nice list. i agree with all of these (ive read most of the list) and would add "the plague" by albert camus, and paradise lost by john milton. also maybe chaucer's "the canterbury tales." the plague wasnt especially hard to read, but its got a life altering message, if you can find it. the other two are just hard reads.

Yeah, that was bad writing on my part, but you get the point.

@everyone against fois gras:

I have actually visited several fois gras production farms in New York's Hudson Valley, researching the product for my restaurant. It's actually quite heartwarming to see the geese and ducks all get together and waddle up (beaks completely intact, mind you) to the farmer when he comes out to them with the feed tube. They will actually stand there, open their mouths, look up at him, and squawk for food, kind of like a cute little puppy. This isn't just one farm, mind you. I've seen this happen at every fois farm I've visited. The farmers usually treat these animals like family. Hell, they even kill them in a humane matter. You'll find that the animals most of the very expensive food products come from are taken care of better than most people take care of a child, which is cause for another debate I'm sure.

Just my $0.02.

Side note, love the site Jfrater.