11. Animal Farm | George Orwell
It's an allegorical novel by George Orwell, first published on 17 August 1945. The book tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free & happy. However, the rebellion is betrayed & the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon. Animal Farm is most famous in the West as a stinging critique of the history & rhetoric of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Retelling the story of the emergence & development of Soviet Communism in the form of an Animal Fable.
12. Things Fall Apart | Chinua Achebe
It's the debut novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, first published in 1958. Its story chronicles precolonial life in the southeastern part of Nigeria & the arrival of Europeans during the late 19th century. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, & one of the first to receive global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa & is widely read & studied in English-speaking countries all around the world. The novel follows the life of Okonkwo, an Igbo man & local wrestling champian in the fictional Nigerian clan of Umuofia, with describing his family, personal history & the customs & society of the Igbo & the influence of British colonialism & Christian Missionaries on Okonkwo, his family & the wider Igbo community. It was followed by a sequel, No Longer at Ease (1960) & Arrow of God (1964).
13. Catch-22 | Joseph Heller
It's a satirical war novel by Joseph Heller, it was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, describing events from the points of view of different characters. The separate story-lines are out of sequence so the timeline develops along with the plot. The novel is set during World War II, from 1942 to 1944. It mainly follows the life of antihero Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier. Most of the events in the book occur while the fictional 256th U.S. Army Air Squadron is based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea west of Italy, though it also basic training at Lowry Field in Colorado & Air Corps training at Santa Ana Army Air Base in California. The novel examines the absurdity of war & military life through the experiences of Yossarian & his cohorts, who attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their service requirements so that they may return home. Heller published a sequel in 1994 called Closing Time.
14. The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald
It's a 1925 novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional towns of West Egg & East Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. Many literary critics consider The Great Gatsby to be one of the greatest novels ever written. The story of the book primarily concerns the young & mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby & his Quixote passion & obsession to reunite with his ex-lover, the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan. Considered to be Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval & excess, creating a portrait of the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream. Fitzgerald, inspired by the parties he had attended while visiting Long Island's North Shore, began planning the novel in 1923, desiring to produce, in his words, "something new–something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned". Today, The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary classic and a contender for the title of the "Great American Novel".
15. Slaughter-House-Five | Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
It's a science fiction infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut, published in 1969. It follows the life & experience of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years to his time as an American soldier & chaplain's assistant during World War II, to the postwar years, with Billy occasionally traveling through time itself. The text centers on Billy's capture by the German Army & his survival of the Allied firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war, an experience which Vonnegut himself lived through as an American serviceman. The work has been called an example of " unmatched moral clarity" & "one of the most enduring anti-war novels of all time".
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