Austen, Jane. Pride and prejudice.
Love and marriage loom large in this witty social commentary on the English country gentry of Austen's day.

Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights.
A brooding, romantic tale of passion and revenge, which is set in nineteenth century Yorkshire, England.

Buck, Pearl S. The good earth.
An honest farmer and his wife struggle to gain land and impart values to their sons during the reign of China's last Emperor.

Card, Orson Scott. Ender's game.
Under alien attack, the world government has taken to breeding and training military geniuses. Is Ender Wiggin smart enough to save the planet?

Cather, Willa. My Antonia.
Jim Burden relates the story of his lifelong friend Antonia Shimerda - a free spirited immigrant pioneer on the Nebraska plains.

Crane, Stephen. The red badge of courage.
During his service in the Civil War, a young Union soldier matures to manhood and finds peace of mind as he comes to grips with his conflicting emotions about war.

Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe.
Eighteenth century adventure story of a shipwrecked sailor's adventures marooned on a desert island for 24 years.

Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield.
The adventures of a young Victorian boy who runs away from his cruel stepfather to live with his eccentric aunt in London.

Dostoyevsky, Fedor. Crime and punishment.
This presents the story of a young Russian intellectual's decision to murder a cruel pawnbroker, and his subsequent intellectual and spiritual crisis.

Feynman, Richard P. "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a curious character.
Nobel Prize winning physicist's anecdotal account of his quirky yet engrossing experiences.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The great Gatsby.
The mysterious past of wealthy party-thrower Jay Gatsby is the subject of interest to the friends gathered at his home one 1920's summer.

Franklin, Benjamin. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
An autobiographical account of Franklin's life.

Golding, William. The lord of the flies.
English schoolboys marooned on an uninhabited island test the values of civilization when they attempt to set up their own society.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The scarlet letter.
In Puritan, 17th century Boston, Hester Prynne is an independent-minded woman who stands alone against society. Having given birth to a child after an illicit affair, she refuses to name the father and is forced to the wear the letter "A" (representing "adulteress) embroidered on her dress.

Homer. The odyssey.
A Greek epic tells of the adventures of the hero Odysseus during his perilous and protracted journey home from the Trojan War.

Hughes, Langston. Selected poems of Langston Hughes.
Collection of poems chosen by the revolutionary black poet including works from his entire career.

Joyce, James. Dubliners.
A collection of stories about the lives of Dublin's poorer classes which reflect moments of revelation common to all people.

Kingsolver, Barbara. The poisonwood Bible.
Epic tale beginning in 1959 when Nathan Price uproots his wife and four daughters to become a missionary in Africa's politically turbulent Congo.

Lee, Harper. To kill a mockingbird.
Depicts life in Depression era small town Alabama as seen through the eyes of eight year old "Scout" Finch. Scout's father, lawyer Atticus defends a black man accused of raping a white woman.

London, Jack. Call of the wild.
Buck is a loyal pet dog until cruel men make him a pawn in their quest for Klondike gold.

Rand, Ayn. Atlas shrugged.
The story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world, and did.

Salinger, J.D. The catcher in the rye.
A teenager drops out of private school to search for his identity and his brother.

Sinclair, Upton. The jungle.
Explores the workingman's lot at the turn of the century within the meat packing industry.

Steinbeck, John. The grapes of wrath.
A family of itinerant farmers travels to California during the Dust Bowl to seek a more prosperous life.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's cabin.
A story of slavery in the Old South, which awakened the nation to the realities behind the slavery system.

Twain, Mark. The adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
A boy and a freed slave travel the Mississippi River trying to elude capture.