xenon_001

Agree with sigurros.

Dostoevsky definitely. No one knows human psychology better than Dostoevsky. If you want to know how the human mind works and how to understand yourself, don't go to a psychology textbook.

Crime and Punishment obviously, if you haven't already been assigned that

Raskolnikov is probably my favorite literary character of all times. His moods and feelings are so real and familiar, in a way. The tale of Marmeladov is sordid but intensely realistic.
Dostoevsky can present you a character like Svidrigailov, an unscrupulous libertine, who, if you're like me, would usually just enjoy hating, and actually get you to understand him and see yourself as him.

Notes from Underground is also very good. It's this sort of perversely introspective monologue of an Romantic antihero, intelligent yet unwilling to act, isolated formerly idealistic, but now cynical and saturnine; he contradicts himself every couple of paragraphs; he seems to loathe himself yet feels superior to everyone else.

I also like some of his shorter works like Dream of the Ridiculous Man.

And the Brothers Karamazov. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't gotten to read this one yet, but I'm planning to soon; it's supposed to be Dostoevsky's best.

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Other than that, I would agree that Catcher of the Rye is definitely a good one.

PRiNCESSMAHiNA

This is starting to sound like a cliche, but Catcher in the Rye.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

my favorites

Jakor

I third the Dostoevsky recommendation. My favorites are The Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot.