Not only is Atonement about English gentry between the World Wars, but it is also a love story, matching three of my four criteria for the perfect storm of a novel. It isn't terribly funny, as it is a tragic romance and a meditation on guilt and forgiveness, but it has its moments. Ian McEwan's current masterpiece, with a damn fine twist at the end.

The best known and least respected of Shakespeare's tragedies, because it is so incredibly beautiful and romantic, and at the same time so practical. The characters are as fully formed and finely sketched as Hamlet, and the fact that it's written off as an "immature" tragedy just shows how much our society still underestimates the thoughts and emotions of children and teens.

I'm nothing if not the biggest sucker for verisimilitude, and Goldman's romantic comedy mines that sophomore English term for all it's worth, remaining steadfastly committed to the fantasy world of Florin and the completely invented Florinese writer, S. Morgenstern. Truly an accomplishment.

Love it. But what people need to see is that this is just ONE romance, not, you know, a how-to guide to falling in love or having a relationship. Duh. Enjoy it for what it is, and for the bounty of literary value that it holds between its pages. Austen was a truly amazing writer. Her prose speaks for itself (ha! of course it does).

I must seem marvelously emo to put this on my list, but it really is great. Plath's finely tuned poet's ear makes this novel downright musical at times, and her keen understanding of pain is put to great use here.

My second favorite Austen, Emma gets a bad rap sometimes because she's almost as insufferable as Fanny Price, but less so because of the glitter that has rubbed off on her from Cher Horowitz. Nevertheless, Emma is my favorite truly flawed character in the annals of literature, and the fact that she grows, but is not perfected, throughout the novel is a testament to Austen's commitment to reality.

Let's not front--these books are awesome, even if number 7 was a little disappointing.

Heck yes magical realism. Nobody does it like Marquez.

It is a testament to Niffenegger's extreme talent that everything that happens in this novel is completely believable, disregarding the fact that time travel is not possible and even if it were it probs wouldn't be an affliction born of defective genetic code.

Could a book about the apocalypse BE any funnier? No.

Really, anybody who has ever wanted to write anything ever should read all Alice Munro has ever written, but we can start here. This is the best collection of Munro's stories that I've read to date, but they're all fantastic, and I have no qualms about calling her the greatest living short story writer. She really is THAT good.

BEST. SHAKESPEAREAN. COMEDY. EVER. I am also a sucker for any adaptation of this story, no matter how dumb, which is why I loved Motocross'd and She's the Man (although the latter is legitimately funny).

One of my favorite books growing up, and I love the little secret message that everything is connected in some way. Better than The Secret Garden, which, BTW, I also loved.

Only connect...