'Crime and Punishment' is well worth the effort, tried reading it when I was 15 and it was well over my head, now it's a permanent fixture on my shelf.
Not necessarily the 'best' books out there, but these are my favourites, I've almost finished my degree in English Literature but you'll find very few classics here :P
Chuck Palahnuik - 'Haunted.' Raw genius, sickening, hilarious, just plain awesome.
Hunter S Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. You cannot say enough good things about this book, I love picaresque protagonists and Hunter was the rock star of writers ;D
Irvine Welsh - 'Trainspotting.' It's dark, gritty, and all too real.
Bram Stoker - Dracula. The only vampire fiction I can read, the original and by far best.
H.P Lovecraft - Call of Cthulhu. I urge anyone not familiar with HP to visit this link
http://terror.snm-hgkz.ch/lovecraft/html/cthulhu.htm and thank me later.
Donna Tartt - The Secret History. Disturbing but beautiful at the same time. Excellent plot twists.
Dan Brown - Deception Point. I generally stopped liking DB after his Da Vinci code success but this book is awesome, it's indepth, jam packed with action, and very very clever.
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World. One word.....
soma
George Orwell - 1984. I love this book too much for words.
Charles Bukowski - Post Office. At the time I was reading this I could identify with the protagonist on so many levels, thankfully I don't anymore.
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