A lifetime of must reads

[John Cole]

I agree for the sheer comic value of Rand's stilted prose.

[Grifter]

I consider Philip Roth's second Zuckerman trilogy ("I Married a Communist," "American Pastoral," and "The Human Stain") to be required reading for anyone living in post WWII America. It's pretty much the (IMHO) the difinitive fictional work on Americana since 1950. This can be argued (obv.) but I think Roth is the best living American writer, and probably up there (top 5?) for all of American history.

Other Post-War Greats:
"The Corrections"
"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay"
"Infinite Jest"
"Gravity's Rainbow"

[FakeKramer]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Conversations With God.

Even the most atheist among you might enjoy this book - it's 0% religious and 100% spiritual. In fact, the atheist/unbelievers would probably like this book more than most religious persons. You could substitute "A Clear Consciousness" for "God" in the title.

[quirkasaurus]

for books that actually ~changed my life~:

the Bible
Dress for Success -- John Molloy ( how to dress, obviously )
Live for Success -- John Molloy ( how to act )
Fit for Life -- Mariyn and Harvey Diamond
assorted books addressing verbal abuse, psychological abuse,
anger management...
Dale Carneghie's -- How to Make Friends and Influence People

for just enjoyable reading:
Anything Nero Wolfe -- Rex Stout
Sherlock Holmes mysteries -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

[LooseCaller]

All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
All of Jorge Luis Borges short stories(they're all very brief)
most things by Saul Bellow

[MrDetroit]

A prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

The story of O - Pauline Reage

Stone Junction - Jim Dodge

[GeraldGiraffe]

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Also I'm really interested in Russian literature besides the classics Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Solzhenitsyn.

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Hero of Our Time (Lermontov)
Fathers and Sons (Turgenev)
Dead Souls (Gogol)
Short Stories (Gogol)
Eugene Onegin (Pushkin)
Short Stories (Chekhov)
The Master and the Margarita (Bulgakov)

Spend a little time on Amazon researching the best translations.

Nabokov is great, too. He is Russian, but he wrote his best novels (Pale Fire, Lolita) in English.

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Good list. I'd also add the following:

Any of Ivan Bunin's short stories
We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
White Guard, also by Bulgakov.

On a non-Russian note, I'd suggest Tennessee William's entire canon as required reading.