[davegardner]

I personally enjoyed (and was certainly impacted by) many of the books that I was forced to read during high school. The most memorable ones for me all fell into the "modern classics" category - To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, 1984, A Clockwork Orange, Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, The Diary of Anne Frank, and so on.

[mjevans]

Don't sugarcoat 1984 quite so much. It is an important read, but it's also good to tell a reader that "the interesting bits" happen (very roughly) 2/3rds of the way in to the book.

At least it's not The Great Gatsby (blegh) 8 chapters of annoyance and one lonely chapter of actual non-world building.