needs therapy.
My five books of the moment:
GREEN MANSIONS by W.H. Hudson
TRINITY by Leon Uris
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
LES MISERABLES by Victor Hugo
ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL by James Herriot
If you haven’t read A Prayer for Owen Meany you must. My granddaughter’s teacher recommended it to her when she was a senior. When she finished, she insisted that I must read it. Her grandfather read it aloud to me. It has some of the hysterical passages in it – and some of the most poignant.
I think this one would go in my five, but since it was mentioned, I will politely second it and add a different into my list.
This is from my high school algebra teacher. A wonderful book that started many discussions about higher planes, philosophy, the Matrix movies, and life. I recommend it to everyone, with the recommendation that they also seek out that quirky teacher who I thought was so cool.
A wonderful book about life as a kid, and written by (imho) a great author. I think this book is my favorite of his, perhaps one of my favorites altogether.
Basically one of my favorite books from when I was in high school, then I read it again for two different college classes and took a much better look at it. Such a great perspective on society’s problems that it isn’t funny. (TMTCH because it is a good example of how people behave in situations, and the real meaning of right and wrong)
I consider it a good read, and it brings up an important discussion about what is known about whom. The idea of an all controlling force that is Big Brother, just spooky and thought provoking.
A novel that shows you life through the eyes of someone different than yourself, their experience with becoming more like the average person, and what happens to them. Really makes a person think about things. Plus, it is written in an interesting way.
Plus, I would like to add, short stories by Henry James (are they really able to be called short?). I never read Henry James before college, but once I got here I took a whole class on just his works. One of the best classes I ever took, so I always recommend him when I can.
Brendon Small
One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
He paints pictures with words- his verse reads so swiftly you’ve bought myth as fact before you’ve had a chance to doubt.
A Prayer for Owen Meany ** John Irving
Foreshadowing sublime; read all in one breathless rush. I’ve only been so emotionally invested in a character one other time. And recommend it to your kids, or any young people in your sphere; from this story they will learn how to live big and certain.
Ender’s Game Orson Scott Card
If you aren’t a fan of science fiction, you will pass this one up based on the cover. Take it home anyway, and find a few hours to read in one sitting. Then rave about it, loan it to your friends, and do not expect it to be returned. I actually had my own copy come back to me once, and from a stranger.
Ethics for the New Millennium Dalai Lama
If you’ve a temper, this will lesson it. If you’ve a prejudice, this will tame it. If you’ve a thorn in your side, this will teach you how to endure it. And if you don’t find your particular insight in this one, try any in His Holiness’s series. **
Prodigal Summer Barbara Kingsolver
Quick read with complicated interwoven stories. Kingsolver, a biology major, neatly entwines biodiversity, conflicts in relationships, and the inherent sexuality of a woman undefined by cultural constraints. (yeah.)
Zoe, you always make the greatest connections- thank you for posting the info about Marquez. I’ve some media to track down! And I’m with you and others on Owen Meany. I’ve never ached so much for a hero. I love this tale.
In no particular order:
The Penguin History of the World, by JM Roberts. 1100 pages of small print, and I’ve read it twice now, both times feeling absolutely stupid about stuff I didn’t know. A good overview no matter what your political stripe.
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Surprisingly readable and provides a valuable insight into the Zeitgest of the time. As one of my old History profs put it, this is one of those books you must read in order to be considered a human being.
Remembrance of Things Past or In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust (will take you a full year, or at least it did me). Again, a fascinating insight into a certain time and place.
The Razor’s Edge, by Somerset Maugham. This book was THE catalyst that made me break out of Texas and out into the wide world. Bill Murray was sufficiently impressed with it, too, so much so that he reportedly agreed to do *Ghostbusters * only if they let him film this book.
Don Quixote, by Cervantes. Regarded the first modern novel and another one on my History profs list of books to read in order to be considered a human being.
The OP mentioned **Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates ** by Tom Robbins, but I was disappointed in it. Among other things, having spent some time in Laos myself, the notion of any ex-US serviceman from the Vietnam War living there in such a capacity is a little TOO much for my suspension of disbelief, as is the notion of Lao villagers sitting in rapt attention week after week for years listening to academic lectures. He even gets the raunchy shows in Bangkok’s Patpong red-light district wrong. Surprising, since he’s supposedly spent so much time in Southeast Asia himself. But even if I were unfamiliar with this area, I don’t think I would have liked it. Much of his more recent work I’ve found substandard, and nothing he wrote before or since holds a candle to Jitterbug Perfume.
I think One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez is at least in the top 10 if not in the top 5, as is The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Sorry for the presumption.
I LOVE Fierce Invalids! Philip Roth’s *American Pastoral * is on my list as an all-time great read.
As other posters have mentioned this list is very much an ephemeral thing: If you ask me tomorrow you’ll probably get a different list. I’ll stand by the value of all these works, but there will be many others that are almost as compelling that won’t make today’s list.
Alexander Solzhenistyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. If you don’t know what this book is, it’s the account of one day in the life of a prisoner in a Gulag. The writing is plain, the continual privation of the prisoners comes through vividly, and there is no hope, no resolution for what is going on in the book. In spite of that I have always been stunned by how beautiful the book is. It’s not a happy work, but it’s heartbreaking.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. It could be only a children’s book, but it’s so much more than that. Lyrical, and thought-provoking. I can’t say more about it, except: where else would you learn that elephants need to be afraid of giant snakes? 
C. S. Lewis’ works. I’m torn between specifically reccomending The Screwtape Letters or A Grief Observed. Choose one of them for yourself. Both reward re-reading. Screwtape is a series of letters from a senior devil to his nephew, on the way to tempt his mortal into sin. A fascinating look at what evil is in a modern world, and an often damning (literally) condemnation of many of the more poisonous traits in Christianity. Grief is a lightly edited version of four notebooks Lewis kept after his wife, found late in his life, died relatively shortly after they married. The pain, and anger and doubt all comes through vividly. A fascinating look at a deeply religious man dealing with a loss all the greater for that he’d never expected to have the boon in the first place of romantic love. The movie Shadowlands seemed to me to be based, in part on these writings, but the movie cheated, by ending before Lewis’ character reaffirmed his faith.
And now for something completely different. Or so some people might think: Any one of Richard Feynman’s books of essays. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! is the more well-known of these books, but I really love the title essay from What Do You Care What Other People Think? Both books deal with observations by one of the finest minds in the twentieth century, illuminated with self-honesty, and a wicked sense of humor. What I really like about What Do You Care is the way that Feynman credits his late wife with teaching him about what was really important in life.
Finally, since I think everyone should also read some fluff, now and then, I’ll suggest Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - the classic coming of age story, and struggle between what the protagonist has been told is right, and what he believes right to be.
Because Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye didn’t tell the “whole story”, add:
Franny & Zooey
Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters & Seymour - An Introduction
9 Stories
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis
Roughing It by Mark Twain
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Honorary mention:
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Sci-Fi 5:
Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LaGuin
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Riddley Walker
Independent People
Hunger
Kristin Lavransdatter
The Dwarf
I can’t think of any of the classics I’ve read that are worth inflicting on anyone, so here are some more entertaining titles instead.
Jennifer Government by Max Barry
Although absurdist, this book has enough reality to it to make you wonder if it’s possible.
Here On Earth by Alice Hoffman
Very real, very screwed up people show us how very badly true love can be when it runs its course.
War For The Oaks by Emma Bull
Possibly the very best urban fantasy ever written, and as a bonus it has one over few non-human leads that it’s still possible to fall in love with. You’ll want a Phouka too, I promise.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Atwood is very good at two things. One is writting short stories. The other is dystopias. This is one of the latter.
When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penmen
The 12th century characters in this novel leap off the page and set up housekeeping in your brain. I like all her books, but this one is my favorite.
This thread makes me feel shamefully under-read, but I’d like to toss in Life of Pi, by Yann Martel.
:high fives lissener: Russell Hoban is a personal favorite.
I’ll say Charlotte’s Web, Huck Finn, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Native Son. At least as books Americans ought to read. And they’re all really accessible, so there’s no excuse for not reading them.
**1984 ** by orwell can be one of the 5 . It portrays a dystopian world so powerfully, that it may leave you shaken for a while.
Since the author drew inspiration from real life communist countries, it was disturbing enough for me.
I have this book, I’ve seen it recommended a kajillion times, I’ve been reading de Lint for years, but still I haven’t read War for the Oaks. Thanks for your nudge. I’ll read it next. 
Are you maybe thinking of Villa Incognito? Which isn’t that great, actually.
The action in* Fierce Invalids *takes place primarily along the Amazon and Syria.
Jeez, unless my mind is blanking a big part of the book…
The Bible, You don’t have to believe it…lord knows I don’t… but it’s part of our cultural heritage. Ok you don’t have to read all the begats and such, but Genesis, Exodus, Revelation and a few others if you want to understand your fellow humans
!984. Which stadly will also tell you quite a bit about your fellow humans. (And if you want to right anything Politics and the English Language…and pretty much anything by Eric Blair.)
Guns Germs and Steel. Mandatory.
Alice in Wonderland.
Anna Karinia
:smack: Yes, as a matter off act I am thinking of Villa Incognito, now that you mention it. I admit I liked *Fierce Invalids * now that I’ve got it straight which one it is. Still, I can’t imagine anyone liking any of Robbins’ books better than Jitterbug Perfume. That was his big 5-star epic. But thanks for setting me straight.
But looking over this thread, I’m seeing more “Books I Personally Like, but They May Not Have Universal Appeal” than I am “Books Everyone Should read.”
I will never forgive myself for not making my old History prof write out his list of books you need to read in order to be a human being, like Don Quixote. Each time one of these works popped up during the course of his lectures, he’d say, “It’s one of the books you need to read in order to consider yourself a human being.”