<p>By “best”, I don’t necessarily mean the most entertaining or the most fun to read (while they can be, of course). I mean the most stimulating, view-changing, or most powerful books you’ve ever read. Or, in a nutshell, the most important books you’ve read without boring you to death.</p>
<p>I’m curious. List 'em and give a reason why each book is so important!</p>
<p>Confessions of an Economic Hit Man</p>
<p>Opposed to what I’ve heard from countless people, I truely love The Scarlet Letter.
I’m still reading it, but I’ve only got about 30 pages to go.
It’s one of the few books that I can look at and actually see reason for every part of it. Hawthorne didn’t just write to have a story with a good plot, he wanted to convey a message. It’s also one of the first books that has made me understand diction. I never though word choice could have such an impact on reading, but Hawthorne is a master of it in my eyes.</p>
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<p>Should checkout twilight too~~ </p>
<p>FOR ME - recently I read Notes From Underground and it resonated really well with me.</p>
<p>Check out The Importance of being Earnest!</p>
<p>The Modern Faerie Tales by Holly Black – not the highest reading level, but fantastic books. I also really love the covers and the fonts 
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<p>The last books that really affected me were East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, and The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jonathan Stroud. Again, very different reading levels.</p>
<p>You know good old Lord of The Rings always works</p>
<p>I actually love Shakespearean plays.</p>
<p>I loved the Scarlett Letter too. But it didn’t change my life.</p>
<p>There are three books that did it for me.</p>
<p>How it Was for Me by Andrew Sean Greer.
It’s a book of short stories. I carried it around with me for months after my first reading, and I’d read them any time. There are a couple stories in there that just blew me away. The titular story, Blame it on my Youth, and a few others. It’s something I can rely on. It’s hard to express just how big of a deal it is for me, but it’s huge.</p>
<p>The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Murakami is a prolific writer, but this is definitely his masterpiece, his chef d’ouevre. It’s about 600 pages, so not too long, but it feels absolutely epic. After I finished it, I couldn’t read anything for a month or so, and I could only continue with a similarly amazing work (though that one didn’t bombshell me the same way) by Danielewski.</p>
<p>The Death of Ivan Illyich by Tolstoy
What can I say? Tolstoy is amazing. And his later works affect in an entirely different way than your War and Peace, your Anna Karenina. This work is just so pleasantly simple and beautiful and meaningful. It’s perfect.</p>
<p>Grapes of Wrath
Jane Eyre</p>
<p>Wizard of Earthsea (I think that;s how you spell it, it’s been a while)
Brisingr - I know it’s not life changing, but I like Paolini’s work
Oh, and Plato’s Republic; that was life-changing.</p>
<p>Summer Sisters</p>
<p>1984 - Pretty self-explanatory and I don’t even agree with the beliefs portrayed.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Awesome existential/absurdest play.</p>
<p>Catch-22
The Great Gatsby
Beloved</p>
<p>Salvador Plascencia’s People of Paper.
I came in here to say Kafka on the Shore, actually. but I haven’t read this one yet. I’m reading House of Leaves right now, and it’s pretty incredible.</p>
<p>HAHAHA. Beloved… wow… reading that right now… not fun.</p>
<p>The Alchemist (still in the middle of reading it)</p>
<p>i second 1984. it was very well-written & idk, i just loved it.
also, i loved children of men, though the first 10 or so chapters were pretty slow to get through. but it really got great.
oh, &…if by stimulating & powerful, u also mean addicting…then the twilight series was VERY much that <3</p>
<p>Kamasutra for Dummies</p>
<p>^haha…i should look that up, seems interesting
Scarlet Letter
A Man without a Country
Catcher in the Rye</p>
<p>The Firm
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
The Count of Monte Cristo</p>