Here are my suggestions for required reading. (If it's a suggestion, is it required?) This is my list, and is most likely incomplete. You don't like it? Go make your own. Please. :)

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. It's great reading. To me, this is one of the examples of the things that great writing should do. Educate, illuminate, inform.... It's modern lit, and a pretty deep read. But I haven't read it in a long time. Perhaps I should fix that....

Franny and Zooey, and THEN Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger. Sure, Catcher in the Rye is the seminal tale of disaffected youth, but there's more to Salinger than just that one story. Not much more, but there is more. :) And I believe Nine Stories came first, but I suggest reading them in this order for a reason. Trust me. Then, read Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour, an Introduction just to finish Salinger off. ;)

Chicago by Carl Sandburg. Has any poem ever been this visceral?

On The Road and Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac. On the Road is a classic of the 20th century, a snapshot and love letter to America and it's people. Dharma Bums is similar in that it's always moving, but it's of a different spirit and tack than OtR.

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. This will change everything you think you know about Batman while introducing you to the idea of the graphic novel. I'd suggest the landmark Watchmen, but I haven't read it. Watchmen is definitely on my list, as are the collected works of the Cerebus series.

Patriotism by Yukio Mishima. Amazingly descriptive and powerful, this is one story that I will carry with me to the grave. Reading it for the first time and not knowing what to expect, I was completely gripped...transfixed. Excellent writing.

My Losing Season by Pat Conroy. A very interesting true-life depiction of his final season on the Citadel basketball team. It helps if you know a thing or two about basketball, but it's a great read for the insight into the game and his turbulent life.

Giving Good Weight by John McPhee. I read this first in high school and was introduced to the world of essays. The ones here are great - an open-air market in New York City (where the title comes from), a chef, pinball, a proposed floating nuclear power plant and the damming of a river in Maine. Lovingly tended to, McPhee takes each subject to heart. I've not read his other books, more for lack of time than anything else.

Slake's Limbo by Felice Holman. More a window into me, because this is a book that my 5th grade teacher recommended to me. It's an interesting tale of a boy who escapes the anger in his life by going underground - literally - and living in the subway. Not necessarily great literature like many of the others here, but very good nonetheless.

The poetry of Charles Bukowski. The voice of drunk, horny, squalid America speaks, and with authority.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. A great take off of Hamlet - showing two ancillary characters in that play as they go about their absurd way - and then Hamlet, the play, intersects with their world. Very imaginative and very cool.

Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck. I enjoy his other short novels - "Of Mice and Men", "Cannery Row", "The Pearl" - but this stands as probably my favorite work of his. I've also been to Monterey a few times, so it's fun for me to imagine this story taking place in those hills.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. Not everything *has* to be deep, and this is a very fun read, but pretty pointed. Lots of good music referenced, and insight into the top 5 list. :)

Kurt Vonnegut. I've read Galapagos and Deadeye Dick and I think Cat's Cradle and think that they're all just fun reads. His is a great, wacky head to be in.

Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. Great story written as he worked as a park ranger in Moab, Utah. By himself a large part of the time. A love letter to the desert and solitude, as the title suggests.

The Old Man And The Sea and The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Big Two-Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway. Simple stories by one of the most famous American writers. Beautiful in their detail, though. Great stuff, IMO. And isn't this list all about *my* opinion? ;)

For your depressing Russian quotient, read The Death Of Ivan Ilytch by Tolstoy. For beautiful English poetry, try Wordsworth or Coleridge or Tennyson.

Oh, and one of my absolute favorite books.

I think that's it. More or less.