The modern library put out a list of best 100 literary works of the 20th century in august of 1998, but there was also (because all literary minds don't work the same) a Radcliffe list put out released in the wake of the complaints about the modern library's list. The following, in no particular order, are the best of this list and other miscellaneous books I've read from many worldly authors from various time periods.
the way of the peaceful warrior, dan millman
the rule of four, thomason
the fountainhead, or atlas shrugged, ayn rand
cold mountain, charles frazier
the great gatsby, f.scott fitzgerald
a portrait of the artist as a young man, james joyce
east of eden, john steinbeck
1984, george orwell
the four agreements, miguel ruiz
the heart is a lonely hunter, carson mccullers
invisible man, ralph ellison
heart of darkness, joseph conrad
the color purple, alice walker
brave new world, aldous huxley
winnie-the-pooh, a.a. milne/ the tao of pooh, ben. hoff
the old man and the sea, and the sound and the fury, ernest hemingway
the call of the wild, jack london
a separate peace, john knowles
the awakening, kate chopin
things fall apart, chinua achebe
the wind in the willows, kenneth grahame
main street, sinclair lewis
ulysses, james joyce
the lord of the rings, j.r.r.tolkien
the bridge of san luis rey, thornton wilder
walden, h.d.thoreau
to kill a mockingbird, harper lee
les miserables, victor hugo
phantom of the opera, gaston leroux
night, elie wiesel
siddhartha, hermann hesse
haroun and the sea of stories, salman rushdie
don quixote, miguel de cervantes
all quiet on the western front, erich maria remarque
war and peace, or anna karenina, leo tolstoy
the brothers karamazov, dostoevsky
the stranger, albert camus
in the time of the butterflies, julia alvarez
cry, the beloved country, alan paton
chronicle of a death foretold, gabriel marquez
the joy luck club, amy tan
candide, voltaire
mythology, edith hamilton
anything by sir william shakespeare (suggestions, hamlet or othello)
nectar in a sieve, kamala markandaya
rice without rain, minfong ho
beloved, toni morrison
leaves of grass, walt whitman
canterbury tales, geoffrey chaucer
frankenstein, mary shelley
beneath the wheel, hesse
babbitt, sinclair lewis
the wealth of nations, adam smith
a doll’s house, henrik ibsen
self-reliance, ralph waldo emerson
catch-22, joseph heller
the catcher in the rye, j.d. salinger
of mice and men, john steinbeck
on the road, jack kerouac
the Bible