A modern classic - 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', Robert M Pirsig. I heard it referenced a few times in films etc. I've read it, very good book. Wouldn't say it was one of the most mindblowing books I've ever bought. Definitely one to be read though.

Moby Dick, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Lost Horizon, to name a few

I'm reading a great book right now (and am highly disappointed that this was this author's only book) where "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" was referrenced, which is on my short list of books to read. "The Great Gatsby" could be considered the equal yet opposite of great. On my next trip to the library, which should be no later than Wednesday, "Gone With the Wind" will be the latest title on my 'checked-out history' list.

maybe the Iliad, its a really good book

That's a tough one because it comes down to personal taste, but if it's the all time classic you are looking for then here is what I would suggest... Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger The Grapes of Wraith by John Steinbeck Lord of the Flies by William Golding The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer of course this is not classic in the sense that it has some years under it... I would suggest J.R.R Tolkien but some people find that his stuff is a little hard to read, some people... Moby Dick by Herman Melville There are so many more, but this should start you off nicely... Oh, try reading this, it's not Classic but if you are interested in how some Societies went on to be power houses and how some did not because of geography and a thousand other reason why then this is a very good book...Guns, Germs and Steel, The Fates of Human Societies...Good stuff I tell ya...

all Americans should read "Tom Sawyer", maybe also Huckleberry Finn: only in America stories, encapsulating our culture. Metamorphosis should be read, O.Henry's Gift of the Magi, Whitman's Song of Myself, Poe's Masque of the Red Death, a few of Chaucer's tales, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Machiavelli's The Prince, Dickens Tale of Two Cities, Jane Austen's Emma. (all more accessible than Moby Dick.) There are modern ones too.

Stranger in a Strange Land.

Definitely To Kill a Mockingbird, but MORE definitely ATLAS SHRUGGED! I'm working on writing a book review about it right now to submit to Amazon, but, in the meantime, I suggest you go to the Amazon.com website, search for the title, then read all the positive reviews. The negative ones aren't worth reading because it simply means that the reader just doesn't "get it". Mine will be a five-star review, just as so many others. They were pretty much right on! I always say that if someone only reads one book in his/her lifetime, it should be ATLAS SHRUGGED, by Ayn Rand. It was written in the Fifties, and is now coming true in our current economic situation that we're drowning in. Ms. Rand predicted our fate from what she knew was happening at the time, and also because she grew up in Communist Russia. A quote I recently read about her is quite revealing. She described Russia as "an accidental cesspool of civilization." That pretty much says it all! Now, while watching the path our government leaders are now taking us down, while stripping us of all the liberties this country was always based on, one small piece at a time, hoping nobody will notice, I'm afraid that quote will apply to the U.S. in the not to distant future.

Anything by Jane Austen Lord of the Flies Wuthering Heights

Anything by Virginia Woolf. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, JR.

I don't know if you'd call it a classic. but the clan of the cave bear series changed my life. and I've read ALOT of books. but reading that series, talk about rediscovering every human emotion in a new light.