The Great Gatsby - Scott F Fitzgerald
"In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald brilliantly captures both the disillusion of post-war America and the moral failure of a society obsessed with wealth and status. But he does more than render the essence of a particular time and place, for in chronicling Gatsby's tragic pursuit of his dream, Fitzgerald recreates the universal conflict between illusion and reality."
Running With Scissors - Augusten Borroughs
"When his parents separate and his mother begins to second guess her sexuality, Burroughs is sent to live with his mother's psychiatrist, Dr. Finch. The doctor lives in a rundown Victorian house located in Northampton, Massachusetts. He lives with his wife as well as his biological and adopted children and some of his own patients, where rules are practically non-existent and children of all ages do whatever they please (such as having sex, smoking cigarettes and cannabis, and rebelling against authority figures). On one occasion, Burroughs and Dr. Finch's daughter Natalie destroy the kitchen ceiling because they feel it is too low and depressing. However, the dysfunctional issues that occur in the Finch family is outdone by the psychotic episodes frequently experienced by Burroughs' mother."
Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt
"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."
Shade's Children - Garth Nix
"In a futuristic urban wasteland, evil Overlords have decreed that no child shall live past the age of fourteen. Ella, Drum, Gold-Eye and Ninde have all escaped this terrible fate and are recruited into a resistance movement by the mysterious Shade - once a man but now more like the machines he fights. Hunted ceaselessly by savage, mutant creatures, Shade's children work together to discover the source of the Overlords' power. But as they get closer to their goal, they begin to question Shade's motives and objectives."
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
"Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall. This novel is narrated by Death, and Death will visit the book thief three times."
They're all phenomenal in their own individual ways.
